Ellenor Bland

Ellenor (Ellie) Bland was a British Conservative politician and a councillor on Calne town council in Wiltshire. She stood against Sian James in the Swansea East constituency at the 2005 general election, and was a Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate.

Born in Pontypool in 1956, Bland was educated at Rougemont School and Llantarnam School. She has held a number of key roles in the Welsh Conservative party: she was a member of the campaign team in Calne's 2003 local elections, Michael Ancram's Campaign Support Officer in the Devizes constituency, Secretary of the Women's Conservative Committee and Chairman of Calne Conservative Branch. She is married and has three sons and six grandchildren.

While campaigning for her seat, Bland announced the people of Swansea East’s main concern to be 'the high rate of Council Tax'.

In 2007 she was suspended from the Conservative Party and subsequently joined the United Kingdom Independence Party and stood for election on Calne Town Council and North Wiltshire District Council May 2007. She did not win either. She then stood for the Calne Town Council By-Election for Lickhill Ward and was not elected.

Racist allegations

On 6 November 2006, Bland was referred to the Commission for Racial Equality after allegedly sending a racist message from her council email address. It is claimed that the email, sent to other Conservative councillors and party members, contained a ‘poem’ taken from a white supremacist website, as well as a picture of the white cliffs of Dover with the words ‘piss off - we’re full’ on them. She was suspended from both the council and the Conservative Party as a result.

External links

* [http://www.northwilts.gov.uk/print/calne-index/calne_council_gov_and_democracy/calne_councillors/calne_councillor_profiles/calne_mrs_bland_profile.htm Calne Town Council]
* [http://politics.guardian.co.uk/conservatives/story/0,,1940895,00.html 'Tory councillor suspended over racist poem' - Guardian]
* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,17129-2440687,00.html 'Tories suspend councillor over e-mail poem about immigrants' - The Times]