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90-841: The party was formed by Eddy Morrison , and Kevin Watmough "a key figure in Combat 18 " and webmaster of Redwatch ; the new party was effectively the Yorkshire branch of the National Front , and the party conducted most of its activities in Yorkshire. The national youth leader of the White Nationalist Party was Ronnie Cooper, a teen from the South Yorkshire area who was exposed for his fascist beliefs by

180-532: 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 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

270-406: 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

360-401: 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

450-683: 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

540-502: 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

630-399: 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

720-401: 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

810-585: A more general nature, and had two blogs. Morrison was 70 years old in June 2020 when he tripped and fell down the stairs at his home, breaking his neck and dying instantly, though his body was not found until the next day. British National Party The British National Party ( BNP ) is a far-right , fascist political party in the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in Wigton , Cumbria , and

900-460: 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

990-495: 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

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1080-541: 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

1170-427: 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, the BNP's involvement in elections

1260-772: A single party. To this end, Tyndall established a Committee for Nationalist Unity (CNU) in January 1982. In March 1982, 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

1350-564: 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,

1440-467: 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

1530-597: 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, 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

1620-589: 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

1710-429: 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

1800-411: 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

1890-692: 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

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1980-535: 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 the European Parliament . It has been largely inactive since 2019. Taking its name from that of

2070-408: 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

2160-587: Is now vehemently opposed to the British National Party , viewing them as race traitors . Eddy Morrison Eddy Morrison (16 July 1949 – 10 June 2020) was a British neo-Nazi political activist, who was involved in a number of movements throughout his career. Morrison was involved in the British Movement (BM) and also the National Front (NF) during the 1970s (he published two newsletters, both called British News , during

2250-747: The Sunday People newspaper in 2003. Cooper is now understood to be a serving member of the Royal Navy. Although largely Yorkshire-based it also sought to expand elsewhere. In 2003 the group applied to march in Glasgow but it was rejected by the city council. The WNP also sought to campaign in amongst loyalists in Northern Ireland , posting stickers and delivering leaflets in Ballymena , Coleraine , Antrim town and Ballymoney in

2340-596: 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

2430-562: 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

2520-616: The 2006 local elections in the Bramley and Stanningley ward of Leeds , securing 135 votes (2.7%) to finish last in a field of six candidates. In 2007, he advocated support for the BNP though "he objected to the induction of non-whites" in that party. He rejoined the NF and was editor of the NF News from 2009 to 2010. Morrison published his autobiography Memoirs of a Street Soldier in 2003. He also wrote self-published poetry, much of his work dealing with nationalist themes and some of

2610-497: 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

2700-627: The Electoral Commission refused to register WNP as an official name; but after a dispute between Cotterill on the one side and Eddy Morrison and John G. Wood (the WNP's national organiser) on the other, the EFP group broke away to become a separate, English nationalist, party. The WNP under Morrison and John G. Wood courted John Tyndall , although he refused to join as he did not feel that divisions were helpful. Eventually Eddy Morrison left

2790-549: 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

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2880-556: 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

2970-415: 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

3060-471: 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 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

3150-421: The 2000s suggested that most Britons favoured a ban on the party. It faced much opposition from anti-fascists, religious organisations, 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

3240-467: 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;

3330-451: 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

3420-640: The BNP from Nick Griffin . When progress was not made, Morrison suggested to Tyndall that he give up on the BNP altogether and form his own party, but Tyndall was not ready. After enduring a torrid few months as leader of the Nationalist Alliance (NA), Morrison, along with John G. Wood , left the NA and reconstituted their followers as the British People's Party . Under the BPP banner Morrison ran in

3510-462: 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

3600-413: 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

3690-514: 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

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3780-632: 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

3870-574: 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

3960-546: 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 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

4050-662: 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

4140-628: 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

4230-538: 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

4320-521: 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

4410-597: The NF and the BNP in 1978. After leaving the BNP Morrison joined the notoriously violent National Democratic Freedom Movement (a minor group which ended when its founder, David Myatt , was jailed) before setting up his own group, the National Action Party, in the early 1980s with Kevin Randall. The NAP was a small group and Tony Malski (now disappeared from the political scene) claimed that Morrison

4500-401: 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 the BNP's association with political violence and older fascist groups in the public eye. As

4590-416: The NF, British Movement , British Democratic Party , and Nationalist Party . Tyndall remarked that there 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

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4680-720: 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

4770-608: 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 ,

4860-582: 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,

4950-695: 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'

5040-424: 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

5130-492: 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

5220-563: 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

5310-628: 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

5400-549: The far-right National Front (NF) throughout most of the 1970s. Following an argument with senior party member Martin Webster , he resigned from 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

5490-728: 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

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5580-434: 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

5670-466: 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 ,

5760-646: 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

5850-419: 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

5940-516: The late 1990s, rebuilding the local party group in Yorkshire after years of decline. However, the NF leadership soon became distrustful of the power base Morrison was building up. In 2002, he formed the White Nationalist Party and became one of its leading members until yet another split occurred and he again broke away with his followers. This time Morrison formed the Spearhead Support Group (soon shortened to Spearhead Group) and again linked up with Tyndall to support his attempts to regain leadership of

6030-480: The left wing loyalist Progressive Unionist Party , which publicly condemned racism. In 2004 the party also revealed plans to host a Blood & Honour music festival in Northern Ireland although a counter-campaign was organised to encourage venues to turn down the booking. The proposed gigs did not take place however. The WNP was severely weakened in 2004 when the England First Party (EFP) broke away under Mark Cotterill . The WNP had intended to use that name when

6120-587: 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

6210-419: The party and with John G. Wood and Kevin Watmough in 2005 formed the similar British People's Party . The White Nationalist Party's inspiration was "unashamedly nationalist socialist" and opposed to "all democracy". The WP had a list of 32 policies, based on principles which included repatriation, opposition to populism , Zionism and homosexuality , and adherence to David Lane 's fourteen words . The group

6300-408: 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

6390-417: 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

6480-449: 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

6570-523: 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

6660-577: 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

6750-710: The period; the first supported the BM and the second, for a time, the NF), as well as briefly organising a militant group called the British National Party (unrelated to the current incarnation) in his Leeds base. Soon, however, he became associated with John Tyndall and followed him into the New National Front (NNF) in 1979 and from there into the newly formed British National Party (BNP) in 1982. Morrison appeared in an ITV World in Action television documentary about

6840-504: 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

6930-404: 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

7020-495: 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,

7110-616: 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

7200-603: The run-up to the Twelfth in 2003. The group, which emphasised its anti- Irish republican nature by using slogans such as "hang IRA scum" in its literature, claimed to have 80 members in the province in May of that year. In a move condemned by local politicians WNP flags were also placed on lampposts in Ballymena around the same time. Most of the party's stickers and flags were removed by parties of residents organised in opposition by

7290-401: 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

7380-564: 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

7470-435: 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

7560-536: 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

7650-489: 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

7740-600: 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 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,

7830-502: 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

7920-412: 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 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

8010-500: Was out of his depth and had sought to merge the NAP into his own party. Morrison was readmitted to the BNP in 1988 and became regional organizer for Yorkshire , revitalising the party right across the North of England, especially when he organised the now notorious Dewsbury open air mass rally which is credited by many observers with putting the BNP on the map. Morrison returned to the NF in

8100-529: 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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