LETTER: Time to lay the past to rest

8.40.22pm BST (GMT +0100) Sun 2nd Jul 2006

Dear Editor

Following MP Ann Keen's rather odd use of Prime Minister's Questions last Wednesday to challenge Hounslow's new administration I felt I should share my perspective on the concerns she raised. The Liberal Democrats are not a part of the new administration, so we have no interest in defending their corner, but we do believe in a fair and principled approach to politics.

It is a matter of public knowledge that Isleworth councillor Phil Andrews joined the National Front in 1977 and left in 1989. From there he helped formed a local group called "Liberation" which could be said to have run on similar lines, and was affiliated to the International Third Position, a Catholic-orientated far-right group.

This is clearly a destructive way for anyone to spend their youth. Fortunately however in 1991 Cllr Andrews' worldview went through a massive transition and he abandoned Liberation, and far-right politics, and in 1994 helped form the Isleworth Community Group (ICG).

Cllr Andrews was elected as a councillor for Isleworth in 1998 and was this May returned for a third time. I am not aware of any decision that he has made as a Councillor that would suggest that he is a racist or advancing discriminatory policies. I challenge those like our MP Ann Keen, that object so strongly to his democratic election and membership of Hounslow's new executive, to show us the evidence of any far right views and decisions.

Surely Cllr Andrews move to the centre ground is something that all moderate politicians that want a cohesive society should celebrate? It should give us hope that positive arguments can win the day. It should give us hope that other extremists may at some point accept that people of different backgrounds must live and work together peacefully. An integrated and cohesive community is the only way to shape a positive future.

In 2002 when Jim Daly, much respected former Labour/SDP GLC member and local councillor passed away, Cllr Andrews had the decency to write in the online book of remembrance: "The only time I actually encountered [Jim], unfortunately, was as a political extremist in a former life when I heckled him (rather drunkenly) at an SDP public meeting at the old Hounslow Town Hall in 1983. Needless to say, he took the whole thing in his stride. Like many things I did in those days I came to regret having done this, not least because everybody I have ever met who knew Jim has told me what a decent and likeable human being he was, as well as a tremendous worker for his cause."

Is this not evidence enough that Cllr Andrews views and political outlook have changed? Has his community work in recent years not already gone a long way in atoning the prejudiced and destructive ideas he advocated in the past?

On Tuesday night Cllr Andrews was elected to the Multi-agency Partnership Against Racial Harassment. The input Cllr Andrews provides to this forum in the coming years will be the ultimate test of his changed political outlook. I hope he will be able to give the group new insights on why people turn to the far right and share ideas on how this can prevented in future.

It is now time for us to lay the past to rest, move on and continue to build a strong and cohesive Hounslow. Rest assured that if ever Cllr Andrews did turn back to the far right the Liberal Democrats would be the first to speak out.

Yours sincerely

Cllr Dakers, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group