The Nationalist Alliance was a far-right movement in British politics that aimed to serve as an umbrella group for the various white supremacist groups in Britain . The party was registered with the Electoral Commission in 2005, although its registration has since lapsed.
111-589: Founded in 2004 by majority-BNP members, the NA sought to build a closer alliance with other groups on the far right that were not affiliated with and worked outside of the British National Party . One such alliance was a potential merge with the Freedom Party, though this did not come to pass, as Adrian Davies, chairman of the party, felt reluctant to join with some of the more extremist elements of
222-719: A "Nazi and an admirer of Adolf Hitler ". In response Brons released a statement on his website, stating: In 1965, Brons joined John Bean 's British National Party (not the same as the current incarnation), which later merged with the League of Empire Loyalists to form the National Front (NF) in 1967. Brons was voted onto the National Front's national directorate in 1974, and "as the NF's education officer, he hosted seminars on racial nationalism and tried to give its racism
333-406: A 2009 radio interview, Griffin referred to this as a "bloodless genocide". It presents the idea that white Britons are engaged in a battle against their own extinction as a racial group. It reiterated a sense of urgency about the situation, claiming that both high immigration rates and high birth rates among ethnic minorities were a threat to the white British. In 2010, it for instance was promoting
444-401: A BNP government they would be "repatriated" to their countries of origin. In the early 1990s it produced stickers with the slogan "Our Final Solution: Repatriation". Tyndall understood this to be a two-stage process that would take ten to twenty years, with some non-whites initially leaving willingly and the others then being forcibly deported. During the 1990s, party modernisers suggested that
555-732: A bulletin to BNP branches declaring C18 to be a proscribed organisation, furthermore suggesting that it may have been established by agents of the state to discredit the party. To counter the group's influence among militant British nationalists, he secured the American white nationalist militant William Pierce as a guest speaker at the BNP's annual rally in November 1995. John Tyndall was both [the BNPs] greatest asset and its greatest drawback. His persistence, rock-like reliability and leadership had kept
666-502: A change in principle. Griffin also sought to shed the BNP's image as a single-issue party , by embracing a diverse array of social and economic issues. Griffin renamed the party's monthly newspaper from British Nationalist to The Voice of Freedom , and established a new journal, Identity . The party developed community-based campaigns, through which it targeted local issues, particularly in those areas with large numbers of skilled white working-class people who were disaffected with
777-495: A dual view, in that I realise that he is well intentioned, I feel that our public image may suffer considerable damage as a result of these activities. I am however open to correction on this point." The second letter requested materials such as a swastika , a copy of the Horst-Wessel-Lied , and posters and stickers in furtherance of Brons' goal of forming a local NSM group. Questioned in 2009 about his membership of
888-399: A form of " cultural genocide ", and stating that it promoted the interests of non-whites at the expense of the white British population. However, internal documents produced and circulated under Griffin's leadership demonstrated that—despite the shift in its public statements—it remained privately committed to biological racist ideas. The party emphasises what it sees as the need to protect
999-531: A leading member and even wrote a number of articles for the Political Soldier -supporting Nationalism Today , he was generally opposed to the positions of the 'official' National Front and resigned from the chairmanship in November 1984. He left the 'official' party altogether in 1986 but, unlike Webster who had been expelled in 1984, Brons became involved with the Flag Group , an NF Fronde. It
1110-801: A lecturer at Harrogate College in 1970, and worked there until 2005; lecturing in A-Level law and government, and politics. He has two daughters. Brons began his political career in 1964 when, aged seventeen, he joined the National Socialist Movement (NSM), a Neo-Nazi organisation founded on Adolf Hitler 's birthday by Colin Jordan . In 1980, Searchlight published two letters Brons had written in 1965 to Françoise Dior , Jordan's wife, in which he mentioned meeting an NSM member who "mentioned such activities as bombing synagogues", stating in response to this that: "On this subject I have
1221-732: A magazine produced by the Croydon BNP. In 1998, these articles resulted in Griffin being convicted of inciting racial hatred . Andrew Brons Andrew Henry William Brons (born 3 June 1947) is a British politician and former MEP. Long active in far-right politics in Britain, he was elected as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Yorkshire and the Humber for the fascist British National Party (BNP) at
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#17327908174811332-401: A massive programme of repatriation and resettlement overseas of those peoples of non-European origin already resident in this country. — The BNP's first policy on repatriation, 1982 Opposition to immigration has been central to the BNP's political platform. It has engaged in xenophobic campaigns which emphasise the idea that immigrants and ethnic minorities are both different from, and
1443-632: A more "scientific" basis." Brons contested Harrogate for the National Front in both February and October 1974 general elections, polling 1,186 votes (2.3%) in February and 1,030 (2.3%) in October . When Labour's Roy Jenkins resigned his parliamentary seat on appointment as European Commission President in early 1977, Brons contested the Birmingham Stechford by-election for the National Front. He polled 2,955 votes (8.2%), forcing
1554-460: A national television platform with mainstream panellists. Griffin's performance was however widely regarded as poor. Despite its success, there was dissent in the party. In 2007 a group of senior members known as the "December rebels" challenged Griffin, calling for internal party democracy and financial transparency, but were expelled. In 2008, a group of BNP activists in Bradford split to form
1665-495: A period of change in the party. Influenced by Le Pen's National Front in France, Griffin sought to widen the BNP's appeal to individuals who were concerned about immigration but had not previously voted for the extreme-right. The BNP replaced Tyndall's policy of compulsory deportation of non-whites to a voluntary system whereby non-whites would be given financial incentives to emigrate. It downplayed biological racism and stressed
1776-493: A political chameleon, Griffin had once been considered a party hardliner before switching allegiance to the modernisers in the late 1990s. In his youth, he had been involved in the NF as well as Third Positionist groups like Political Soldier and the International Third Position . Criticising his predecessors for fuelling the image of the BNP as "thugs, losers and troublemakers", Griffin inaugurated
1887-564: A state that "should impose its will on people", claiming that it was the anti-fascist group Unite Against Fascism —and not the BNP—who were the real fascists. More broadly, many on Britain's extreme-right sought to avoid the term "British fascism" because of its electorally unpalatable connotations, utilising "British nationalism" in its place. After Griffin took control of the party, it made increasing use of nativist themes in order to emphasise its "British" credentials. In its published material,
1998-467: A threat to, the white British and white Irish populations. In its campaign material it presented non-whites both as a source of crime in the UK, and as a socio-economic threat to the white British population by taking jobs, housing, and welfare away from them. It engaged in welfare chauvinism , calling for white Britons to be prioritised by the UK's welfare state. Party literature included such as claims as that
2109-653: A view akin to those of earlier fascists such as Hitler and Arnold Leese . The BNP adheres to an ideology of ethnic nationalism . It promotes the idea that not all citizens of the United Kingdom belong to the British nation. Instead, it states that the nation only belongs to "the English, Scots, Irish and Welsh along with the limited numbers of peoples of European descent, who have arrived centuries or decades ago and who have fully integrated into our society". This
2220-429: A vote share of 18% in the areas it contested. In Barking and Dagenham, it saw 12 of its 13 candidates elected to the council. At the 2008 London Assembly election , the BNP gained 130,000 votes, reaching the 5% mark and thus gaining an Assembly seat. At the 2009 European Parliament election , the party gained almost 1 million votes, with two of its candidates, Nick Griffin and Andrew Brons , being elected as Members of
2331-632: A wider alliance amongst the far-right in Britain by working closely with the National Front and the England First Party (EFP), whilst holding a large dual membership with the Wolf's Hook White Brotherhood, a splinter group of the BNP founded in 2004. The white supremacist organisation Patriots of the White European Resistance ("P.O.W.E.R.") described the NA as a "brother of the 816" in an April 2007 newsletter, referring to
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#17327908174812442-411: Is "Anglo-centric". The party employed militaristic rhetoric under both Tyndall and Griffin's leadership; under the latter for example its published material spoke of a "war without uniforms" and a "war for our survival as a people". Tyndall described the BNP as a revolutionary party, calling it a "guerrilla army operating in occupied territory". The British National Party exists to secure a future for
2553-535: Is a far-right , fascist political party in the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in Wigton , Cumbria , and is led by Adam Walker . A minor party , it has no elected representatives at any level of UK government . The party was founded in 1982, and reached its greatest level of success in the 2000s, when it had over fifty seats in local government , one seat on the London Assembly , and two Members of
2664-637: Is a group that Griffin referred to as the "home people" or "the folk". According to Tyndall, "The BNP is a racial nationalist party which believes in Britain for the British, that is to say racial separatism." Richard Edmonds in 1993 told The Guardian ' s Duncan Campbell that "we [the BNP] are 100% racist". The BNP does not regard UK citizens who are not ethnic white Europeans as "British", and party literature calls on supporters to avoid referring to such individuals as "Black Britons" or "Asian Britons", instead describing them as "racial foreigners". Tyndall believed
2775-408: Is not some asinine and bogus attempt to impose British cultural values on immigrants, but simply to commence repatriating them. — Lee Barnes, senior BNP leader, 2005 The BNP calls for the non-white population of Britain to either be reduced in size or removed from the country altogether. Under Tyndall's leadership, it promoted the compulsory removal of non-whites from the UK, stating that under
2886-418: Is supposed to have heard "white power" and "death to Jews". When a police officer of Malaysian origin asked the group to disperse, the policeman said that Brons replied: "I am aware of my legal rights. Inferior beings like you probably do not appreciate the principle of free speech," - an allegation which Brons has always denied. His appeal to Leeds Crown Court was unsuccessful. Although Brons continued as
2997-596: The 1997 general election , it contested 55 seats and gained an average 1.4% of the vote. In the early 1990s, the paramilitary group Combat 18 (C18) was formed to protect BNP events from anti-fascists. In 1992, C18 carried out attacks on left-wing targets like an anarchist bookshop and the headquarters of the Morning Star . Tyndall was angered by C18's growing influence on the BNP's street activities, and by August 1993, C18 activists were physically clashing with other BNP members. In December 1993, Tyndall issued
3108-562: The 2005 general election , the BNP expanded its number of candidates to 119 and targeted specific regions. Its average vote in the areas it contested rose to 4.3%. It gained significantly more support in three seats, achieving 10% in Burnley , 13% in Dewsbury , and 17% in Barking . In the 2006 local elections the party gained 220,000 votes, with 33 additional councillors, having averaged
3219-693: The 2009 European Parliament election and held the seat until May 2014. He was the chairman of the National Front in the early 1980s. He resigned the BNP whip in October 2012 and became patron of the far-right British Democratic Party . He did not seek re-election in 2014. Brons, who has English and German ancestry, was born in Hackney , East London , two years after the end of the Second World War . He spent most of his childhood in Sidcup , on
3330-497: The 2019 general election in Hornchurch and Upminster , where he came last. The BNP has been essentially inactive since 2019, and has not put forward a single candidate in any elections since 2019, with the only evidence of any activity being the occasional post on its website or Twitter account. Many academic historians and political scientists have described the BNP as a far-right party, or as an extreme-right party. As
3441-558: The Combat 18 paramilitary—its name a coded reference to Nazi German leader Adolf Hitler —to protect its events from anti-fascist protesters. A growing 'moderniser' faction was frustrated by Tyndall's leadership, and ousted him in 1999. The new leader Nick Griffin sought to broaden the BNP's electoral base by presenting a more moderate image, targeting concerns about rising immigration rates, and emphasising localised community campaigns. This resulted in increased electoral growth throughout
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3552-676: The European Elections 2009 in the Yorkshire and the Humber constituency , and upon becoming the BNP's first Member of the European Parliament he declined the college's offer. Brons stood as a parliamentary candidate for the Keighley constituency at the 2010 general election . He came fourth in the election with 1,962 votes. In August 2010, Brons and fellow members of the BNP Policy Committee were asked by
3663-860: The European Parliament Brons was designated to the Delegation to the EU-Croatia Joint Parliamentary Committee this being a joint delegation to create dialogue with the Croatian Parliament at the time Croatia was a candidate country . On 29/30 March 2010, the delegation including Brons met in Zagreb , Brons spoke in the Croatian Parliament on the state of play of the accession negotiations and EU-Croatia relations in
3774-549: The Labour Party government. For instance, in Burnley it campaigned for lower speed limits on housing estates and against the closure of a local swimming bath, while in South Birmingham it targeted pensioners' concerns about youth gangs. In 2006, the party urged its activists to carry out local activities like cleaning up children's play areas and removing graffiti while wearing high-vis jackets emblazoned with
3885-530: The Liberal candidate into fourth place. Following the poor showing by the National Front at the 1979 general election , and John Tyndall 's subsequent departure, Brons became Chairman of the NF in 1980 and in doing so broke with his former mentor. Brons, though, led the NF in name only. Initially Martin Webster , National Activities Organiser, exerted the most influence, before the Political Soldier wing of
3996-556: The UK Independence Party for its decline, accusing the latter of stealing BNP policies and slogans. In July 2014, Griffin resigned and was succeeded by Adam Walker as acting chairman. In October, Griffin was expelled from the party for "trying to cause disunity [in the party] by deliberately fabricating a state of crisis". In January 2015, membership of the party numbered 500, down from 4,220 in December 2013. At
4107-486: The general election in 2015 , the BNP fielded eight candidates, down from 338 in 2010. The party's vote share declined 99.7% from its 2010 result. In January 2016, the Electoral Commission de-registered the BNP for failing to pay its annual registration fee of £25. At this time, it was estimated that BNP assets totalled less than £50,000. According to the commission, "BNP candidates cannot, at present, use
4218-531: The 2000s, to the extent that it became the most electorally successful far-right party in British history. Concerns regarding financial mismanagement resulted in Griffin being removed as leader in 2014. By this point, the BNP's membership and vote share had declined dramatically, groups like Britain First and National Action had splintered off, and the English Defence League had supplanted it as
4329-467: The BNP as a "Nazi organisation", while the Anti-Nazi League published leaflets describing the BNP as the "British Nazi Party". Copsey suggested that while the BNP under Tyndall could be described as neo-Nazi, it was not "crudely mimetic" of the original German Nazism. Davey characterised the BNP as a "populist ethno-nationalist" party. The [BNP's] smart modernized veneer... is superficial;
4440-451: The BNP as being fascist in ideology. Others have instead described it as neo-fascist , a term which the historian Nigel Copsey argued was more exact. Academic observers—including the historians Copsey, Graham Macklin, and Roger Griffin , and the political theologian Andrew P. Davey—have argued that Nick Griffin's reforms were little more than a cosmetic process to obfuscate the party's fascist roots. According to Copsey, under Griffin
4551-505: The BNP built links with far-right parties across Europe and created various sub-groups, including a record label and trade union. The BNP attracted most support from within White British working-class communities in northern and eastern England, particularly among middle-aged and elderly men. A poll in the 2000s suggested that most Britons favoured a ban on the party. It faced much opposition from anti-fascists, religious organisations,
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4662-462: The BNP gained one council seat—won by Derek Beackon in the East London district of Millwall —after a campaign that played to local whites who were angry at the perceived preferential treatment received by Bangladeshi migrants in social housing . Following an anti-BNP campaign launched by local religious groups and the Anti-Nazi League , it lost this seat during the 1994 local elections . In
4773-413: The BNP move away from a policy of compulsory repatriation and toward a voluntary system, whereby non-white persons would be offered financial incentives to leave the UK. This idea, adopted from Powellism , was deemed more electorally palatable. When Griffin took control of the party, the policy of voluntary repatriation was officially adopted, with the party suggesting that this could be financed through
4884-514: The BNP stated that "family size is a private matter" but still called for white Britons who are "of intelligent, healthy and industrious stock" to have large families and thus raise the white British birth-rate. The encouragement of high birth rates among white British families continued under Griffin's leadership. Under Tyndall's leadership, the BNP promoted eugenics , calling for the forced sterilisation of those with genetically transmittable disabilities. In party literature, it talked of improving
4995-632: The BNP was "fascism recalibrated — a form of neo-fascism — to suit contemporary sensibilities". Macklin noted that despite Griffin's 'modernisation' project, the BNP retained its ideological continuity with earlier fascist groups and thus had not transformed itself into a genuinely "post-fascist" party. In this it was distinct from parties like the Italian National Alliance of Gianfranco Fini , which has been credited with successfully shedding its fascist past and becoming post-fascist. The anti-fascist activist Gerry Gable referred to
5106-574: The BNP was the only party which could "do anything effective about the swamping of Britain by the Third World" or "lead the native peoples of Britain in our version of the New Crusade that must be organised if Europe is not to sink under the Islamic yoke". Much of its published material made claims about a forthcoming race war and promoted the conspiracy theory about white genocide . In
5217-488: The BNP's association with political violence and older fascist groups in the public eye. As a result, BNP organisers began to favour indoor rallies, although street marches continued to be held throughout the mid-to-late 1980s. Through the streets now we are marching. Like an army as to war. For the cause of race and nation. With our banners to the fore. Into battle, into battle, into battle BNP! Into battle BNP! — BNP marching song, 1982 In its early years,
5328-470: The BNP's involvement in elections was "irregular and intermittent", and for its first two decades it faced consistent electoral failure. It suffered from low finances and few personnel, and its leadership was aware that its electoral viability was weakened by the anti-immigration rhetoric of Conservative Party Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher . In the 1983 general election the BNP stood 54 candidates, although it only campaigned in five seats. Although it
5439-548: The BNP), the party is by and large defunct. The name had been used 'in house' for an initiative driven by Andrew Brons to achieve a reconciliation and joint electoral action between the Flag Group and the BNP in 1986, a move which ultimately came to nothing. The modern incarnation of the Nationalist Alliance has no connection to this proposal. British National Party The British National Party ( BNP )
5550-533: The BNP, Eddy Morrison , NA party leader and ex-leader of the White Nationalist Party , and John Wood, former senior member of the WNP. Towards the end of the meeting, the club had some of its windows smashed by unknown assailants; the club secretary later stated that the event had been booked under a false address with the booking secretary, and that he had been unaware of the nature of the group before
5661-662: The British 'racial stock' by removing "inferior strains within the indigenous races of the British Isles". Tyndall argued that medical professionals should be responsible for determining whom to sterilise, while a lowering of welfare benefits would discourage breeding among those he deemed to be genetic inferiors. In his magazine Spearhead , Tyndall also stated that "the gas chamber system" should be used to eliminate "sub-human elements", "perverts", and "asocials" from British society. Immigration into Britain by non-Europeans... should be terminated forthwith, and we should organise
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#17327908174815772-628: The British Empire and the British race. He believed that both democratic government and immigration into Europe were parts of the Jewish conspiracy to weaken other races. In an early edition of Spearhead published in the 1960s, Tyndall wrote that "if Britain were to become Jew-clean she would have no nigger neighbours to worry about... It is the Jews who are our misfortune: T-h-e J-e-w-s. Do you hear me? THE JEWS?" Tyndall added Holocaust denial to
5883-704: The CNU held a conference at the Charing Cross Hotel in London, at which 50 far-right activists agreed to the formation of the BNP. The BNP was formally launched on 7 April 1982 at a press conference in Victoria . Led by Tyndall, most of its early members came from the NNF, although others were defectors from the NF, British Movement , British Democratic Party , and Nationalist Party . Tyndall remarked that there
5994-713: The Croatian people, this time in the European Parliament. He used the opportunity to express his concerns over the double standards of the EU in relation to the Lisbon Treaty ; he also questioned member states governments' and media impartiality regarding the EU Question, saying: In November 2012, Brons and several other ex-BNP activists formed the British Democratic Party with himself as president of
6105-483: The Democratic Nationalists. In November 2008, the BNP membership list was posted to WikiLeaks, after appearing briefly on a weblog. A year later, in October 2009, another list of BNP members was leaked. Eddy Butler then led a challenge to Griffin's leadership, alleging financial corruption, but he had insufficient support. The rebels who supported him split into two groups: one section remained as
6216-401: The European Parliament . It has been largely inactive since 2019. Taking its name from that of a defunct 1960s far-right party , the BNP was created by John Tyndall and other former members of the fascist National Front (NF). During the 1980s and 1990s, the BNP placed little emphasis on contesting elections, in which it did poorly. Instead, it focused on street marches and rallies, creating
6327-468: The European Parliament for North West England and Yorkshire and the Humber respectively. That election also saw extreme-right parties winning seats for various other EU member-states. This victory marked a major watershed for the party. Amid significant public controversy , Griffin was invited to appear on the BBC show Question Time in October 2009, the first time that the BNP had been invited to share
6438-572: The European Parliament, Brons and his fellow BNP MEP Nick Griffin were heavily critical of any legislation, current or pending, which they saw as designed to reduce the national sovereignty and independence of member states or to have a negative impact on Britain. He was a member of the Constitutional Affairs Committee and a substitute for the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee . On entering
6549-411: The NA as a way to collect money from its members, a charge Morrison denied. Despite the split, the Nationalist Alliance continued to operate as a political entity, offering a political platform for nativist politics in favour of deportation, capital punishment and white nationalism . The Alliance - largely under the direction of former Burnly BNP activist Sharon Pastow - continued their moves towards
6660-503: The NA. Seeking to further ties with other far-right activists, the party held a meeting attended by members of the White Nationalist Party and the National Front at Rawdon Conservative Club in September 2005 as a memorial to John Tyndall , British fascist political activist and previous chairman of the National Front. The event featured an address by a number of notable far-right nationalists, such as Richard Edmonds , member of
6771-524: The NF in 1980. In June 1980 Tyndall established a rival, the New National Front (NNF). At the recommendation of Ray Hill —who was secretly an anti-fascist spy seeking to sow disharmony among Britain's far-right—Tyndall decided to unite an array of extreme-right groups as a single party. To this end, Tyndall established a Committee for Nationalist Unity (CNU) in January 1982. In March 1982,
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#17327908174816882-406: The National Front (as the Flag Group became known on the dissolution of the 'official' party in 1989) until 1999. Upon his retirement, Brons joined the BNP in 2005. He subsequently wrote at least two articles for the BNP's official magazine Identity . Brons had a "tentative agreement" to return to work at Harrogate College in September 2009. He had however been selected as BNP lead candidate for
6993-443: The National Socialist Movement, Brons said, "People do silly things when they are seventeen. Peter Mandelson was once a member of the Young Communist League but we don't continue to call him a Communist." Brons was forced to return to the issue in March 2011 when – on the BBC 's Daily Politics programme – Dominic Carman , the Liberal Democrat candidate for the 2011 Barnsley Central by-election , called Brons, in his absence,
7104-423: The Speaker of the Syrian People's Assembly, Mohammad Jihad al-Laham , and the Prime Minister Wael Nader al-Halqi . Griffin claims he was influential in the speaker of Syria's Parliament writing an open letter to British MPs urging them to "turn Great Britain from the warpath" by not intervening in the Syrian conflict . Griffin lost his European Parliament seat in the May 2014 European election . The party blamed
7215-459: The UK's foremost far-right group. Ideologically positioned on the extreme-right or far-right of British politics, the BNP has been characterised as fascist or neo-fascist by political scientists . Under Tyndall's leadership, it was more specifically regarded as neo-Nazi . The party is ethnic nationalist , and it once espoused the view that only white people should be citizens of the United Kingdom. It calls for an end to non-white migration into
7326-445: The UK. It called initially for the compulsory expulsion of non-whites but, since 1999, it has advocated voluntary removals with financial incentives. It promotes biological racism and the white genocide conspiracy theory , calling for global racial separatism and condemning interracial relationships . Under Tyndall, the BNP emphasised anti-semitism and Holocaust denial , promoting the conspiracy theory that Jews seek to dominate
7437-435: The anti-Semitic beliefs inherited from Chesterton, believing that The Holocaust was a hoax created by the Jews to gain sympathy for themselves and thus aid their plot for world domination. Among those to endorse such anti-Semitic conspiracy theories was Griffin, who promoted them in his 1997 pamphlet, Who are the Mind Benders? Griffin also engaged in Holocaust denial, publishing articles promoting such ideas in The Rune ,
7548-476: The area's locals voting for the BNP. At the 2010 general election , the BNP had hoped to make a breakthrough by gaining a seat in the House of Commons , although it failed to achieve this. It nevertheless gained the fifth largest national vote share, with 1.9% of the vote, representing the most successful electoral performance for an extreme-right party in UK history. In the 2010 local elections , it lost all of its councillors in Barking and Dagenham. Nationally,
7659-502: The author of a work of holocaust denial , Did Six Million Really Die? Brons edited the National Front's 1983 general election manifesto, which "called for a global apartheid to prevent the 'extinction' of whites everywhere." The manifesto declared that "The National Front rejects the whole concept of multiracialism. We recognise inherent racial differences in Man. The races of Man are profoundly unequal in their characteristics, potential and abilities." On at least two occasions in
7770-486: The autumn. Following constitutional changes rushed through by Nick Griffin , the leadership election was brought forward to the summer. Brons was narrowly defeated, receiving 1,148 votes to Griffin's 1,157. On 16 October 2012, Brons resigned the BNP whip following disputes with the party leader Griffin, stating that Griffin had described him "in a text to his attack dogs as 'vermin'". He continued as an MEP until 2014 when he did not stand for re-election. Upon election to
7881-467: The chairman and advisory council to carry out a consultation of members about possible changes to the party's constitution, with particular reference to two areas, governance of the party nationally and the rules for internal elections. On 8 November, his findings were published online. At the end of May 2011, Brons announced that he would seek nomination for the leadership of the British National Party in an internal election which would have been held in
7992-695: The core of the Party remains ideologically fascist, and this was nowhere more apparent than in the BNP manifesto for the 2010 General Election, which returned to a clutch of traditional fascist themes including the bond of blood, homeland, the decadence of contemporary culture, a nostalgia for folk traditions and heritage, and an emphasis on stricter discipline in education and society. During the election campaign anti-Semitism, racism and neo-Nazi sympathies were identified on candidates' social network sites. — Political theologian Andrew P. Davey, 2011 In his writings, Griffin acknowledged that much of his 'modernisation'
8103-424: The country. Speaking on the BBC 's Andrew Marr Show in 2009, Griffin declared that, unlike Tyndall, he "does not want all-white UK" because "nobody out there wants it or would pay for it". My experience as a campaigner against the multi-racial idea in Britain and in favour of our country's centuries-old tradition of racial homogeneity has brought home to me beyond any doubt the fact that Jews are to be found at
8214-492: The cultural incompatibility of different racial groups. This emphasis on culture allowed it to foreground Islamophobia ; following the September 11 attacks in 2001, it launched a "Campaign Against Islam". It stressed the claim that the BNP was " not a racist party" but an "organised response to anti-white racism". At the same time Griffin sought to reassure the party's base that these reforms were based on pragmatism and not
8325-563: The disproportionately high levels of funding being directed to the Asian-dominated Daneshouse ward. This breakthrough generated public anxieties about the party, with a poll finding that six in ten supported a ban on it. In the 2003 local elections , the BNP gained 13 additional councillors, including seven more in Burnley; the party received over 100,000 votes in this election. Concerned that much of its potential vote
8436-413: The early-1980s, Brons' far-right activities caused difficulties for his employer: on 24 June 1981, more than 500 student and Anti-Nazi League campaigners marched through Harrogate, taking over the college building where Brons was teaching; six protesters were arrested. In February 1982, more than 300 protesters clashed with 100 National Front supporters outside Brons' classroom in central Harrogate, and in
8547-628: The established mainstream parties. In turn, the BNP gained rapidly growing levels of support over the coming years. In July 2000, it came second in the council elections for the North End of the London Borough of Bexley , its best result since 1993. At the 2001 general election it gained 16% of the vote in one constituency and over 10% in two others. In the 2002 local elections the BNP gained four councillors, three of whom were in Burnley, where it had capitalised on white anger surrounding
8658-403: The event took place. The meeting held at Rawdon brought media attention upon both the NA and the far-right activists affiliated with the event, and leading to its eventual split. A photograph of some of the members inside the meeting appeared in an edition of Searchlight magazine , leading to accusations made amongst the activists as to where and from whom the image had come from. Along with
8769-542: The failure of the Freedom Party initiative and the rise of ideological clashes within the party, the NA split in September of 2005, with Morrison, Wood and Watmough breaking off to form the British Peoples Party . The split led to recriminations across the far-right movement, Morrison himself being verbally attacked by Martin Webster - former far-right leader and political activist - on Webster's online bulletin, Webster having accused Morrison of simply using
8880-728: The forefront of opposition to British racial self-preservation. — Tyndall's belief that a Jewish conspiracy was behind multiracial Britain Under Tyndall's leadership, the BNP was openly anti-Semitic . From A. K. Chesterton , Tyndall had inherited a belief that there was a global conspiracy of Jews bent on world domination, viewing the Protocols of the Elders of Zion as genuine evidence for this. He believed that Jews were responsible for both communism and international finance capitalism and that they were responsible for undermining
8991-505: The greeting of "816" reported to have been used by members of the organisation. It was reported by Searchlight that at least at least four known members of the NA were known to have been members of the online forums run by P.O.W.E.R. at some point. In November 2006, a prominent member of the Nationalist Alliance, Mick "Belsen" Sanderson, was stabbed to death in Nottingham following a fight with fellow NA member John Pakulski. Pakulski
9102-434: The idea that at current levels, "indigenous Britons" would be a minority within the UK by 2060. The immigrant communities in Britain are... colonies filled with colonists. They are alien islands inside our towns and cities with their own laws and cultures. They will never integrate as they did not come here to integrate, but to re-create their own cultures in our country. The fact is that the only solution to Multi-Culturalism
9213-488: The increasingly more prominent EFP. The Wolf's Hook White Brotherhood - which had been considered a sister organisation to the NA - has since ceased to exist, with most of its membership transferring to the Racial Volunteer Force . Beyond a former internet presence and its occasional publication Axiom (succeeding its two previous publications, Vanguard and Imperium , which have since been published by
9324-466: The indigenous peoples of these islands in the North Atlantic which have been our homeland for a millennia. — The BNP, 2005 The BNP adheres to biological racist ideas, displaying an obsession with the perceived differences of racial groups. Both Tyndall and Griffin believed that there was a biologically distinct white-skinned "British race" which was one branch of a wider Nordic race ,
9435-637: The internal Reform Group, the other left the BNP to form the British Freedom Party . By 2010, there was discontent among the party's grassroots, a result of the change to its white-only membership policy and rumours of financial corruption among its leadership. Some defected to the National Front or left to form parties like the Britannica Party . Anti-fascist groups like Hope not Hate had campaigned extensively in Barking to stop
9546-419: The labels "fascist" and "Nazi", stating that it is neither. In its 1992 electoral manifesto, it said that "Fascism was Italian. Nazism was German. We are British. We will do things our own way; we will not copy foreigners". In 2009, Griffin that the term "fascism" was simply "a smear that comes from the far left"; he added that the term should be reserved for groups that engaged in "political violence" and desired
9657-432: The mainstream media, and most politicians, and BNP members were banned from various professions. The British National Party (BNP) was founded by the extreme-right political activist John Tyndall . Tyndall had been involved in neo-Nazi groups since the late 1950s before leading the far-right National Front (NF) throughout most of the 1970s. Following an argument with senior party member Martin Webster , he resigned from
9768-587: The movement going, but with almost imperceptible growth since its 1982 foundation. — Senior BNP member John Bean In the early 1990s, a "moderniser" faction emerged within the party, favouring a more electorally palatable strategy and an emphasis on building grassroots support to win local elections. It was impressed by the electoral gains made by a number of extreme-right parties in continental Europe — such as Jörg Haider 's Austrian Freedom Party and Jean-Marie Le Pen 's National Front — which had been achieved by both switching focus from biological racism to
9879-485: The outskirts of London, before his family moved to Harrogate when he was eleven years old. He attended Harrogate Grammar School until the age of sixteen, when he left to join the civil service, where he remained for 16 months before sitting part-time A-Levels in law and economics at Harrogate College . He studied politics at the University of York , and graduated in 1970. After graduation, Brons started working as
9990-497: The party became more important. Brons tended to support the Flag Group although he lost influence to Ian Anderson and faded from his leading position. Nevertheless, Brons had links to the Political Soldier wing and is credited with having introduced the concept of distributism into the party, which formed a central part of the new ideology of the NF. Brons co-edited the NF journal New Nation , with Richard Verrall ,
10101-408: The party logo. Griffin believed that Peak Oil and a growth in Third World migrants arriving in Britain would result in a BNP government coming to power by 2040. The close of the twentieth century produced more favourable conditions for the extreme-right in Britain as a result of increased public concerns about immigration and established Muslim communities coupled with growing dissatisfaction with
10212-468: The party made appeals to the idea of Britain and Britishness in a manner not dissimilar to mainstream political parties. In this material it has also made prominent use of the Union flag and the colours red, white, and blue. Roger Griffin noted that the terms "Britain" and "England" appear "confusingly interchangeable" in BNP literature, while Copsey has pointed out that the BNP's form of British nationalism
10323-449: The party's name, descriptions or emblems on the ballot paper at elections." A month later, the party was re-registered. There were ten BNP candidates at the general election in 2017 . At the 2018 local elections , the party's last remaining councillor— Brian Parker of Pendle —decided not to stand for re-election, leaving the party without representation at any level of UK government. The BNP fielded only one candidate, David Furness, at
10434-523: The party's number of councillors dropped from over fifty to 28. Griffin described the results as "disastrous". In a 2011 leadership election , Griffin secured a narrow victory, beating Brons by nine votes of a total of 2,316 votes cast. In October 2012, Brons left the party, leaving Griffin as its sole MEP. In the 2012 local elections , the party lost all of its seats and saw its vote share fall dramatically; whereas it gained over 240,000 votes in 2008, this had fallen to under 26,000 by 2012. Commenting on
10545-577: The perceived cultural incompatibility of different racial groups and by replacing anti-democratic platforms with populist ones. The modernisers called for community campaigns among the white working-class populations of London's East End , and Northern England. While the modernisers gained some concessions from the party's hard-liners, Tyndall opposed many of their ideas and sought to stem their growing influence. In his view, "we should not be looking for ways of applying ideological cosmetic surgery to ourselves in order to make our features more appealing to
10656-504: The political scientist Matthew Goodwin used it, the term referred to "a particular form of political ideology that is defined by two anti-constitutional and anti-democratic elements: first, right-wing extremists are extremist because they reject or undermine the values, procedures and institutions of the democratic constitutional state; and second they are right-wing because they reject the principle of fundamental human equality". Various political scientists and historians have described
10767-496: The presence of representatives of the Croatian Government . He went on to say: Although having, made a direct speech as a warning to the Croatian Parliament, Brons ended with an abstention in voting to continue negotiations. He justified this by stating: The remaining members of the committee voted unanimously in favour. On 30 November 2010, Brons again spoke of the negative impact that EU accession would have on
10878-548: The process two students were stabbed and six people arrested. In October 1983, Brons called upon the principal of Harrogate College as a character witness, when Brons was convicted by magistrates of using insulting words and behaviour likely to cause a breach of the peace and fined £50. Brons had been leading a group leafleting in Leeds city centre. A shop assistant reported that the group had been shouting "National Front" and making clenched fist salutes , while an unnamed policeman
10989-404: The public". After the BNP's poor performance at the 1997 general election, opposition to Tyndall's leadership grew. The modernisers called the party's first leadership election, and in October 1999 Tyndall was ousted when two-thirds of those voting backed Nick Griffin , who offered an improved administration, financial transparency, and greater support for local branches. Often characterised as
11100-495: The racial purity of the white British. It condemns miscegenation and "race mixing", stating that this is a threat to the British race. Tyndall said that he "felt deeply sorry for the child of a mixed marriage" but had "no sympathy whatsoever for the parents". Griffin similarly stated that mixed-race children were "the most tragic victims of enforced multi-racism", and that the party would not "accept miscegenation as moral or normal ... we never will". In its 1983 election manifesto,
11211-616: The result, the political scientist Matthew Goodwin noted: "Put simply, the BNP's electoral challenge is over." In the 2012 London mayoral election , the BNP candidate came seventh, with 1.3% of first-preference votes, its poorest showing in the London mayoral contest. The 2012 election results established that the BNP's steady growth had ended. In the 2013 local elections , the BNP fielded 99 candidates but failed to win any council seats, leaving it with only two. In June 2013, Griffin visited Syria along with members of Hungarian far-right party Jobbik to meet with government officials, including
11322-401: The use of the UK's pre-existing foreign aid budget . It stated that any non-whites who refused to leave would be stripped of their British citizenship and categorised as "permanent guests", while continuing to be offered incentives to emigrate. Griffin's BNP also stressed its support for an immediate halt to non-white immigration into Britain and for the deportation of any migrants illegally in
11433-564: The white British and the broader Nordic race to be superior to other races; under his leadership, the BNP promoted pseudoscientific claims in support of white supremacy . Following Griffin's ascendency to power in the party, it officially repudiated racial supremacism and insisted that no racial group was superior or inferior to another. Instead it foregrounded an " ethno-pluralist " racial separatism, claiming that different racial groups had to be kept separate and distinct for their own preservation, maintaining that global ethno-cultural diversity
11544-441: The world through both communism and international capitalism . Under Griffin, the party's focus switched from anti-semitism towards Islamophobia . It promotes economic protectionism , Euroscepticism , and a transformation away from liberal democracy , while its social policies oppose feminism , LGBT rights , and societal permissiveness . Operating around a highly centralised structure that gave its chair near total control,
11655-612: Was "scarcely any difference [between the BNP and NF] in ideology or policy save in the minutest detail", and most of the BNP's leading activists had formerly been senior NF figures. Under Tyndall's leadership the party was neo-Nazi in orientation and engaged in nostalgia for Nazi Germany . It adopted the NF's tactic of holding street marches and rallies, believing that these boosted morale and attracted new recruits. Their first march took place in London on St. George's Day 1982. These marches often involved clashes with anti-fascist protesters and resulted in multiple arrests, helping to cement
11766-629: Was Brons who, in 1987, approached Tyndall with a view to an electoral alliance between the Flag Group and the modern British National Party but the proposed deal fell through and was repudiated by Martin Wingfield in The Flag newspaper. After leaving the 'official' National Front, in 1986, Brons chiefly dedicated himself to the duties of his lectureship at Harrogate College until his retirement in 2005. However, he maintained his membership of
11877-536: Was able to air its first party political broadcast , it averaged a vote share of 0.06% in the seats it contested. After the Representation of the People Act 1985 raised the electoral deposit to £500, the BNP adopted a policy of "very limited involvement" in elections. It abstained in the 1987 general election , and stood only 13 candidates in the 1992 general election . In a 1993 local by-election
11988-489: Was an attempt to hide the BNP's core ideology behind more electorally palatable policies. Like the National Front, the BNP's private discourse differed from its public one, with Griffin stating that "Of course we must teach the truth to the hardcore... [but] when it comes to influencing the public, forget about racial differences, genetics, Zionism, historical revisionism and so on... we must at all times present them with an image of moderate reasonableness". The BNP has eschewed
12099-502: Was going to the UK Independence Party (UKIP), in 2003 the BNP offered UKIP an electoral pact but was rebuffed. Griffin then accused UKIP of being a Labour Party scheme to steal the BNP's votes. It invested much in the campaign for the 2004 European Parliament election , at which it received 800,000 votes but failed to secure a parliamentary seat. In the 2004 local elections , it secured four more seats, including three in Epping . For
12210-519: Was sentenced to six years of imprisonment for manslaughter for the murder, whilst fellow member Catherine Parker-Brown received a community order for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice after she was found to have attempted to clean the scene of the crime. Parker-Brown had been a former organiser for the BNP in the East Midlands and was formerly the nominal leader of the NA, though their membership had later become largely interchangeable with
12321-529: Was something to be protected. This switch in focus owed much to the discourse of the French Nouvelle Droite movement which had emerged within France's extreme-right during the 1960s. At the same time the BNP switched focus from openly promoting biological racism to stressing what it perceived as the cultural incompatibility of racial groups . It placed great focus on opposing what it referred to as " multiculturalism ", characterising this as
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