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Published: 5th May, 2011
by DAN CARRIER

HE was one of the most popular Labour councillors in the five-decade history of the borough of Camden, a D-Day veteran and Desert Rat who became the mayor three times. 

But now former councillor Bill Budd, who passed away aged 86 in 2007, has become the focus of the latest row over the future of Camden’s library services.

This week, a Facebook campaign group has been established calling for his help from beyond the grave. The website page uses the name of Cllr Budd – born and bred in Kentish Town and a one-time professional footballer for Queens Park Rangers – to call on councillors to keep all of Camden’s 13 libraries open. 

The site claims to have been established by the deceased councillor and features a picture of him with his war medals. 

Cllr Budd voted against the Labour whip in 1998 and it was his vote that swung the debate to keep libraries open, and a message posted on the page urges Labour councillors to “...vote with their conscience on June the 8th,” the date of the cabinet meeting where a decision is due to be taken.

It adds: “Bill Budd was the brave Labour councillor who defied the whip back in 1998 to vote against Library closures. It was his vote that saved the day and the first time in 35 years he voted against the party. Camden library lovers salute Bill.”

But drawing on his memory to score political points has upset friends of Cllr Budd. 

His former colleague, Labour councillor Roger Robinson, said he was “appalled” by the use of Cllr Budd’s name in the fight against any closures. He said: “I knew Bill very well for many years and I think he would not be at all happy about this.

“He was an open, honest and lovely man and I think he would be very upset by others using his name for political reasons. Whoever has set up this page ought to be ashamed of themselves.”

But library campaigners say Cllr Budd would be only too happy to lend his support to their protest. 

Friends of Chalk Farm Library chairwoman Phillipa Jackson, would not reveal who set the page up – but said she thought invoking Cllr Budd’s memory was a fair ploy.

She said: “I think he would be delighted if he thought it would help, and to know his name lives on as a hero. We hope this will remind councillors to vote with their consciences and not their party. Bill Budd defied the party whip. I did not know Bill personally but I was there in 1998 and it was his vote that saved us. 

“He was a hero to library users and we want to prick councillors’ consciences. We want them to know we will remember at the next elections how they voted and we will name and shame them.”

Council leisure chief Labour councillor Tulip Siddiq, who has seen her department’s budget slashed by 25 per cent, said she believed some library users seemed to believe that the Town Hall had an agenda to cut services instead of having to take difficult decisions in the light of central government cuts to their overall budget.

She said: “To link today’s issues with what happened in 1998 is wrong – we are different councillors. 

“I am doing my best to make the threat of library closures as remote as possible.