Kenneth Francis

Who is Kenneth Francis?

Kenneth Francis was a United Kingdom politician and a former leading member of the London British National Party. He was expelled from the party in 2002 because he had a foreign girlfriend.

Francis was the former BNP organiser for Newham in east London and had been a candidate for the BNP in the 1997 general election, securing 3.6% of the votes. His membership was withdrawn for living with teacher Annie Hernandez, an asylum seeker from Ecuador. The expulsion came despite party leaders, including chairman Nick Griffin and his then deputy Tony Lecomber, being regular guests at the couple's home. Hernandez also attended several party conferences.

Francis claimed that no one from the BNP criticised the relationship until November 2000 when he received a letter from Lecomber telling him he should leave the party. Francis said, "They had always made out that they didn't have a problem with her. Then they stabbed us in the backs." However, Lecomber told The Times that he and other BNP officials had disliked Francis's relationship with Hernandez, but had not been able to act because Francis had powerful supporters within the party; they had since been ousted.