BNP's last councillor resigns from party for one day - after being 'duped by left-wing extremists'

The British National Party's (BNP) last remaining district councillor may have achieved the shortest political resignation in history, after rejoining the party just one day after quitting.

Brian Parker's short-lived departure as BNP councillor for Pendle Council, Lancashire, this week briefly saw the far-right party at rock bottom, with it left holding no district council seats in the entire country.

But the 65-year-old told IBTimes UK he has now rejoined the party, saying his momentary decision to serve as an independent was down to being duped by "left-wing extremists" and "moles in the party".

Parker said he had been told "lies" about alleged financial irregularities relating to a senior figure in the BNP when he decided to resign from the party on Wednesday (23 November).

"I decided to do some fact-finding on the allegations ... and I found out it wasn't true," he told IBTimes UK.

Pendle Council confirmed Parker had on Thursday instructed council officers to now reinstate his BNP status.

Parker wrote in an email to the council: "It appears that a mole has been at work in the party for a long period spreading misinformation.

"We have had moles in the party before and they have been very clever and convincing but this one is the best yet ... He had me fooled there for a short time but it won't happen again."

Parker went on to say that he believed the "extremist" acting as a mole had been from the anti-extremism charity Hope not Hate, which combats far-right organisations like the BNP. He said the individual in question had now left the BNP of his own accord.

Hope not Hate said it would not comment on operational details when approached by IBTimes UK, but added: "Hope not Hate has done everything in its power to destroy the BNP."

A spokesman for the BNP, David Furness, did not comment on the allegations of financial irregularities within the party.

He instead said the party had been the victim of an "ongoing campaign to smear the BNP", saying Parker was the victim of "misinformation".

While Parker is the last remaining BNP district councillor in the country, records were not immediately available to show how many parish councillors the party still has.

The BNP has been in decline since its peak years of 2009 and 2010 when it won two seats in the European parliament, including the election of former chairman Nick Griffin as MEP for North West England. The 2010 election saw it receive a record 563,743 votes and at one point the party had more than 50 councillors in town halls across the country.

But the next five years saw its supporter base decline, as the rise of Ukip and the creation of splinter right-wing movements took away its voters. Bitter in-fighting and financial turmoil added to the the party's problems, and in the 2015 general election it received just 1,667 votes from its eight parliamentary candidates.