This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

An investigation is under way at a school in North Yorkshire after a governor claimed he was forced to quit his post because he had joined Ukip.

The party alleges Mike Ward was declared “persona non grata” by the head teacher at Eskdale School in Whitby because Ukip’s policy on immigration was incompatible with the ethos of the school.

Ward has been a governor there for eight years and chairman for the past five, Ukip said.

Around a month ago Ward declared that he had joined Ukip and would be representing the party on Scarborough council, having originally been elected as an independent councillor in a 2013 byelection.

Ward claimed that shortly after his announcement head Sue Whelan called him into school. In a statement, he said: “She then asked me to resign, saying Ukip’s policies were against the ethos of the school.

“I was astonished as politics had never played a part in my time as a governor, but after some soul searching over the weekend and not wishing to cause the school any further issues I tendered my resignation, which she accepted.”

Eskdale School said it did not wish to comment on the matter, but the remaining governors are investigating the circumstances surrounding Ward’s resignation.

Another Ukip councillor in Scarborough, Sam Cross, has lodged a formal complaint with North Yorkshire county council over Ward’s resignation on behalf of Ukip members on North Yorkshire and Scarborough councils.

He insists Ward was an experienced governor who had put in many hours helping the school prepare and submit a business case for extending the school age range from 14 to 16.

Cross said: “He’d been a teacher and a university lecturer for 42 years and at no point had he brought his politics into the classroom. This is discrimination.”

He claimed the head raised concerns about “various Ukip policies” but declined to say which.

When asked whether she may have objected to Ukip’s proposal to stop immigrant children from attending state schools for their first five years in the country, Cross said that wasn’t Ukip policy – despite the “what we stand for” section on Ukip’s official website saying: “Immigrants must financially support themselves and their dependents for five years. This means private health insurance (except emergency medical care), private education and private housing – they should pay into the pot before they take out of it.”

The Ukip press office said Ward did not want to talk directly to the media on Thursday, but the party was keen to use his story as another example of its members being unfairly maligned.

The party’s leader, Nigel Farage, said: “It’s atrocious that Cllr Mike Ward, a long-standing, conscientious and dedicated school governor, has been forced to resign as a governor at Eskdale School, a school he deeply cares for, just because he is a member of Ukip.”

In December 2012, Ukip gained significant political mileage after claiming that a couple in Rotherham had been prevented from fostering simply because they were members of Ukip.

A spokesperson for North Yorkshire county council said: “We understand that the governing body is taking this complaint very seriously and will undertake an independent investigation.”

Last December, inspectors from Ofsted downgraded Eskdale school from “outstanding” to “requires improvement”, singling out the school’s leaders and management, including governors, for criticism.