Jay Lee was a

British National Party The British National Party (BNP) is a far-right, fascist political party in the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in Wigton, Cumbria, and its leader is Adam Walker. A minor party, it has no elected representatives at any level of UK gover ...

(BNP) member, who fought a legal battle after being expelled from a

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...

Legal dispute with ASLEF

Lee, a driver for

Virgin CrossCountry Virgin CrossCountry was a train operating company in the United Kingdom operating the InterCity CrossCountry passenger franchise from January 1997 until November 2007. Virgin CrossCountry operated some of the longest direct rail services in t ...

, stood as a BNP candidate in the 2002 local elections in

Bexley Bexley is an area of south-eastern Greater London, England and part of the London Borough of Bexley. It is sometimes known as Bexley Village or Old Bexley to differentiate the area from the wider borough. It is located east-southeast of Ch ...

and was subsequently expelled from the train drivers' union

ASLEF The Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF) is a British trade union representing train drivers. It is part of the International Transport Workers' Federation and the European Transport Workers' Federation. At the end of ...

for BNP membership. In May 2003, an

Employment Tribunal Employment tribunals are tribunal public bodies in England and Wales and Scotland which have statutory jurisdiction to hear many kinds of disputes between employers and employees. The most common disputes are concerned with unfair dismissal, ...

ruled that Lee had been wrongly expelled from the union, finding ASLEF had breached section 174 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act. On 24 January 2004, the decision was overturned by an

Employment Appeal Tribunal The Employment Appeal Tribunal is a tribunal in England and Wales and Scotland, and is a superior court of record. Its primary role is to hear appeals from Employment Tribunals in England, Scotland and Wales. It also hears appeals from decision ...

, which referred the case back to a new tribunal. On 7 October 2004, the new tribunal ruled in Lee's favour, awarding him at least £5,000. Lee also 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 defi ...

after he was described as a racist, seeking aggravated damages from two senior trade unionists and two journalists. In January 2006, ASLEF paid £30,000 in an out-of-court settlement to cover Lee's legal costs in the libel case, but Lee did not receive any personal damages. ASLEF subsequently took the UK Government to the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that ...

, claiming that UK law was in breach of Article 11 (freedom of assembly and association) of the

European Convention on Human Rights The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR; formally the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) is an international convention to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by ...

. On 27 February 2007, the Court unanimously upheld ASLEF's claim that there had been a violation of the Convention and that ASLEF was entitled to expel Lee from the union. Lee was represented at the Employment Tribunal by Lee Barnes (the BNP "legal officer") and in the libel case by

Adrian Davies Adrian Davies (born 9 February 1969 in Bridgend) is a former Wales international rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century ...

.Lancaster Unity
"'Barmy' Barnes's Blog Backfires"
24 September 2007, accessed 16 January 2009 Lee left the BNP in 2010 due to disagreements with the

Nick Griffin Nicholas John Griffin (born 1 March 1959) is a British politician and white supremacist who represented North West England as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2009 to 2014. He served as chairman and then president of the far-righ ...

leadership. He had been a member for 18 years in total.

Elections contested

UK Parliament European Parliament elections

References

External links

European Court of Human Rights press release

European Court of Human Rights full judgement
Living people British National Party politicians Year of birth missing (living people) {{UK-politician-stub

Legal dispute with ASLEF

Elections contested

See also

References

External links