Is your councillor a freemason?
FREEMASONRY is still alive and well among councillors in North Devon and Torridge, according to a survey by the
North Devon Journal
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MEETING PLACE: The Masonic Temple in Ilfracombe.
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This newspaper asked every member of North Devon Council and Torridge District Council if they were a freemason.
Some 11% of councillors said they were members of the society — and more members said they had been freemasons in the past.
But freemason Phil Daniel (Cons) was not sure if it was in the public interest to report he was a member.
He added: "I have never kept it secret that I am a mason, in fact I am proud to be one, especially in the light of all the good charity work that we do. Did you know that a UK lodge raised a million pounds in one year for a particular charity?
"So far as I am concerned the only secrecy is how the meetings are conducted and I do not see that there is any need for outsiders to know every little detail of the proceedings."
Although the majority of councillors are not freemasons, the investigation established that local politicians are roughly ten times more likely to be masons than non-councillors.
And many of the councillors who responded to our inquiry also put forward strong views about freemasonry and its role in local politics.
There are five freemasons on North Devon Council (out of 42 members) and four at Torridge (out of 36 members). In addition to the nine active members, there are at least three former members, meaning that about 15% of the councillor have been, or are, freemasons.
Some members were outraged we had even asked them the question while others said the public had no right to know if elected politicians were freemasons. Others compared freemasonry to a Rotary Club with less desire for publicity.
But other councillors expressed fear and loathing in relation to the freemasons and alleged there had been collusion among freemasons on local councils in the past.
Although councillors are obliged to record membership of groups such as the freemasons on their register of interests, a number of councillors were unaware that freemasonry came under this category.
North Devon councillor David Butt (Lib Dem), who is not a freemason, said it would be interesting to know which senior officers were among "the brethren".
While fellow member Rodney Cann (Ind), who is also not a freemason, said that at one time the masons had a "level of control" at the authority and were known as the "West Buckland mafia", but he thought their influence might have waned.
His views were echoed by other councillors, including Torridge's Len Ford (Lib Dem) who said that, in his opinion, his authority had typically been run by "farmers and freemasons". Councillor Chris Haywood (Lib Dem) believed many people were still reluctant to admit to being freemasons.
But councillor Albert Cook (Ind) said: "I don't think people should have to declare if they are members. I was asked to join but I didn't. I was a magistrate for 28 years."
Freemason Phil Daniel (Cons) said he was not sure if it was in the public interest to report he was a member. He added: "So far as I am concerned the only secrecy is how the meetings are conducted and I do not see that there is any need for outsiders to know every little detail of the proceedings".
But councillor Andrew Eastman (Cons) said he was a proud freemason, not least because of the brethren's extensive charitable work.
On the other hand, Torridge leader James Morrish said the
Journal's
question had "upset" councillors.
Ken Miles, solicitor at Torridge District Council, said all councillors at all authorities were subject to the same requirements to disclose interests. One such requirement, he said, was to declare membership of certain types of organisations, including the freemasons.
The councils' registers of members of interests are available for any elector to view during normal office hours and are kept under review.
26 Comments
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by Flavious Maximus, Bideford
Monday, October 19 2009, 2:35PM
“Lurkio thanks for your kind and constructive comments : I was only being a Devil's advocate and trying to further open the "can of wriggling worms" surrounding this debate.
Whis is the word "charity" and "charitable causes" always bandied about by Masons as if this is some kind of absolution for belonging to the Masons. I certainly do not advocate extreme measures :it was just an "observation of "history., and you don't understand history you are doomed to repeat it.
Best regards
Flavy”
by Lurkio, Here and there
Monday, October 19 2009, 12:47PM
“Presumably Flavious Maximus's also goes under the name of Biggus Twattus if he is using Hitler's actions as support for his arguments against Masons. They may or may not have a perinicious effect on British society, but one has to hope that Mr Maximus is not advocating a programme of wiping them out?”
by Flavious Maximus, Bideford
Monday, October 19 2009, 12:33PM
“In UK Freemason's operate as a " secret society" within an existing so called democratic society.Members believe in mutual self help/protection and this is where the danger lies. Was it a myth that Lord Lucan managed to "disappear" because of his masonic connections or was it "media" speculation ?
Mason's who are Councillors should declare their "interest" because what if a Mason was on a Planning committee and then favoured to pass an application made by a fellow Mason.
If Masons pose no threat then why did Hitler perceive them as a "problem" to the emerging Third Reich and then took active measures gainst them perceiving them "as an enemy within" : The Final solution was not only confined to Jews, many Masons died as well. One could argue that this was because many of the tenets of Masonry are linked to Judaism. Look up" Masonry and the Jews" on the Internet and all will be revealed.
Community is built on mutual trust and perhaps as I said in the beginnning " a society within" goes against that ethos.
Flavious Maximus”
by Phil, Monmouthshire
Wednesday, October 14 2009, 8:56PM
“B. Johnson - freemasonry isn't a secret society. Its existence and aims are not secret, nor are masons required to keep their membership secret. Its meeting places are not secret, indeed we hold open days at them and have websites. If you give most masons the chance they will go on at (sometimes boring!) length about the organisation. The ceremonies are available to the public in book form and have anyway been exposed many times. Your claim that it is a "secret society" is clearly wrong.
Verity - we aren't secretive about our charitable donations. Anyone can go to the masonic charities websites to see what they have been doing. No doubt if we did cross the line into *boasting* about charitable giving by our membership we would be accused of trying to distract attention from all the bad stuff we allegedly get up to!!
To those that rightly note that some masons are are defensive: It's hard not to become *****ly when there is so much irrational prejudice and intolerance about freemasonry: if other sectors of society - gay people, racial minorities, religious groups for example, were subjected to the same prejudice there would quite understandably be outrage, but freemasonry seems to be exempt in *some* people's minds from the standards of fairness and tolerance that are the norm in 21st century Britain.”
by Martin, Barnstaple
Wednesday, October 14 2009, 10:40AM
“I am a mason and i collect recycling goods and very working class and proud of it, so its a defiant NO masons are in powerful jobs - most of in working class jobs and i can only think of a few that are in positions of power. Just like any other club - infact i know more power jobs in the Rotary - so lets ask the question - how many councillors are in the Rotary? see if the journal will run a story on that. Hope you all can see what the journal is doing - trying to play on myths - nothing more than selling papers in a recession - read it online - its cheaper.”
by Anon, Devon
Monday, October 12 2009, 6:30PM
“RE Tony Clapham and other comments - if you look to the right hand side of this story, there is a link to a story about a proud freemason, which is clearly the paper allowing masons to give their views. Every councillor who is a mason was also asked to have their say, if you actually bother to read the full story. Hardly "mason bashing"! Why so sensitive?”
by Tony Clapham, Exeter
Monday, October 12 2009, 6:10PM
“Freemasonry is no more secretive or "clannish" than a political party, Rotary, Probus etc but we do far more charitable work without seeking publicity, than many organisations, stop "Mason Bashing" and invite us to give our views in your paper.”
by Gina, devon
Monday, October 12 2009, 4:10PM
“The only people who have any problem with the masons are either those who have no idea what the society is or those that are jealous because they were not voted in.
My late father saw more backscratching in the British Legion members he knew than the Masons that he knew...and he was a member of both!”
by roy morrish, Fremington
Monday, October 12 2009, 3:26PM
“I wonder if the Journal would publish which of its staff are Freemasons”
by Tom, Bideford
Saturday, October 10 2009, 3:19PM
“Verity, what an idiotic comment! There is no secrecy behind or charity work we just don't brag about it endlessly.
I don't see why membership of freemasonry should be of any more interest to the public then membership of a golf club.”