The British National Party has taken nearly a third of the votes in a council by-election. Lawrence Rustem was just over 10% behind Labour's winner Donald Hemmett in the Valence ward in east London's Barking and Dagenham Borough.
The ward has traditionally been regarded as safe for Labour.
In another by-election in the nearby Havering Borough, at Rainham and Wennington, the BNP's Mark Blunden polled 549 votes, 256 behind Labour.
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