The British National Party (BNP) is a United Kingdom political party, and is the largest political party of the far-right in the United Kingdom.
The party was founded in 1982 by John Tyndall, a former chairman of the National Front. The current National Chairman, Nick Griffin, joined the BNP in 1995, and replaced Tyndall after a leadership election to become leader in 1999. He was also a previous chairman of the National Front and spent time as an activist whilst reading law at Cambridge University.
Tyndall was expelled from the BNP in 2003. The reasons for this mainly related to articles published in his magazine, Spearhead, which were highly critical of the BNP leadership. It was also believed that his often 'extremist' views did not tally with contemporary party policies. Opponents claim that this episode has left the party in crisis, with Tyndall commenting that he may take Griffin to court although there is no outward evidence of this.
In 1998, before he was chairman of the BNP, Griffin was convicted of violating section 19 of the Public Order Act 1986, relating to incitement of racial hatred. He received a nine-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and was fined £2,300. Griffin vehemently denied the charge and represented himself in court. He believed that the charge, which followed a single complaint made to the police (in 1986) by the then Liberal Democrat MP, Alex Carlisle QC, was politically motivated. At the trial, one of the arresting police officers said he agreed with this belief.
Almost all commentators class the BNP as a far-right Nationalist party. A common perception among the BNP's opponents (and most of the public and media at large) is that the BNP is racist and/or "fascist", some believe that the party can be described as "neo-nazi", although the BNP suggests that such accusations are generally based on the party's earlier stance under the more right-wing leadership of Tyndall, and are even less applicable to the party today than they were to it under Mr. Tyndall. Denying such labels categorically, the party draws attention to its current policies, which it claims cannot fairly be portrayed as in any way similar to Nazism.
In recent years the BNP has reflected many aspects of a concept known as Euronationalism. This is a pattern of emphasis and presentation of policies that has been adopted by a number of far-right parties in Europe. It is often cited as a factor in their increased electoral successes of the 1990s.
Nick Griffin has stated his views on race [1]:
An example of this say BNP supporters is the party's stance on repatriation; under Tyndall's leadership, the party campaigned for the compulsory repatriation of all foreigners. However, since Griffin's election to national chairmanship, this policy has been greatly moderated and modernised to the far less hard-line suggestion that those foreigners who wish to return to their own countries should be assisted in doing so by the provision of what the BNP describes as "generous homeward-bound grants". A policy of voluntary re-patriation of foreigners in fact already exists under the 1971 Immigration Act; the BNP claims the poor funding and even poorer publicity prevent it from helping those at whom it was aimed, however. In more than one instance the party has held protests in co-operation with people of African descent who wanted to return to their ancestral homeland, but who claimed the current legislation was underfunded and inadequate.
However, given the openly racist and/or violent history of a number of prominent BNP members, critics of the BNP have claim that the changes made by Griffin are a superficial attempt to hide what they claim to be the BNP's "real character". The BNP denies these claims and states that many questionable characters have been expelled from the party, which publically condemns both violence and racism.
Opponents of the party, as well as journalists in two newspapers, the tabloid Daily Express and the left wing Guardian, have claimed often that the BNP is not only racist, but an explicitly fascist or "neo-Nazi" organization.
When Tyndall was still chairman, some claim that the BNP's 1995 national rally was addressed by American neo-Nazi William Pierce. Mr. Tyndall has since been expelled from the party on account of his views (which are much more hardline than those currently espoused openly by the current BNP). Dr. Pierce is now dead.
Nick Griffin has appeared on the same platform as Louisiana politician Dr. David Duke, a member of the United States House of Representatives and former member of the Ku Klux Klan.
It has been alleged that the BNP retains links to an openly violent neo-Nazi organisation called Combat 18. This group was formed in 1992, (although not originally under this name), to act as stewards for BNP rallies, which were often physically assaulted by left-wing groups, such as Anti-Fascist Action. According to the BNP, all associations with Combat 18 were ended shortly after the latter were formed, John Tyndall telling BNP members that they could not be members of both organisations simultaneously. Searchlight magazine, Red Action and other commentators on both the left and right spectrums of the media, have stated their belief that Combat 18 was the brainchild of the British secret service organisation MI5, being designed to discredit the BNP, whilst simultaneously acting as a 'honey-trap' to attract the most violent neo-Nazis in Britain into a single organisation, where they could be monitored. It is also believed that Combat 18 were used by MI5 to infiltrate Loyalist paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland. In 1998, the leader of Combat 18, Charlie Sargent, a Special Branch informant, was sentenced to life imprisonment for the 1997 murder of another member of the group. This effectively ended the organisation, although a small group of people still use the name to describe themselves.
The London nailbomber David Copeland was very briefly a member of the BNP for about two months before moving to the extremist neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement. Copeland says he left the party because it was "too democratic" and did not support his extremist views and desire to use violence and terrorism.
A number of members of the BNP leadership have been reported [1] as:
Opponents answer the BNP's rebuttal by stating that the offences alleged are substatially more serious than the offences typically committed by the general population of minor criminals, and that the people named are leading members of the BNP.
However, in response to such claims the BNP states that a not inconsiderable number of individuals from the established parties have committed such serious crimes as paedophilia and major fraud, and feels that such crimes are rather more serious that those some opponents ascribe to BNP officials.
The BNP aims to appeal to those members of the population who consider immigration to be a threat to their jobs, a cause of rising crime, and a basis for cultural decline. Under its current policy, the party backs an immediate halt to "all further non-european immigration" and the "voluntary resettlement" of foreigners to their lands of ethnic origin by way of generous "homeward-bound" grants which would be made available to anyone who wanted to take advantage of them.
Some critics of the party claim that it endorses considering "forcible repatriation" for those foreigners who refuse to return, although since no reference can be found to this on the BNP's website or in any other party literature, such a claim appears to be completely unsubstantiated and baseless.
The party has also stated that it does not regard non-ethnically British people as being 'British', even if they have been born in the UK and are British citizens. Instead, the BNP has stated that such people living in the UK would be regarded as 'permanent guests'.
The party has often been accused of exploiting and inflaming racial tensions for its own benefit in a number of areas, a claim the BNP vociferously denies - indeed, it states that if any individuals responsible for inflaming racial tensions have any connection with the BNP, such connections would swiftly be ended. An example of this the party claims, is the party's statement that all members must stay out of volatile areas at times of high racial tension, or face expulsion from the party. Opponents view this statement as hypocrisy on the part of the BNP, stating that the BNP has regularly marched in areas where their presence would be considered to be a provocation. However, the BNP has made no marches since Nick Griffin took up its leadership. Marches were a favourite tactic of John Tyndall, but one from which today's BNP is anxious to distance itself, in favour of more sophisticated Public and Media relations manoeuvring.
In the case of Burnley, BNP election canvassers handed out leaflets claiming that the town's Asian population was receiving preferential treatment from the local council, which critics claim as an example of the BNP's efforts to incite racial division, an acusation which the local council has strenuosly denied. However, the BNP dismisses this claim, and states that it simply wants to see fair and equal funding to all ethnic groups within the town.
However, the official government report into the Burnley troubles showed that the majority of white people living in the town also believed that Asians were receiving preferential treatment to the detriment of the white population. [1] Critics of the BNP however, claim that this belief is the result of what they allege is a BNP disinformation campaign, and is untrue. However, the BNP claim that evidence that their information is untrue has not been forthcoming from opponents, and therefore dismiss this claim. The party says that its goal is simply equal treatment and funding for all groups within the town - something it alleges is not happening under the Labour-run council.
The BNP does still hold protests at specific events, however - one of the most famous of these was at the count in the Oldham elections of 2001, where Nick Griffin and Mick Treacy, the party's Oldham organiser, wore T-shirts bearing the words "Gagged for telling the truth" in protest at the decision to ban candidates' speeches at the event due to the BNP's presence.
No BNP candidate has ever won a seat as a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons, although in 2001 - possibly partially due to a number of riots in the North of England that were arguably race-related - BNP local election results improved markedly. The then growing issue of the asylum-seeker influx was another probable factor contributing to this increased electoral success.
The BNP currently has 17 elected local councillors, out of the many thousands of local councillors across the UK. This is not suprising considering the size of the party, and the fact that it receives comparatively very little funding. Nick Griffin light-heartedly described the Party's PR department (one of its most important strata) as being "basically made with shoestring, ceiling wax and bits of orange peel".
The BNP's first electoral success came in September 1993, when Derek Beackon was returned as councillor for Millwall (in London) on a low turnout. He lost his seat in further elections the next year, although his personal vote actually increased by 30% (on a turnout of 70%). The Millwall seat was the Party's only electoral victory in John Tyndall's seventeen year reign as leader.
In the council elections of May 2002, three BNP candidates gained seats on Burnley council. This was interpreted in some quarters as an indicator of the mood of the British electorate. The BNP had fielded 68 candidates nationwide.
In the council elections of May 2003, the BNP increased their Burnley total by five seats, thus briefly becoming the second-largest party and official opposition on that council, a position they narrowly lost soon afterwards to the Liberal Democrats, who beat the BNP by a margin of just 0.4% in a by-election. The five new Burnley seats were formerly held by a combination of all three mainstream political parties, suggesting that the BNP were winning votes from across the political spectrum. The Party contested a record 221 seats nationwide (just under 4% of the total available). They won eleven council seats in all, though Nick Griffin was unsuccessful in his attempt to gain a place on Oldham Metropolitan Council.
The BNP failed to win any council seats in Sunderland despite putting candidates up for election in all 25 of the city's wards, and an extensive campaign. However, the Party did substantially increase its Sunderland vote. In the general election of 2001, their candidate received 1,263 votes. In the May 2002 council election, the BNP fielded a candidate in just one ward, receiving slightly over 13% of the vote on a 22% turnout. In the 2003 elections, the party received an average of just under 14% of the votes across all 25 seats, on an increased average turnout of 46%. The party retained 24 of its 25 election deposits, narrowly losing the other one with a vote of 4.84% against the deposit retention benchmark of 5%. Of the other 24 seats, six gained between 5 and 10% of the vote, twelve between 10 and 20%, and six between 20 and 29.65%, the latter figure being the highest single percentage. The total votes gained was 13,652, more than ten times the general election figure of just two years previously. One of the most interesting points about the Sunderland elections was how the different media reported the outcome.
The BNP has also gained council seats in parts of the Black Country in the West Midlands and in Hertfordshire and Essex in the South East of England.
Local council election results in the second half of 2003 have proved encouraging for the party, winning three out of six seats contested and narrowly missing out on a fourth. In September 2003, the left-wing Independent newspaper described the BNP as an "emerging" threat to the Labour Party, whilst a Labour MEP warned his party that the BNP could gain a seat in the 2004 elections to the European Parliament. The BNP has also stated that it believes it can win "between one and three seats" in the European Parliament election, one of which is almost certainly in the "North west England" EU constituency.
As of October 2003, the Party has seventeen elected councillors, all in England. This was previously eighteen, but the BNP expelled one of its existing Burnley councillors from the Party after his alleged unruly behaviour at its annual 'Red, White and Blue' festival. At the Party's request, the councillor subsequently resigned his council seat. The former councillor in question had been hurriedly chosen after the party's first choice was unavailable to stand for election at very short notice. The BNP claim that they had no way of predicting the unsuitability of this last-minute choice due to the circumstances, and descibe the incident as only a "minor setback". The party lost the subsequent by-election for this resigned seat.
The BNP claims to be a UK-wide party and has contested seats in Wales and Scotland, as well as England. In the Scottish parliamentary elections of 2003, they only contested the Glasgow region (with one person on their list) and polled poorly. They failed to contest any Scottish seats in the 2001 elections, but did put up a candidate for Newport West in Wales. It has now announced plans to contest elections in Northern Ireland and has already selected some candidates.
The Party is also picking up an increasing share of the vote in the South West of England, where its strongly eurosceptic policies are believed to be popular.
Many commentators have put the electoral successes of the BNP down to voters casting a 'protest vote' against what they perceive as incompetence by their local councils, and disilusionment with the mainstream parties, rather than support for the BNP's policies. However, the BNP's consistent good polling in some areas has led some to question this analysis.
In December 2003, the BNP welcomed its first councillor defector - a former member of the Conservative party on Calderdale council [1], [1].
The move surprised many commentators, but the party has stated that it expects such events to become frequent occurrences:
"A number of councillors from other parties are reported to be awaiting the outcome of next June's Local Election results and where a BNP Group (two or more councillors) exists we expect quite widespread defection from the Tories in particular."
The BNP's policies have been rejected by a majority of the voters in most places where their candidates have stood for election, although their share of the vote has increased in recent years in many of the areas in which they have stood.
The BNP are generally condemned by most liberal/left-wing sections of the media, although their strongholds are primarily in Labour heartland areas, showing that they appeal to many people who used to be traditionally left-wing "Old Labour" supporters. Representatives of the three major mainstream political parties all condemn the BNP, although the party has taken council seats from them all in various areas. High-ranking politicians from each of the mainstream parties have, at various times, called for their own supporters to vote for anyone but the BNP! This message has confused many as, for instance, Conservative supporters are not sure whether their own party are asking them not to vote for their own candidate, but rather for whoever is most likely to defeat the BNP. Where the BNP have still proved successful, the mainstream parties have usually been quick to blame each other for their [the BNP's] success. At the 2003 Conservative Party Conference, Trevor Phillips, Chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality (and former Labour Party candidate), said that the BNP's success was partly due to lacklustre election campaigns by the Tories. He asked local Conservative branches to "raise their game when it comes to electioneering." Such a request was subsequently ignored when a local Conservative branch in Halifax refused to stand a candidate (against the BNP) in an election which they, themselves, had no chance of winning. This was in spite of their own Conservative Central Office ordering them to do so.
According to the BNP, an increasing number of former Conservative supporters are also turning to the party. It is thought that their strong anti-EU policies strike a chord with many disenchanted Conservative voters.
Because of their lack of substantial electoral support across the country, but despite their high media profile, the BNP is still widely considered to be at the fringes of British politics. However, media comment some issues such as asylum seekers is often very close to the BNP's position, and the party's chairman, Nick Griffin, has described the tabloids as "one of the BNPs best recruiting agents" in the past.
Amongst the most visible, vocal and violent opponents of the BNP and other right-wing groups are the Anti-Nazi League (ANL) and Anti Fascist Action (AFA). The ANL, along with Rock Against Racism (RAR) was originated during the late 1970s by the extreme left-wing British Socialist Workers Party. During the late 70s, the more radical and revolutionary "Red Action" camp broke away from the rest of the ANL due to ideological differences and formed the AFA.
The ANL is supported and part funded by Trade Union affiliations, and will usually heavily leaflet and counter-campaign in many of the right-wing party's target wards. Both groups have held frequent protests against BNP events, some of which have ended in violent confrontation between ANL and BNP members.
Searchlight magazine, edited by former communist party activist Gerry Gable, has monitored the activities of BNP and its members for many years, and has published many articles highly critical of them and other organisations of the right, including UKIP and the Conservative Party's "Monday Club".
History and overview
Is the BNP racist?
The BNP appears through its own statements to be a party focused on the issue of race. The Party, however, reiterates often that their desire is to preserve their own (British) race, and not to interfere with others. They have also stated many times that they strongly oppose any unfair discrimination on the grounds of race, though many observers feel that these remarks are disingenuous.
Since Nick Griffin took over the party, the BNP has publicly attempted to move away from the racist and even thuggish image that some claim it attained during the Tyndall years, and has invoked many policy changes in order to present itself as a more moderate mainstream and respectable right-wing party.Can the BNP be fairly portrayed as a "neo-Nazi" organisation?
Alleged offences of some BNP organizers
The BNP dismisses these instances since all occured many years ago - mostly long before the individuals concerned were party members - and state that if they were to occur in the future, the perpetrator would be immediately expelled from the BNP. The office of national statistics state that over 20% of the working population has a criminal record, and the BNP is quick to emphasize this fact in their defence, though many of the BNP's critics do not feel that this adequtely addresses their criticisms of the party. A number of individuals from the established parties also sport such long-ago convictions, and the BNP is quick to point these out, accusing the aforesaid critics of selective disapproval over this matter.Electoral strategy
Electoral performance
Opposition to the BNP
External links