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British National Front

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The British National Front, most commonly called the National Front (NF), is a far right whites-
only British political party whose major political activities were during the 1970s and 1980s.[2] In the National Front
navigation 1979 general election, the party received 191,719 votes, 0.6% of the overall vote. It is widely
Main page considered a racist group, and the British prison service and police services forbid its employees to
Contents be members of the party.[3]
Featured content
Current events The party says it stands for "white family values" and the "Fourteen Words", a white nationalist
Random article slogan that states: "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children."[4]
The party works in open cooperation with the white supremacist and neo-Nazi website Stormfront.[5]
search [6][7]
The party is critical of the historical accuracy of the Holocaust, and is inclined towards Holocaust
Go denial. The NF, however, is no longer overtly anti-semitic, having stood Orthodox Jewish candidates
  Search Leader Ian Edward
Albert Elder and Gerry Viner in the Hendon South constituency during the 1970s.[8] In recent years,
Founded 1967
interaction the party has made anti-Zionism and criticism of the British National Party (BNP)'s more moderate
About Wikipedia [9][10] Headquarters PO Box 114, Solihull,
image and policies into fundamental parts of its platform. The party has described the
Community portal mainstream media, mainstream political parties (including the BNP) and national governments as West Midlands, B91 2UR
Recent changes part of a "Zionist Occupation Government".[11] The NF's former national chairman, Tom Holmes, Ideology British nationalism,
Contact Wikipedia condemned the BNP as no longer being a white nationalist party for having a Sikh columnist in their Fascism,[1]
Donate to Wikipedia Right-wing populism,
party newspaper.
Help Third Position,
The party accounts submitted to the Electoral Commission in 2007 detailed national profitability. White nationalism,
toolbox
From these accounts, the membership of the NF numbered some 150 nationwide.[12] Euroscepticism
What links here [original research?]
It has confirmed that it will stand 17 candidates in the 2010 General Election[13] Political position Far-right
Related changes
Upload file
and 18 candidates for the 2010 local elections.[14]
International None
Special pages Contents [hide] affiliation
Printable version
1 Policies European None
Permanent link
2 Late 1960s: Formation affiliation
Cite this page
3 Early 1970s: Growth
European None
languages
4 Mid 1970s: Success and infighting Parliament Group
Català 5 Late 1970s: Riot and downfall
Cymraeg Official colours Red, White and Blue
6 1980s: Two National Fronts
Deutsch Website
7 1990s and 2000s
Ελληνικά
8 See also http://www.national-front.org.uk/
Français
Galego 9 Footnotes
Politics of the United Kingdom
Hornjoserbsce 10 Bibliography Political parties
Italiano 11 External links Elections
日本語
  orsk (bokmål) 
N Policies [edit]
Português
Русский The party claims to fundamentally stand for the decentralization of power to local areas in the name of democracy, and the decentralization of the
Suomi
education system to support the rights of parents. Supporting freedom of speech, freedom of press, the right to fair trial, freedom from arbitrary
Svenska
arrest and the right to stand for public office with no financial limitation. The party claims to stand against "American imperialism", and would
withdraw from NATO and the European Union. The party supports the use of capital punishment for crimes of murder, rape, paedophilia and
terrorism and would reintroduce Section 28, as well as supporting the recriminalization of homosexuality. The party adopts a strongly pro-life
stance, describing abortion as a "crime against humanity" and would repeal the 1967 Abortion Act. The NF claims to oppose all economic and
cultural imperialism: "Nations should be free to determine their own political systems, their own economic systems and to develop their own
culture."[15]

Late 1960s: Formation [edit]

A move towards unity on the far right had been growing during the 1960s as groups worked more closely together. Impetus was provided by the
1966 general election when a moderate Conservative Party was defeated and A. K. Chesterton, a cousin of the novelist G. K. Chesterton and
leader of the League of Empire Loyalists (LEL), argued that a patriotic and racialist right wing party would have won the election.[16] Soon
Chesterton opened talks with the 1960s incarnation of the British National Party (who had already been discussing a possible deal with the new
National Democratic Party) and agreed a merger with them, with the BNP's Philip Maxwell addressing the LEL conference in October 1966.[17] A
portion of the Racial Preservation Society led by Robin Beauclair also agreed to participate (although the remainder threw their lot in the NDP, its
house political party under David Brown) and so the NF was founded on February 7, 1967.[18]
Its purpose was to oppose immigration and multiculturalist policies in Britain, and multinational agreements such as the United Nations or the
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as replacements for negotiated bilateral agreements between nations. The new group placed a ban on neo-Nazi
groups being allowed to join the party, but members of John Tyndall's neo-Nazi Greater Britain Movement joined as individual members by a policy
of entryism to circumvent the ban.[19]

Early 1970s: Growth [edit]

The National Front grew during the 1970s and had as many as 20,000 members by 1974
[citation needed]
. It did particularly well in local elections and polled 44% in Deptford, London (with a
splinter group), almost beating the incumbent Labour candidate, who only won due to the split in the
vote. It came third in three parliamentary by-elections. In only one of these instances — the Newham
South by-election, 1974 (where the candidate was former Young Communist League member Mike
Lobb[20]) — NF outperformed the Conservatives.
Its electoral base largely consisted of blue-collar workers and the self-employed who resented
immigrant competition in the labour market or simply the appearance of immigrants. The party also
attracted a few disillusioned Conservatives, who gave the party much needed electoral expertise and
respectability. The Conservatives came particularly from the Conservative Monday Club group within
National Front march in Yorkshire, 1970s.
the Conservative Party that had been founded in hostile reaction to Harold Macmillan's "Wind Of
Change" speech. The NF fought on a platform of opposition to communism and liberalism, support for
Ulster loyalism, opposition to the European Economic Community, and the compulsory repatriation of new Commonwealth immigrants that were
able to come over to Britain because of its unique passport system of the period that allowed Commonwealth citizens to Britain as equal citizens.
A common sight in England in the 1970s, the NF was well-known for its noisy demonstrations, particularly in London, where it often faced anti-
fascist protestors from opposing left-wing groups, including the International Marxist Group and the International Socialists (later the SWP).
Opponents of the National Front claimed it to be a neo-fascist organization, and its activities were opposed by anti-racist groups such as
Searchlight.
The NF was led at first by Chesterton, who left under a cloud after half of the directorate (led by the NF's major financer, Gordon Marshall) moved
a vote of no confidence in him. He was replaced in 1970 by the party's office manager John O'Brien, a former Conservative and supporter of Enoch
Powell. O'Brien however left when he realised the NF's leadership functions were being systematically taken over by the former Greater Britain
Movement members in order to ensure the party was really being run by John Tyndall and his deputy Martin Webster.[21] He and the NF's
treasurer Clare McDonald led a small group of supporters into John Davis' National Independence Party, and the leadership passed to Tyndall and
Webster.

Mid 1970s: Success and infighting [edit]

The NF's success in the 1973 West Bromwich by-election shocked many when the NF candidate finished third on 16%, and saved his deposit for
the only time in NF history. This result was largely due to the candidate Martin Webster's own adopted 'chummy' persona for the campaign as
"Big Mart", and the NF flooding the areas with hired coachloads of supporters over the four weeks of the by-election at the party's expense. The
party thereafter enjoyed respectable results, even if it could not win any seats. The NF's first 'elected' councillor won in a by-election for
Carrickfergus Town council in Northern Ireland in 1975 when the only other candidate dropped out (there was also the temporary defection of two
Conservative Councillors in Wandsworth, London, one of whom — Athlene O'Connell — was later accused of failing to have ever severed her NF
links).
In 1974, the ITV documentary This Week exposed the neo-Nazi pasts (and continued links with Nazis from other countries) of Tyndall and
Webster. This resulted in a stormy annual conference two weeks later, where Tyndall was booed with chants of "Nazi! Nazi!" when he tried to
make his speech. This led to the leadership being passed to the populist John Kingsley Read. A standoff between Read and his supporters (such
as Roy Painter and Denis Pirie) and Tyndall and Webster followed, leading to a temporary stand-still in NF growth. Before long, Read and his
supporters were forced out by intimidation tactics of Tyndall's Honour Guard, and Tyndall returned as leader. Read formed the short-lived National
Party, which won two council seats in Blackburn in 1976.[22]

Late 1970s: Riot and downfall [edit]

If anything encapsulated the NF under Tyndall and Webster it was the events of August 1977, when a large NF march specifically went through
the largely non-white areas of Lewisham in South East London under an inflammatory slogan claiming that 70% of muggers were black whilst
70% of muggers' victims were white (these figures came courtesy of an ill-worded press statement from Chief of the Metropolitan Police Sir
Kenneth Newman that was actually intended to illustrate how poor relations between the black community and the police had become, i.e. black
victims of crime seldom bothered to report it[citation needed]).
As the NF was then contesting the Birmingham Ladywood by-election, such a large march elsewhere was construed as being deliberately to
provoke trouble. 270 policemen were injured (56 hospitalised), over 200 marchers 78 were injured, and an attempt to destroy the local police
station saw the first use of riot shields on British soil outside of Northern Ireland.

The event is often referred to by anti-fascists as the Battle of Lewisham.[23] along similar lines to the previous Battle of Cable Street against
Oswald Mosley. In fact, most of those who took part in the riot that day were not members of any anti-fascist or anti-racists groups, but local
youths (both black and white).

The NF sought to expand its influence into the 'white dominions' of the Commonwealth [24]. In 1977 overseas organisations were set up in New
Zealand (the New Zealand National Front), South Africa (the South African National Front[25]) and in Australia (the National Front Australia ).
1979 was a disastrous year for the National Front. The rise to prominence of the newly reinvigorated Conservative Party under Margaret Thatcher
was a factor. Thatcher's tough right-wing stance on immigration and law and order had caused the NF's support to haemorrhage. Many ex-Tories
returned to the fold from the NF or its myriad splinter groups in particular after her "Swamping" remarks on the ITV documentary series World In
Action on 30 January 1978:
"...we do not talk about it [immigration] perhaps as much as we should. In my view, that is one thing that is driving some people to the National
Front. They do not agree with the objectives of the National Front, but they say that at least they are talking about some of the problems...If we do
not want people to go to extremes...we must show that we are prepared to deal with it. We are a British nation with British characteristics."[26]
Also Tyndall insisted on using party funds to nominate extra candidates so the NF would be standing in 303 seats in order to give the impression
of growing strength. This brought the party to the verge of bankruptcy when all the deposits were lost: most 'candidates' were candidates in name
only, and did no electioneering whatsoever.
Front Deputy Leader Martin Webster claimed two decades later that the activities of the Anti-Nazi League played a key part in the NF's collapse
at the end of the 1970s, but this claim runs contrary to events: for the Anti-Nazi League collapsed in early 1979 amid claims of financial
impropriety, with former celebrity supporters such as Brian Clough disowning the organisation. Furthermore, the NF stood their largest number of
parliamentary candidates at the 1979 general election only a few months later, and met with surprisingly far less opposition than in previous
elections.
Most damning of all, a full set of minutes of National Front Directorate meetings from late 1979 to the 1986 "Third Way" versus "Flag Group" split,
deposited by former NF leader Patrick Harrington in the library of the University of Southampton, revealed that during the party's post-1979
wilderness years they were in the habit of "tipping off the Reds" in order to give their activities greater credibility with the public by being attended
by hordes of angry protestors. This fact was later confirmed by MI5 mole Andy Carmichael, who was West Midlands Regional Organiser for the
NF during the 1990s.
Thus, the three important factors in the NF's collapse were Margaret Thatcher's "swamping" speech designed to cream off the NF vote in key
marginal constituencies, John Tyndall's rash diktat on the NF standing in 303 seats, and - ironically - the collapse of the ANL.
Tyndall's leadership was challenged by Andrew Fountaine after the disaster. Although Tyndall saw off the challenge, Fountaine and his followers
split from the party to form the NF Constitutional Movement. The influential Leicester branch of the NF also split around this time, leading to the
formation of the short lived British Democratic Party. In the face of these splits, the NF members finally rebelled and expelled Tyndall after he
demanded even more powers within the party he'd just about bankrupted. He was replaced ostensibly by Andrew Brons: but the real leader was
Martin Webster, who much to everyone's surprise, backed the expulsion. After failing to win the rights to the NF name in the courts, Tyndall went
on to eventually form the British National Party - ironically, Tyndall and his acolytes had been banned from the original BNP.

1980s: Two National Fronts [edit]

This section needs additional citations for verification.

Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March
2010)

The party rapidly declined during the 1980s, although it retained some support in the West Midlands and in parts of London (usually centred
around Terry Blackham). The party tried in vain to gain support in Northern Ireland on several occasions. The party effectively split into two halves
during the 1980s, after they had expelled Martin Webster and his partner Peter Salt. On one side were the Political Soldier ideas of young
radicals such as Nick Griffin, Patrick Harrington, Phil Andrews and Derek Holland, who were known as the Third Way. They had little interest in
contesting elections, preferring a revolutionary strategy.
The opposition NF Flag Group contained the traditionalists such as Ian Anderson, Martin Wingfield, Tina 'Tin-Tin' Wingfield, Joe Pearce (initially
associated with the Third Way faction) and Steve Brady, who ran candidates under the NF banner in the 1987 general election. The Flag Group
did some political dabbling of their own, and the ideas of Social Credit and Distributism were popular, but the chief preoccupation was still race
relations.
Having two parties within one saved the NF from oblivion after 1979, when the phrase "let a thousand initiatives bloom" was coined to allow internal
diversity in the hope of recapturing support, but it led to clashes. In the 1989 Vauxhall by-election, Harrington stood as the Official National Front
candidate against Ted Budden for the Flag NF, both sides cat-calling at one another during the declaration of the result. By 1990, the Political
Soldiers had fallen out with one another, splintering into Harrington's Third Way and Griffin's International Third Position (ITP), leaving the Flag
Group under Anderson and Wingfield to continue alone. Griffin's pamphlet "Attempted Murder"[27] gave a very colourful - if biased and somewhat
bitter - overview of this period of the NF's history.
Around this time, the NF lost much of its white power skinhead support as a result of the group's support for non-white radicals such as Louis
Farrakhan. The former supporters either moved to the British National Party, the rapidly declining British Movement, or to the White Noise
umbrella group Blood and Honour.
Griffin and Holland tried to enlist the financial aid of Libya's Muammar al-Gaddafi, but the idea was rejected once the Libyans found out about the
NF's reputation as fascist (a third of Libya's male population was exterminated by Benito Mussolini's troops during World War II). However, the NF
received 5,000 copies of Gadaffi's Green Book, which influenced Andrews to leave the NF to form the Isleworth Community Group, the first of
several grassroots groups in English local elections whereby nominally independent candidates stand under a collective flag of convenience to
appear more attractive to voters.[28][29]

1990s and 2000s [edit]

In the 1990s, the NF declined as the British National Party (BNP) began to grow. As a result of this, Ian Anderson decided to change the party
name and in 1995 relaunched it as the National Democrats. The move proved unpopular. Over half of the 600 members continued the NF under the
reluctant leadership of previous deputy leader John McAuley. He later passed the job on to Tom Holmes. The National Democrats continued to
publish the old NF newspaper The Flag for a while, and finished 47 votes ahead of the NF at the Uxbridge by-election of 1997 in which the
candidates were the respective party leaders. The NF launched a new paper The Flame, which is still published irregularly, but Anderson kept all
the old NF printing equipment.
The party fielded seven candidates at the 1997 general election. Notably, the NF and BNP did not stand against each other in any seat at that
election. It fielded 13 candidates at the 2005 general election, none of whom saved their deposit. The NF's current National Chairman remains
Tom Holmes.
The National Front gained a local council seat on 3 May 2007 when candidate Simon Deacon was elected unopposed to Markyate Parish council,
near St Albans (there were 10 vacancies but only 9 candidates). It had been 32 years since the NF's only previous councillor was elected.
However Deacon soon defected to the British National Party, after becoming disillusioned with the direction of the NF.[30] The NF had hoped that
Tom Holmes could also win the Nelson ward council seat on Great Yarmouth Borough Council; he polled 22.9% of the votes cast.
There has been a repositioning of the NF's policy on marches and demonstrations since the expulsion from the party in 2007 of Terry Blackham,
the former National Activities Organiser. These have been reduced in favour of electoral campaigning. In the London Assembly election, 2008 held
on 1 May, Paul Winnett of the NF polled 11,288 votes (5.56% of those cast) in the Bexley and Bromley constituency. In the Greenwich and
Lewisham constituency, Tess Culnane polled 8,509 votes (5.79% of those cast) coming ahead of the UK Independence Party. Tess Culnane also
stood in the atypical Haltemprice and Howden by-election, 2008 held on 10 July, coming fourth with 544 votes (2.3%).
In December 2009, the group was accused of placing homophobic stickers around the popular gay area of Canal Street (Manchester).

In January 2010, Tom Holmes resigned the leadership and handed over to Ian Edward[31].
In February 2010, when the British National Party (BNP) had to change its constitution to allow non-whites into the party because of a High Court
decision, the NF claimed to have received over 1000 membership enquiries from BNP members and said that local BNP branches in Yorkshire
and north Lincolnshire had discussed switching over to the NF.[32][33][34]Reactionary BNP members like Chris Jackson and Michael Easter have
joined the NF, leading to the resignation of Tom Holmes as leader and his replacement by Ian Edward [35], although Jackson has planned to
challenge leadership of the NF as well.[36]
In March 2010, the NF gained its first ever councillor in Rotherham, John Gamble, who was originally in the BNP and the England First Party
(EFP).[37][38][39]
However, it appeared that John Gamble had left the NF because he found their views racist and white supremacist.[40]

See also [edit]

British National Front election results

Nationalism in the United Kingdom
South African National Front
New Zealand National Front
 National Front Australia
British National Party
National Democrats

Footnotes [edit]

1. ^ http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/06/09/preachers-of-hatred-115875-21426301/
2. ^ "1975: National Front rallies against Europe" . BBC. 1975-03-25. Retrieved 1 March 2007.
3. ^ "Staff Membership of Racist Groups and Organisations" . HM Prison Service. 28 Aug 2001. Retrieved 19 Jan 2009.
4. ^ http://www.national-front.org.uk/14words.htm
5. ^ http://www.national-front.org.uk/stormfront.htm
6. ^ Schwab Abel, David (February 19–25, 1998). "The Racist Next Door" . New Times. "Black's swastika-strewn "Stormfront" -- the only white
supremacist Website on the Internet before the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City"
7. ^ Kim, T.K. (Summer 2005). "Electronic Storm - Stormfront Grows a Thriving Neo-Nazi Community" . Intelligence Report (Southern Poverty Law
Center) (118). Retrieved December 30, 2008.
8. ^ http://www.socialistunity.com/?p=2184
9. ^ http://www.national-front.org.uk/dresden.htm
10. ^ http://www.nwn-forum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1679&page=3
11. ^ http://www.national-front.org.uk/standfirmnf.htm
12. ^ http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/49111/National-Front-Statement-of-Accounts-2007_29250-
21722__E__N__S__W__.pdf
13. ^ http://www.national-front.org.uk/election2010.htm
14. ^ http://www.national-front.org.uk/birminghamnf.htm
15. ^ http://www.national-front.org.uk/nfpolicies.htm
16. ^ M. Walker, The National Front, Glasgow: Fontana Collins, 1977, p. 58
17. ^ Walker, The National Front, Glasgow: Fontana Collins, 1977, p. 65
18. ^ S. Taylor, The National Front in English Politics, London: Macmillan, 1982, pp. 18-19
19. ^ Taylor, The National Front in English Politics, London: Macmillan, 1982, p. 19
20. ^ Election address, February 1974
21. ^ Taylor, The National Front in English Politics, London: Macmillan, 1982, pp. 22-23
22. ^ M. Walker, The National Front, Glasgow: Fontana, 1977, pp. 187-90
23. ^ "Lewisham '77 history site" . Lewisham77.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2009-08-10.
24. ^ NF Policy Committee Britain: World Power Or Pauper State 1974
25. ^ see Hill, Ray and Bell, Andrew The Other Face of Terror Grafton (1988)
26. ^ http://www.margaretthatcher.org/speeches/displaydocument.asp?docid=103485
27. ^ Political Soldier. "The Ebanks File" . Aryanunity.com. Retrieved 2009-08-10.
28. ^ "Programmes | Under the skin of the BNP" . BBC News. Retrieved 2009-08-10.
29. ^ http://www.thirdway.org/files/reviews/copsey.html
30. ^ "HOPE not hate news: Decision day for BNP parish councillor" . Hopenothate.org.uk. Retrieved 2009-08-10.
31. ^ http://www.national-front.org.uk/fakebulletin.htm
32. ^ "Far Right: BNP 'losing members'" . BBC News. 2010-02-19. Retrieved 2010-04-27.
33. ^ http://www.national-front.org.uk/daventry.htm
34. ^ http://www.national-front.org.uk/natonalfronenquiries.htm
35. ^ http://www.national-front.org.uk/fakebulletin.htm
36. ^ http://leejohnbarnes.blogspot.com/2009/12/good-luck-to-reform-group.html
37. ^ http://www.national-front.org.uk/johngamble.htm
38. ^ http://british-nationalist.org.uk/2010/03/bnp-membership-open-to-all/
39. ^ http://www.rotherham.gov.uk/councillors/28/john_gamble
40. ^ http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/National-Front-councillor-leaves-party.6196655.jp

Bibliography [edit]

Billig, M. (1978). Fascists: A social psychological view of the National Front. London: Academic Press. Very much an 'academic' book on the
NF, with statistical as much as political/sociological analysis.
Walker, Martin (1977) The National Front (also expanded edition 1978) Fontana/Collins. This was written by a Guardian journalist of the period
who had unlimited access to all the key players within the NF circa 1967-1977: i.e. Rosine de Bounevialle, Rodney Legg, John O'Brien, Roy
Painter, John Kingsley Read, John Tyndall and Martin Webster, as well as the widow of Arthur K Chesterton.

External links [edit]

National Front website

BBC 1975: National Front rallies against Europe
1975 video

v   • d  • e Political parties in the United Kingdom [show]

v   • d  • e Far right in the United Kingdom [show]

Categories: British National Front | Political parties established in 1967 | Racism | Eurosceptic parties | Far right political parties in the United
Kingdom | Holocaust denial in the United Kingdom | Syncretic political movements | Anti-Zionism | Far right politics in the United Kingdom |
Discrimination in the United Kingdom

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