258 people voted for a man quoting from an anti-Semitic forgery

When Independent candidate Mark Ellis’s campaign pamphlet flopped onto my map, I read it, twice, in shock. I then forget all my journalistic sensibilities and threw it in the bin.

You can see it again on the StraightChoice.org website, but here is a flavour:

"'When this ring is in place, then all the European states will be held as strong claws'.

"(The E.U.’s ring of 12 stars can be seen as a symbolism of the twelve in control."

Ellis also called people that use postal voting, “political dunces” and one of his key campaign issues was the riddance of the English words "England" and "Kent" from maps. Also, the English word "Acre".

Not to forget complaining about the “needless spoiling of the Firework trade” and “compulsory use of headlights in daylight”.

Ellis is also very cross about the “ending of use of filament light bulbs”.

In terms of Ellis’s qualifications to represent our town and its needs in the UK parliament, the leaflet lists “four science A-levels”.

Ellis is quoting heavily from the Protocols of Learned Elders of Zion.

That Ellis is quoting a 1903 anti-Semitic Russian text is worrying enough – it’s certainly not relevant to the issues facing Sevenoaks voters in 2010. But Ellis is actually quoting a fake text which was proven in the 1920s to be literary forgery with great chunks plagiarised from earlier satirical works.

As a British adult, Ellis has a right to stand as an independent candidate. But the really puzzling thing is that 258 Sevenoaks residents actually voted for him – and that’s 25 more than voted for him in 2005.