Brentwood And Ongar Independent Conservative Party
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The Brentwood and Ongar Independent Conservative Party was founded in 1999 by members of
Brentwood and Ongar Brentwood and Ongar is a constituency in Essex represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Alex Burghart, a Conservative, serving since September 2021 as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Apprenticeships and ...
Conservative Association. This breakaway group alleged that the local Conservative association had been infiltrated by the local
Peniel Pentecostal Church Trinity Church (formerly Peniel Pentecostal Church) is a church in Pilgrims Hatch in England. The church was founded by Michael Reid, who served as pastor of the church until stepping down in 2008, following various controversies. It is currentl ...
in Pilgrims Hatch, with 119 church members joining and some having installed themselves in key posts. The members of the Independent Conservatives were subsequently expelled from the mainstream Conservative Party for being members of a group that was standing in opposition to them. The claims were investigated by Conservative Central Office who decided that evidence did not suggest entryism. Until the
2002 election The following elections occurred in the year 2002. * 2002 Bahraini parliamentary election * 2002 Comorian presidential election * 2002 East Timorese presidential election * 2002 Fijian municipal election * 2002 Hong Kong Chief Executive election * ...
, the Brentwood and Ongar Independent Conservative Party had a councillor in Shenfield, Anthony Galbraith, who had crossed the floor in the council chamber from the mainstream Conservative Party. The party never succeeded in having any election candidates elected. In February 1999, the Independent Conservatives issued a press release suggesting that the Peniel church was a cult and was 'a danger to the people of Brentwood'. The church sued for
libel Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...
, and Galbraith settled for an undisclosed sum and admitted that the 'allegation referred to was wholly untrue'.''Church members win 'cult' libel damages'', The Daily Telegraph, 21 February 2001 The Independent Conservatives were instrumental in encouraging Martin Bell to stand for the Brentwood and Ongar constituency in the 2001 general election. The party was dissolved and removed from the Electoral Commission register on 18 November 2003.


Footnotes

{{reflist Conservative Party (UK) breakaway groups Political parties established in 1999 Defunct political parties in England 1999 establishments in England