Derek William Beackon is a British
far-right politician
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...
. He is currently a member of the
British Democratic Party
The British Democratic Party (BDP) was a short-lived far-right political party in the United Kingdom. A breakaway group from the National Front, the BDP was severely damaged after it became involved in a gun-running sting and was absorbed by the ...
(BDP), and a former member of the
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 its leader is Adam Walker. A minor party, it has no elected representatives at any level of UK gover ...
(BNP) and
National Front. In 1993, he became the BNP's first elected councillor, although he served for only eight months.
Beackon and the emergence of the BNP
Beackon joined the BNP in 1986 as an associate member, and became a full member two years later.
['Derek Beackon Interview', ''The Patriot'', No. 1, Spring 1997, p. 3] Known as 'Daddy', Beackon first stood as a candidate for the BNP in 1990 in the Redcoat ward of
London Borough of Tower Hamlets where he gained 3% of the vote, a typically low total for the party at the time.
Although Beackon's personal result had been a disappointment in Tower Hamlets, the area had slowly been growing as a centre of support for the BNP. The BNP still lagged behind the
National Front (NF) in terms of public profile (even though that movement had fallen into severe decline). The BNP had respectable results in the area in a series of council by-elections in 1990. The area had also been one of the centres of support for
John Tyndall during the
1992 general election; Tyndall had stood in
Bow and Poplar, which included much of Tower Hamlets.
Under the directorship of local organizer
Eddy Butler
Edward Mark Butler (born in Bloomsbury 13 November 1962) is a former National Elections Officer of the British National Party (BNP) and was dubbed the party's "elections guru" by its newspaper, ''Voice of Freedom'', until being suspended and expe ...
, the party had instigated a 'Rights for Whites' campaign in the area, bringing back a slogan that had been employed by
Martin Webster
Martin Guy Alan Webster (born 14 May 1943) is a British neo-nazi, a former leading figure on the far-right in the United Kingdom. An early member of the National Labour Party, he was John Tyndall's closest ally, and followed him in joining t ...
and the NF during the 1970s. Focusing on the perceived negative impact of immigration on the area of employment and housing, the campaign operated as if it was simply a local
pressure group before gradually introducing the BNP name into Rights for Whites literature.
The initiative first produced results in the
Millwall
Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, eas ...
ward in October 1992 when a strong
canvassing effort by local activists helped BNP candidate Barry Osborne capture 20% of the vote in a by-election. Millwall had long been a seat of unemployment associated with the declining
docklands area. Most of the population had been descended from the 19th century workers who had built and operated the docks. With the building of the Limehouse Link Road, predominantly
Bangladeshi families from a run-down Council estate in
Limehouse
Limehouse is a district in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in East London. It is east of Charing Cross, on the northern bank of the River Thames. Its proximity to the river has given it a strong maritime character, which it retains through ...
(the St Vincent Estate) were rehoused in properties in Millwall. These properties had been marketed as 'luxury', but had failed to sell after a downturn in the property market. This was presented as favourable treatment on grounds of race by the "
Liberal Democrat Focus Team" seeking to capitalise on the issue. However, in a close three-way contest, the BNP gained from this campaign more than its authors.
A
Labour councillor resigned in the same ward soon after this, sparking another by-election on 16 September 1993. Beackon was chosen as the candidate this time, following the local party's policy of rotating members. Beackon's campaign followed Butler's blueprint of emphasising 'Rights for Whites' through canvassing and leafleting. He abandoned the old policy of holding a public meeting as he felt they proved too counterproductive by attracting large crowds of protesters, particularly from the
Anti-Nazi League
The Anti-Nazi League (ANL) was an organisation set up in 1977 on the initiative of the Socialist Workers Party with sponsorship from some trade unions and the endorsement of a list of prominent people to oppose the rise of far-right groups i ...
and
Anti-Fascist Action. Beackon won the by-election of 16 September 1993 with 1480 votes (33.9%), beating Labour by 7 votes, with an overall turnout of 44%. He thus became the first elected representative for the party.
Reaction to Beackon's win
The immediate reaction to Beackon's election was widespread condemnation from many sections of wider society. The ''
Daily Mirror
The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print c ...
'' headline on 18 September read "SIEG HEIL...and Now He's a British Councillor", setting the tone for a slew of condemnation on the basis of Beackon being a white nationalist. Among those to express their outrage were the main political parties, the
Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey
George Leonard Carey, Baron Carey of Clifton (born 13 November 1935) is a retired Anglican bishop who was the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1991 to 2002, having previously been the Bishop of Bath and Wells.
During his time as archbishop the C ...
and the
Commissioner of the
Metropolitan Police, Sir
Paul Condon. Beackon's own use of immoderate language also damaged him and he was quoted in the ''Daily Mirror'' when, after being asked about refuse collection, he said that "The Asians are rubbish and that is what we are going to clear from the streets."
Beackon as a councillor
As a councillor, Beackon found it hard to discharge his duties effectively because of a boycott by other councillors and staff, who staged a protest walk-out after his election. He was hampered by his own inexperience: the BNP press office had to speak for him after he failed to distinguish between the housing and social service departments in a newspaper interview with the ''
East London Advertiser''. He had to flee his flat in Wapping to live in hiding with his brother in
Bethnal Green
Bethnal Green is an area in the East End of London northeast of Charing Cross. The area emerged from the small settlement which developed around the Green, much of which survives today as Bethnal Green Gardens, beside Cambridge Heath Road. By ...
during which time his housing benefit was cancelled.
Beackon was unable to fulfill his promises to influence housing allocation to benefit white constituents. Overall, during his time in office Beackon was characterized as a weak councillor who had trouble following the council agenda. At the time it was suggested that Beackon was virtually illiterate and was unable to read council documents; he later strenuously denied the allegations while admitting that he had trouble understanding their meaning.
When the seat went up for election again in 1994 a strong mobilization of voters against the BNP was undertaken by Labour, with the turnout rising to 65%.
Despite Beackon's generally ineffectual performance as a councillor he added 561 votes to his total, although the seat was lost as the rest of the vote largely coalesced around Labour, and the Liberal Democrat vote collapsed. He was the only successful BNP candidate during
John Tyndall's tenure as party leader. The BNP did not win any more council seats until they won three seats in
Burnley
Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...
in 2002.
Chief steward
Before and during his run as a Tower Hamlets councillor, Beackon served as the BNP's chief steward, which included the job of ensuring order at BNP meetings. As chief steward he was given the job of leading the party's bodyguard group set up in 1992.
Made up largely of
casuals and
white power skinhead
White power skinheads, also known as racist skinheads and neo-Nazi skinheads, are members of a neo-Nazi, white supremacist and antisemitic offshoot of the skinhead subculture. Many of them are affiliated with white nationalist organizations and ...
s, the group soon proved difficult for the middle-aged Beackon to control, and before long, real control lay with
Charlie Sargent and his brother Steve.
Following Beackon's election, the group became disillusioned with the electoral path and broke away from the BNP, adopting the name
Combat 18
Combat 18 (C18 or 318) is a neo-Nazi terrorist organisation that was founded in 1992. It originated in the United Kingdom, with ties to movements in Canada and the United States. Since then it has spread to other countries, including Germany ...
. Eddy Butler and
Tony Lecomber
Anthony "Tony" Mark Lecomber (born 1961) is a former activist for the British National Party.
__TOC__
Background
Lecomber has been active in far-right politics since the early 1980s. His role is mainly behind the scenes in planning BNP election c ...
were among the BNP members targeted for attack, in what became a bitter split.
Later BNP activism
Beackon's profile fell away somewhat after his election defeat as the BNP failed to capitalise on their breakthrough. He remained loyal to Butler, who had fallen out of favour with Tyndall, and was interviewed for the first issue of ''The Patriot'', a dissident journal within the party associated with Butler, Lecomber, Michael Newland, and others on the party's 'modernising' wing, all of whom went on to back
Nick Griffin
Nicholas John Griffin (born 1 March 1959) is a British politician and white supremacist who represented North West England as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2009 to 2014. He served as chairman and then president of the far-righ ...
in his successful challenge to Tyndall's leadership. Indeed, Beackon appeared in ''Moving On, Moving Up'', a glossy brochure produced by Griffin during his leadership campaign, endorsing the former
Political Soldier for the BNP leadership.
Despite this support Beackon remained a peripheral figure within the BNP under Griffin's leadership and before long he fell in with the group of anti-Griffin activists around Tyndall. His
eulogy
A eulogy (from , ''eulogia'', Classical Greek, ''eu'' for "well" or "true", ''logia'' for "words" or "text", together for "praise") is a speech or writing in praise of a person or persons, especially one who recently died or retired, or as ...
to Tyndall was one of the few written by an active BNP member to appear in the final issue of ''
Spearhead'', released immediately following Tyndall's death. Still nominally a member of the BNP he has become associated with the 'Friends of John Tyndall', an informal anti-Griffin group largely controlled by
Richard Edmonds and
John Morse in attending a speech by
Valerie Tyndall which they had organised in July 2007. The event included stalls by a number of political parties – the
National Front,
England First Party and the
British People's Party. The BNP did not participate.
Beackon re-emerged as a BNP activist in
Thurrock
Thurrock () is a unitary authority area with borough status and unparished area in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. It is part of the London commuter belt and an area of regeneration within the Thames Gateway redevelopment zone. The ...
, Essex. He was a BNP candidate for the
Orsett
Orsett is a village, former civil parish and ecclesiastical parish located within Thurrock unitary district in Essex, England, situated around 5 km north-east of Grays. In 1931 the parish had a population of 1771.
History
It has historic ...
ward of
Thurrock Council
Thurrock Borough Council, usually known as simply Thurrock Council, is the local authority for the borough of Thurrock in Essex, England. Since 1997, Thurrock has been a unitary authority, combining the functions of a non-metropolitan county wit ...
in May 2008. This is a safe Conservative ward and Beackon finished in third place with 330 votes, 17.8% of the total.
For the 2010 council elections, he stood for the
Chadwell St Mary
Chadwell St Mary is an area of the unitary authority of Thurrock in Essex, England. It is one of the traditional (Church of England) parishes in Thurrock and a former civil parish. Its residential areas are on the higher ground overlooking the ...
ward and gained 811 votes (19.8%).
Post-BNP years
By 2012, Beackon had left the BNP and joined the
National Front, standing as a candidate in the Chadwell St Mary ward for the
local elections in Thurrock and gained 103 votes (6.1%) in fourth place out of five candidates by beating the Liberal Democrat.
In 2022, alongside several other prominent far-right activists and politicians, Beackon joined the
British Democratic Party
The British Democratic Party (BDP) was a short-lived far-right political party in the United Kingdom. A breakaway group from the National Front, the BDP was severely damaged after it became involved in a gun-running sting and was absorbed by the ...
(BDP). It was founded in 2013 by then-MEP
Andrew Brons, who had narrowly failed to oust Griffin in the
2011 BNP leadership election.
References
Bibliography
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External links
BBC "on this day" report
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beackon, Derek
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
Place of birth missing (living people)
British National Party politicians
National Front (UK) politicians
Councillors in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets
English far-right politicians