Martin Wingfield (born 1951) is a British

far-right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...

politician. Wingfield is long-standing figure in the British nationalist movement, he and his wife, Tina Wingfield, having contested several elections since the 1980s.

Biography

National Front

Disillusioned with the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

, Wingfield joined the National Front in 1976 and quickly rose in the party, winning election to the National Directorate in 1980. He became editor of the ''National Front News'' for a time, from 1983. He was briefly expelled from the party by

John Tyndall John Tyndall FRS (; 2 August 1820 – 4 December 1893) was a prominent 19th-century Irish physicist. His scientific fame arose in the 1850s from his study of diamagnetism. Later he made discoveries in the realms of infrared radiation and the p ...

after attempting to take control of the

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

branch of the party from Tyndall's father-in-law Charles Parker by publishing a dissident paper the ''Sussex Front''. With

Ian Anderson Ian Scott Anderson (born 10 August 1947) is a British musician, singer and songwriter best known for his work as the lead vocalist, flautist, acoustic guitarist and leader of the British rock band Jethro Tull. He is a multi-instrumentalist w ...

, he was associated with the traditionalist

Flag Group The Flag Group was a British far-right political party, formed from one of the two wings of the National Front in the 1980s. Formed in opposition to the Political Soldier wing of the Official National Front, it took its name from ''The Flag'', a ...

wing in opposition to the Political Soldier wing and became one of the leading members of this dissident group, editing their paper ''The Flag''. Around this time he was criticized by leading

Official National Front The Official National Front (ONF) was one of two far-right groups to emerge in the United Kingdom in 1986 following a split within the National Front. Following ideological paths that were mostly new to the British far-right, the ONF stood oppos ...

member

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 ...

as being more suited to the extreme

right-wing Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, authorit ...

of the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

. In his role as editor of NF party organs Wingfield was charged under the Race Relations Act in 1985 for saying "unless immigration is stopped, Crawley will end up one day like Brixton with all the problems and crime that that entails." After refusing to pay a fine, was imprisoned.

National Democrats

Wingfield was a member of the National Democrats (ND), continuing to edit ''The Flag'' for them and acting as the party's press officer. In the 1997 General Election, he stood as the ND candidate for Wolverhampton North East constituency gaining 356 votes (0.9%); his wife, Tina, stood as a ND candidate for the Blackburn constituency gaining 671 votes (1.41%).

British National Party

In 2001, he joined 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 ...

, and is currently the editor of the party's newspaper, ''Voice of Freedom''. He was on the BNP candidate list for the

North-West England North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, administrative counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of ...

regional constituency in the 2004 European Election and again in

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

, when party leader

was elected. He stood for

Workington Workington is a coastal town and civil parish at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, England. The town was historically in Cumberland. At the 2011 census it had a population of 25,207. Loca ...

, as did his wife, Tina, for

Salford and Eccles Salford and Eccles is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Rebecca Long-Bailey, a member of the Labour Party. History The constituency was created following the Boundary Commission's Fifth Per ...

in the 2010 general election. In August 2011, after the BNP had a leadership challenge, both Martin and his wife had shown support to

Andrew Brons Andrew Henry William Brons (born 3 June 1947) is a British politician and former MEP. Long active in far-right politics in Britain, he was elected as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Yorkshire and the Humber for the British National ...

and now face being sacked by the party for 'breaching confidentiality'.

Elections contested by Martin Wingfield

UK Parliament European Parliament

Elections contested by Tina Wingfield

UK Parliament

References

External links

Martin Wingfield
(BBC's ''BNP: Under the Skin'')
Martin Wingfield (blog)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wingfield, Martin 1951 births Living people National Front (UK) politicians British National Party politicians English far-right politicians