National Front (United Kingdom)
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The National Front (NF) is a
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 ...
,
fascist Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy and the ...
political party in the United Kingdom. It is currently led by Tony Martin. As a
minor party A minor party is a political party that plays a smaller (in some cases much smaller, even insignificant in comparison) role than a major party in a country's politics and elections. The difference between minor and major parties can be so gre ...
, it has never had its representatives elected to the British or
European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the Legislature, legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven Institutions of the European Union, institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and in ...
s, although it gained a small number of local councillors through defections and it has had a few of its representatives elected to
community councils A community council is a public representative body in Great Britain. In England they may be statutory parish councils by another name, under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007, or they may be non-statutory bodies. ...
. Founded in 1967, it reached the height of its electoral support during the mid-1970s, when it was briefly England's fourth-largest party in terms of vote share. The NF was founded by A. K. Chesterton, formerly of the
British Union of Fascists The British Union of Fascists (BUF) was a British fascist political party formed in 1932 by Oswald Mosley. Mosley changed its name to the British Union of Fascists and National Socialists in 1936 and, in 1937, to the British Union. In 1939, f ...
, as a merger between his
League of Empire Loyalists The League of Empire Loyalists (LEL) was a British pressure group (also called a " ginger group" in Britain and the Commonwealth of Nations), established in 1954. Its ostensible purpose was to stop the dissolution of the British Empire. The Leag ...
and 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 ...
. It was soon joined by the
Greater Britain Movement The Greater Britain Movement was a British far right political group formed by John Tyndall in 1964 after he split from Colin Jordan's National Socialist Movement. The name of the group was derived from ''The Greater Britain'', a 1932 book by Os ...
, whose leader
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 ...
became the Front's chairman in 1972. Under Tyndall's leadership it capitalised on growing concern about South Asian migration to Britain, rapidly increasing its membership and vote share in the urban areas of east London and northern England. Its public profile was raised through street marches and rallies, which often resulted in violent clashes with
anti-fascist Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers wer ...
protesters, most notably the 1974 Red Lion Square disorders and the 1977 Battle of Lewisham. In 1982, Tyndall left the National Front to form a new
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). Many NF members defected to Tyndall's BNP, contributing to a substantial decline in the Front's electoral support. During the 1980s, the NF split in two; the Flag NF retained the older ideology, while the Official NF adopted a
Third Position The Third Position is a set of neo-fascist political ideologies that were first described in Western Europe following the Second World War. Developed in the context of the Cold War, it developed its name through the claim that it represented a ...
ist stance before disbanding in 1990. In 1995, the Flag NF's leadership transformed the party into the National Democrats, although a small splinter group retained the NF name. Ideologically positioned on the extreme right or far-right of British politics, the NF has been characterised as fascist or
neo-fascist Neo-fascism is a post-World War II far-right ideology that includes significant elements of fascism. Neo-fascism usually includes ultranationalism, racial supremacy, populism, authoritarianism, nativism, xenophobia, and anti-immigration ...
by
political scientist Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...
s. Different factions have dominated the party at different times, each with its own ideological bent, including
neo-Nazi Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and racial supremacy (often white supremacy), attack ...
s, Strasserites and racial populists. The party espouses the ethnic nationalist view that only white people should be citizens of the United Kingdom. The NF calls for an end to non-white migration into the UK and for settled non-white Britons to be stripped of their citizenship and deported. A
white supremacist White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White s ...
party, it promotes
biological racism Scientific racism, sometimes termed biological racism, is the pseudoscientific belief that empirical evidence exists to support or justify racism ( racial discrimination), racial inferiority, or racial superiority.. "Few tragedies can be mor ...
and the
white genocide conspiracy theory The white genocide, white extinction, or white replacement conspiracy theory is a white supremacist conspiracy theory which states that there is a deliberate plot, often blamed on Jews, to promote miscegenation, interracial marriage, mass no ...
, calling for global racial separatism and condemning interracial relationships and
miscegenation Miscegenation ( ) is the interbreeding of people who are considered to be members of different races. The word, now usually considered pejorative, is derived from a combination of the Latin terms ''miscere'' ("to mix") and ''genus'' ("race") ...
. It espouses
anti-semitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...
conspiracy theories, endorsing
Holocaust denial Holocaust denial is an antisemitic conspiracy theory that falsely asserts that the Nazi genocide of Jews, known as the Holocaust, is a myth, fabrication, or exaggeration. Holocaust deniers make one or more of the following false statements: ...
and claiming that Jews dominate the world through both
communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...
and finance capitalism. It promotes economic protectionism,
hard Euroscepticism Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies, and seek refo ...
and a transformation away from
liberal democracy Liberal democracy is the combination of a liberal political ideology that operates under an indirect democratic form of government. It is characterized by elections between multiple distinct political parties, a separation of powers into ...
, while its social policies oppose
feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
,
LGBT rights Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality. Notably, , 33 ...
and societal permissiveness. After the BNP, the NF has been the most successful far-right group in British politics since the Second World War. During its history, it has established sub-groups such as a trade unionist association, a youth group and the
Rock Against Communism Rock Against Communism (RAC) was the name of white power rock concerts in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and has since become the catch-all term for music with racist lyrics as well as a specific genre of rock music derived ...
musical organisation. Only whites are permitted membership of the party, and in its heyday most of its support came from
white British White British is an ethnicity classification used for the native white population identifying as English, Scottish, Welsh, Cornish, Northern Irish, or British in the United Kingdom Census. In the 2011 census, the White British population wa ...
working-class The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colou ...
and lower middle-class communities in northern England and east London. The NF has generated vocal opposition from left-wing and anti-fascist groups throughout its history, and NF members are prohibited from various professions.


History


Formation: 1966–1967

The National Front began as a coalition of small far-right groups active on the fringes of British politics during the 1960s. The resolve to unite them came in early 1966 from A. K. Chesterton, the leader of the
League of Empire Loyalists The League of Empire Loyalists (LEL) was a British pressure group (also called a " ginger group" in Britain and the Commonwealth of Nations), established in 1954. Its ostensible purpose was to stop the dissolution of the British Empire. The Leag ...
(LEL). He had a long history in the British fascist movement, having been a member of the
British Union of Fascists The British Union of Fascists (BUF) was a British fascist political party formed in 1932 by Oswald Mosley. Mosley changed its name to the British Union of Fascists and National Socialists in 1936 and, in 1937, to the British Union. In 1939, f ...
(BUF) in the 1930s. Over the following months, many far-rightists visited Chesterton at his
Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...
apartment to discuss the proposal, among them Andrew Fountaine and Philip Maxwell 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), David Brown of the
Racial Preservation Society The Racial Preservation Society was a far-right pressure group opposed to immigration and in favour of white nationalism, national preservation and protection in the United Kingdom in the 1960s. Background Although parties such as the Union Movem ...
(RPS), and
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 ...
and
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 ...
of the
Greater Britain Movement The Greater Britain Movement was a British far right political group formed by John Tyndall in 1964 after he split from Colin Jordan's National Socialist Movement. The name of the group was derived from ''The Greater Britain'', a 1932 book by Os ...
(GBM). Although everyone agreed with the idea of unification, personal rivalries made the process difficult. Chesterton agreed to a merger of the LEL and BNP, and a faction of the RPS decided to join them. Chesterton and the BNP agreed that Tyndall's GBM would not be invited to join their new party because of its strong associations with
neo-Nazism Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazism, Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and Supremacism#Racial, racial supremacy (ofte ...
, as well as the recent arrest of Tyndall and seven other GBM members for illegal weapon possession. Chesterton wanted to keep his new party clear of the crude sloganeering he thought was holding back the far-right's electoral success; he later stated that "the man who thinks this is a war that can be won by mouthing slogans about 'dirty Jews' and 'filthy niggers' is a maniac whose place should not be in the National Front but in a mental hospital." In October 1966, the LEL and BNP established a working committee to determine what policies they could agree on. The committee's initial policy platform revolved around opposition to Britain's political establishment,
anti-communism Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when the United States and the ...
, support for the white minority governments in
Rhodesia Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...
and
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
, a ban on migration into Britain and the expulsion of all settled non-white immigrants. They considered various names for the new party, before settling on "National Front" in December 1966. The National Front (NF) was founded on 7 February 1967, with Chesterton its first chairman. At the time it had approximately 2,500 members, of whom 1,000 were from the BNP, 300 from the LEL and over 100 from the RPS. The historian Richard Thurlow described the NF's formation as "the most significant event on the radical right and fascist fringe of British politics" since the internment of the country's fascists during the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.


Early growth: 1968–1972

The NF's first year was marked by a power struggle between the ex-LEL and ex-BNP factions. The former were unhappy with the behaviour of ex-BNP members, such as their propensity for political chanting, while the ex-BNP faction criticised Chesterton's elitist pretensions. At the invitation of the ex-BNP faction, in June 1967, Tyndall discontinued the GBM and called on its members to join the NF. Despite his own earlier commitment to keep Tyndall out, Chesterton welcomed him into the party. Tyndall's magazine, ''Spearhead''—originally sold as "an organ of National Socialist .e. Naziopinion in Britain"—dropped its open neo-Nazism and backed the NF, eventually becoming the party's ''de facto'' monthly magazine. The party held its first annual conference in October 1967; it was picketed by
anti-fascist Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers wer ...
s. In 1968, Chesterton's leadership was unsuccessfully challenged by Fountaine, who then left the party. There were further internal arguments after its lease on its
Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Bu ...
headquarters ended. Ex-LEL members wanted another base in central London, while the ex-GBM and ex-BNP factions favoured moving into the GBM's old headquarters in
Tulse Hill Tulse Hill is a district in the London Borough of Lambeth in South London that sits on Brockwell Park. It is approximately five miles from Charing Cross and is bordered by Brixton, Dulwich, Herne Hill, Streatham and West Norwood. History The ar ...
. Chesterton backed the ex-LEL position, and offered a small office in
Fleet Street Fleet Street is a major street mostly in the City of London. It runs west to east from Temple Bar at the boundary with the City of Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the London Wall and the River Fleet from which the street was na ...
. In April 1968, immigration became the foremost political topic in the national media after 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 ...
politician
Enoch Powell John Enoch Powell, (16 June 1912 – 8 February 1998) was a British politician, classical scholar, author, linguist, soldier, philologist, and poet. He served as a Conservative Member of Parliament (1950–1974) and was Minister of Health (1 ...
made his
Rivers of Blood speech The "Rivers of Blood" speech was made by British Member of Parliament (MP) Enoch Powell on 20 April 1968, to a meeting of the Conservative Political Centre in Birmingham, United Kingdom. His speech strongly criticised mass immigration, especi ...
, an appeal against non-white immigration into Britain. Although Powell proposed more moderate measures for expelling migrants than the NF, his use of language was similar to theirs, and some individuals on the right-wing of the Conservatives defected to the NF. The NF fielded 45 candidates in the 1969 local elections and averaged a poll of 8%, although a few secured over 10%. The party focused on these latter seats in the 1970 local elections, fielding 10 candidates; almost all received under 5% of the vote. The party faced militant left-wing opposition, including the driving of a lorry into its Tulse Hill building in 1969, and to counter this the NF installed a spy in London's anti-fascist movement. Against Chesterton's wishes, NF activists carried out publicity stunts: in 1968 they marched onto a
London Weekend Television London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 unt ...
show uninvited and in 1969 assaulted two Labour Party ministers. While Chesterton was holidaying in South Africa, a faction led by Gordon Brown—formerly of Tyndall's GBM—launched a leadership challenge against him. On realising that his support was weak, Chesterton resigned. He was succeeded by John O'Brien in February 1971. Frustrated that Tyndall maintained links with neo-Nazi groups like the Northern League, O'Brien and his supporters ultimately left the NF for the National Independence Party in June 1972.


Tyndall's first leadership: 1972–1975

Tyndall became party chairman in July 1972, centralising the NF's activities at a new Croydon headquarters. According to Thurlow, under Tyndall the NF attempted to "convert racial populists" angry about immigration "into fascists". In his history of fascism,
Roger Eatwell Roger Eatwell is a British academic currently an Emeritus Professor of Politics at the University of Bath. Since the late 1970s, Eatwell has engaged in research in fascism and populism. He defines fascism as a syncretic ideology, which could at ...
noted that with Tyndall as chair, "the NF tried hard to hide its neo-Nazism from public view, fearing it might damage popular support." Refocusing its appeal towards the white working class, in June 1974 it launched the NF Trade Unionists Association. Britain's leftists fought back by publicising the neo-Nazi past of senior NF members, including photographs of Tyndall wearing a Nazi uniform. The NF capitalised on fears surrounding the arrival of Ugandan Asian refugees in 1972, resulting in rapid growth of its membership. At the 1973 West Bromwich by-election it gained 16% of the vote, passing the 10% mark in a parliamentary election for the first time, something that brought greater media coverage. 54 candidates were fielded at the February 1974 general election, a number that guaranteed them a
party political broadcast A party political broadcast (also known, in pre-election campaigning periods, as a party election broadcast) is a television or radio broadcast made by a political party. In the United Kingdom the Communications Act 2003 prohibits (and previou ...
. It contested six times as many seats as in 1970, averaging a vote share of 3.2%, slightly less than in 1970. By the mid-1970s, the NF's membership had stagnated and in several areas declined; all of its 90 candidates for the October 1974 general election lost their deposits. In the 1975 local elections they fielded 60 candidates, far fewer than in previous elections. A faction known as the "Populists" emerged in the party under
Roy Painter Roy Painter (born 1933) was a former leading figure on the British far right. A cab driver, he was a leading member of the Conservatives in Tottenham and had stood as a candidate for them in the Greater London Council. A supporter of Enoch Powell ...
's leadership. They were frustrated that the NF's directorate was dominated by former BNP and GBM members and believed that Tyndall remained a neo-Nazi. They ensured John Kingsley Read's election as chairman, with Tyndall demoted to vice chair. Growing strife between the Tyndallites and Populists broke out; Read and the executive committee suspended Tyndall and nine of his supporters from the directorate, before expelling Tyndall from the party. Tyndall took the issue to the High Court, where his expulsion was declared illegal. In frustration at their inability to eject Tyndall and the Tyndallites, Read and his supporters split from the NF to form the National Party (NP) in December 1975.


Tyndall's second leadership: 1976–1982

In February 1976, Tyndall was restored as the NF leader. The party then capitalised on public anger at the government's agreement to accept Malawian Asian refugees, and held demonstrations against their arrival. After a resurgence in fortunes in London at the 1977 GLC election, when the party improved on its October 1974 general election result, further marches were planned in the city. These included a march through
Lewisham Lewisham () is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the Historic counties of England, historic county of Kent until 1889. It is identified i ...
in August 1977, where clashes with anti-fascists became known as the " Battle of Lewisham". In the 1979 general election, the NF contested more seats than any insurgent party since Labour in 1918. It nevertheless performed badly, securing only 1.3% of the total vote, down from 3.1% in the October 1974 general election. This decline may have been due to increased anti-fascist campaigning over preceding years, or because of the Conservatives' increasingly restrictive stance on immigration under
Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...
attracted many votes that previously went to the Front. NF membership had also declined. Although Tyndall and Webster had been longstanding comrades, in the late 1970s Tyndall began to blame his old friend for the party's problems. Tyndall was upset with Webster's attempts to encourage far-right skinheads and
football hooligan Football hooliganism, also known as soccer hooliganism, football rioting or soccer rioting, constitutes violence and other destructive behaviours perpetrated by spectators at association football events. Football hooliganism normally involves ...
s to join the NF, as well as allegations that Webster had been making sexual advances toward the party's young men. In October 1979 he urged the NF directorate to call for Webster's resignation, but was refused. Tyndall resigned in January 1980, complaining of a "foul stench of perversion" in the party. In June, he founded the New National Front (NNF), which claimed that a third of the NF's membership defected to it.


Strasserites and the Flag Group: 1983–1990

After Tyndall's departure, Webster became party chair, but was ousted in 1983 by a faction led by
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 ...
and Joe Pearce. In May 1985, this faction – who adhered to the Strasserite variant of Nazism – secured control of the party's directorate and suspended the membership of their opponents. Their focus was not on electoral success but on developing an activist elite consisting largely of working-class urban youths; its supporters became known as "Political Soldiers". The Strasserites officially reformulated their party along a centralised cadre system at the November 1986 AGM. Their ideology was influenced by their strong links with members of an Italian fascist militia, the
Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari The Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari ( en, Armed Revolutionary Nuclei), abbreviated NAR, was an Italian terrorist neo-fascist militant organization active during the Years of Lead from 1977 to November 1981. It committed 33 murders in four years, an ...
(NAR), who were hiding in London after the
Bologna massacre The Bologna massacre ( it, strage di Bologna) was a terrorist bombing of the Bologna Centrale railway station in Bologna, Italy, on the morning of 2 August 1980, which killed 85 people and wounded over 200. Several members of the neo-fascist t ...
. Like the NAR, the NF Strasserites emphasised the far-right ideology of the
Third Position The Third Position is a set of neo-fascist political ideologies that were first described in Western Europe following the Second World War. Developed in the context of the Cold War, it developed its name through the claim that it represented a ...
, which they presented as being opposed to both capitalism and
Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
-oriented socialism. They were also influenced by the
Nouvelle Droite The Nouvelle Droite (; en, "New Right"), sometimes shortened to the initialism ND, is a far-right political movement which emerged in France during the late 1960s. The Nouvelle Droite is at the origin of the wider European New Right (ENR). Vario ...
, a French far-right movement that advocated long-term strategies of cultural influence to achieve their goals. The Strasserites described themselves as "radical, youthful and successful", contrasting their approach with the "out-dated conservative policies" of their internal opponents. These opponents then formed a rival organisation, the
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 ...
, which adopted the name "National Front" in January 1987. According to Eatwell, the Flag NF "was essentially a continuation of the racial-populist tradition" used by earlier forms of the party. It had more working-class leaders than the Strasserite group and regarded the latter as intellectuals pursuing foreign ideological fads. There remained two organisations claiming the name of National Front—that controlled by the Flag Group and the Strasserites'
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 ...
—until 1990. In contrast to the Strasserite NF's increased centralisation, the Flag Group gave autonomy to its branches, focusing on local issues. Following the NF's declining vote share in the late 1970s, both groups had effectively abandoned interest in electoral participation. Reflecting the Nouvelle Droite's influence, the Strasserite Official NF promoted support for "a broad front of racialists of all colours" who were seeking an end to multi-racial society and capitalism, praising black nationalists like
Louis Farrakhan Louis Farrakhan (; born Louis Eugene Walcott, May 11, 1933) is an American religious leader, black supremacist, anti-white and antisemitic conspiracy theorist, and former singer who heads the Nation of Islam (NOI). Prior to joining the NOI, h ...
and
Marcus Garvey Marcus Mosiah Garvey Sr. (17 August 188710 June 1940) was a Jamaican political activist, publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator. He was the founder and first President-General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African ...
. Their publication, ''Nationalism Today'', featured positive articles on the
Libyan Demographics of Libya is the demography of Libya, specifically covering population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, and religious affiliations, as well as other aspects of the Libyan population. The ...
and
Iranian Iranian may refer to: * Iran, a sovereign state * Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran * Iranian lan ...
governments, presenting them as part of a global anti-capitalist and anti-Marxist third force; they may have also seen Libya and Iran as potential sources of funding. This new ideology alienated many NF members. The Official NF experienced internal problems and in 1989 Griffin,
Derek Holland Derek Lane Holland (born October 9, 1986) nicknamed "Dutch Oven", is an American professional baseball pitcher who is currently a free agent. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Texas Rangers (baseball), Texas Rangers, Chicago ...
and Colin Todd split from it to establish the
International Third Position International Third Position (ITP) was a neo-fascist organisation formed by the breakaway faction of the British National Front, led by Roberto Fiore, an ex-member of the Italian far-right movement Third Position. Development Though a key formul ...
. In March 1990 the Official NF was disbanded by its leaders, Patrick Harrington, Graham Williamson and David Kerr, who replaced it with a new organisation, the
Third Way The Third Way is a centrist political position that attempts to reconcile right-wing and left-wing politics by advocating a varying synthesis of centre-right economic policies with centre-left social policies. The Third Way was born from a ...
. This left the Flag Group as the only party using the National Front banner.


Further decline: 1990–present

During the 1990s, the NF was eclipsed by Tyndall's new
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) as Britain's foremost far-right movement. Following the
Lansdowne Road football riot The Lansdowne Road football riot occurred during a friendly football match between the Republic of Ireland and England in Lansdowne Road Stadium in Dublin, Ireland on 15 February 1995. Match The last time England had played Ireland at Lansdowne ...
of 1995, in which English far-right hooligans attacked Irish supporters, the NF's chairman Ian Anderson attempted to escape the negative associations of the name "National Front" by renaming the party as the National Democrats. A small faction broke away to retain the National Front name, contesting the
1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...
and 2001 general elections, with little success. By 2001, the NF had developed close links with
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 ...
, a neo-Nazi paramilitary which had been founded by Tyndall's BNP before breaking from the latter. The Front continued to organise rallies, several of which were banned by successive Home Secretaries. A 2010 High Court ruling forced the BNP to remove a clause from its constitution prohibiting non-white membership, leading to defections to the NF. After the
English Defence League The English Defence League (EDL) is a far-right, Islamophobic organisation in the United Kingdom. A social movement and pressure group that employs street demonstrations as its main tactic, the EDL presents itself as a single-issue movement ...
(EDL), an
Islamophobic Islamophobia is the fear of, hatred of, or prejudice against the religion of Islam or Muslims in general, especially when seen as a geopolitical force or a source of terrorism. The scope and precise definition of the term ''Islamophobia'' ...
social movement A social movement is a loosely organized effort by a large group of people to achieve a particular goal, typically a social or political one. This may be to carry out a social change, or to resist or undo one. It is a type of group action and may ...
, emerged in 2009, the NF pursued links but was rebuffed by the EDL, which sought to distance itself from the Front and other established far-right groups. As the EDL declined in the following years, the NF collaborated with some of the groups that had split from it, like the North West Infidels and South East Alliance. In March 2015 Kevin Bryan became the NF's chair. After Bryan was injured in a car accident he was replaced by Dave MacDonald in November 2015, with Tony Martin taking over in September 2018.


Ideology


Far-right politics, fascism and neo-Nazism

A far-right or extreme-right party, the NF has both commonalities and differences with older far-right groups. Political scientists and historians characterise it as fascist, or
neo-fascist Neo-fascism is a post-World War II far-right ideology that includes significant elements of fascism. Neo-fascism usually includes ultranationalism, racial supremacy, populism, authoritarianism, nativism, xenophobia, and anti-immigration ...
, with the historian Martin Durham stating that the NF—like France's National Front and Germany's The Republicans—represented "the direct descendants of classical fascism". The political psychologist Michael Billig notes that the NF displayed many of fascism's recurring traits: an emphasis on nationalism and racism, an anti-Marxist stance,
statism In political science, statism is the doctrine that the political authority of the state is legitimate to some degree. This may include economic and social policy, especially in regard to taxation and the means of production. While in use sinc ...
and support for private enterprise, and a hostile view of democracy and personal freedom. Rejecting the term "fascist" to describe itself, the NF sought to conceal its connections to older fascist movements, denying its leaders' previous fascist activities. It claimed that it could not be fascist because it took part in elections; the political scientist Stan Taylor argues that this claim was obsolete, for many earlier fascist parties—including the BUF, the German
Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...
and the Italian
National Fascist Party The National Fascist Party ( it, Partito Nazionale Fascista, PNF) was a political party in Italy, created by Benito Mussolini as the political expression of Italian Fascism and as a reorganization of the previous Italian Fasces of Combat. The ...
—also contested elections. In avoiding the "fascist" label, the NF was typical of fascist groups operating after the Second World War; having to contend with the legacy of the war and the
Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
, they tried to hide their intellectual pedigrees from voters. As with many political extremists, the image the NF presented to the public was more moderate than the ideology of its inner core of members. As noted by Billig, the NF's "ideological core and its genocidal tendencies, are hidden" so as not to scare off potential recruits sympathetic to its nationalism and anti-immigration stance but not its antisemitic conspiracy theories. While noting that the party's views on race departed considerably "from what is normal or acceptable to the average citizen" in the UK, the political scientist Nigel Fielding observes that many of its other views were grounded in what would be considered "popular common-sense opinion" across the political right.


Factions

During its history, the NF contained various factions with distinct ideological positions. From the party's early days until the 1980 Tyndall/Webster split, its ideology was dominated by the ex-GBM faction. According to Thurlow, the ex-GBM faction oversaw "an attempt to portray the essentials of Nazi ideology in more rational language and seemingly reasonable arguments", while Wilkinson observed that this faction's leadership was "deeply imbued with Nazi ideas" and retained "intimate connections" with both domestic and foreign neo-Nazi groups. Taylor also regarded the NF of the 1970s as a Nazi organisation because of its fixation on antisemitic conspiracy theories. In his words, the NF's "full ideology" was, "in a large number of respects", identical to the original German Nazism. According to Thurlow, the members of the "Populist" faction that challenged the ex-GBM faction's dominance in the late 1970s were "pseudo-Conservative racial populists", representing the party's "non-fascist and ostensibly more democratic element". After Tyndall and Webster were ousted and replaced by Brons and Anderson, a new faction took control whose members regarded themselves as Strasserite, drawing inspiration from German Nazi Party members
Otto Strasser Otto Johann Maximilian Strasser (also german: link=no, Straßer, see ß; 10 September 1897 – 27 August 1974) was a German politician and an early member of the Nazi Party. Otto Strasser, together with his brother Gregor Strasser, was a lead ...
and
Gregor Strasser Gregor Strasser (also german: Straßer, see ß; 31 May 1892 – 30 June 1934) was an early prominent German Nazi Party, Nazi official and politician who was murdered during the Night of the Long Knives in 1934. Born in 1892 in Bavaria, Strasse ...
. This faction embraced the Third Position ideology and drew inspiration from
Muammar Gaddafi Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi, . Due to the lack of standardization of transcribing written and regionally pronounced Arabic, Gaddafi's name has been romanized in various ways. A 1986 column by ''The Straight Dope'' lists 32 spellin ...
's
Third International Theory The Third International Theory () was the style of government proposed by Muammar Gaddafi in the early 1970s, on which his government, the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, was officially based. It was partly inspired by Islam ...
.


Ethnic nationalism, racism and eugenics

The National Front is a
British nationalist British nationalism asserts that the British are a nation and promotes the cultural unity of Britons,Guntram H. Herb, David H. Kaplan. Nations and Nationalism: A Global Historical Overview: A Global Historical Overview. Santa Barbara, Californi ...
party; its early policy statements declared that it "pledged to work for the restoration of full national sovereignty for Britain in all affairs". It rejected
internationalism Internationalism may refer to: * Cosmopolitanism, the view that all human ethnic groups belong to a single community based on a shared morality as opposed to communitarianism, patriotism and nationalism * International Style, a major architectur ...
and thus opposed both
liberalism Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostility to autocracy, cultural distaste for c ...
and
communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
, contrasting their internationalist espousal of
universal value A value is a universal value if it has the same value or worth for all, or almost all, people. Spheres of human value encompass morality, aesthetic preference, human traits, human endeavour, and social order. Whether universal values exist is ...
s with its view that nations should have their own distinct values. Labelling itself a racial nationalist party, the NF's concept of nationalism was bound up with that of race. NF members typically referred to themselves as "racialists", with Durham stating that the NF was "undeniably a racist organisation". The party claimed that humanity divides into biologically distinct
race Race, RACE or "The Race" may refer to: * Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species * Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...
s with their own physical and social characteristics. Although some of its published material referred only to "white" and "black" races, elsewhere it listed various racial groups, among them the "Nordics", "Caucasoids", "Negroids", "Semites" and "Turco-Armonoids". It claimed that within racial groups can be found "nations", a form of "race within a race"; many party activists nevertheless used the terms "race" and "nation" interchangeably. The NF claimed the existence of a distinct British racial "nation", all the members of which shared common interests;
Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
and
Scottish nationalism Scottish nationalism promotes the idea that the Scottish people form a cohesive nation and national identity. Scottish nationalism began to shape from 1853 with the National Association for the Vindication of Scottish Rights, progressing into t ...
s were condemned as threats to British racial unity. It viewed class as a false distinction among the British nation, rejecting the concept of
class war Class War is an anarchist group and newspaper established by Ian Bone and others in 1983 in the United Kingdom. An incarnation of Class War was briefly registered as a political party for the purposes of fighting the 2015 United Kingdom gener ...
as "nonsense", and—like most fascist groups—tried to attract support across class boundaries. For the NF,
patriotism Patriotism is the feeling of love, devotion, and sense of attachment to one's country. This attachment can be a combination of many different feelings, language relating to one's own homeland, including ethnic, cultural, political or histor ...
was deemed essential to the cohesion of the British nation, with nationalism regarded as a vital component of patriotism. Members regarded themselves as patriots, and the party made heavy use of British patriotic symbols like the
Union Flag The Union Jack, or Union Flag, is the ''de facto'' national flag of the United Kingdom. Although no law has been passed making the Union Flag the official national flag of the United Kingdom, it has effectively become such through precedent. ...
and
Remembrance Day Remembrance Day (also known as Poppy Day owing to the tradition of wearing a remembrance poppy) is a memorial day observed in Commonwealth member states since the end of the First World War to honour armed forces members who have died in t ...
. Fielding believed that the "dialectic of insiders and outsiders" was the "linchpin of its ideology", and noted that the NF's "rigid boundaries between in-group and out-group" were typical of the far-right. In its 1974 electoral manifesto, the NF called for a "vigorous birth-rate" among the white British, claiming that any ensuing overpopulation of the UK could be resolved by emigration to the
British Commonwealth The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the Co ...
. Tyndall defended Nazi Germany's ''
lebensraum (, ''living space'') is a German concept of settler colonialism, the philosophy and policies of which were common to German politics from the 1890s to the 1940s. First popularized around 1901, '' lso in:' became a geopolitical goal of Imperi ...
'' policy, and under his leadership the NF promoted
imperialist Imperialism is the state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas, often through employing hard power (economic and ...
views about expanding British territory to create "living space" for the country's growing population. The party also promoted
eugenics Eugenics ( ; ) is a fringe set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter human gene pools by excluding people and groups judged to be inferior or ...
, calling for the improvement of the quality as well as the quantity of the white British people. Under Tyndall, it called for the sterilisation of those with genetically transmittable disabilities. By 2011, the party's website was utilising the
Fourteen Words Fourteen Words (also abbreviated 14 or 14/ 88) is a reference to two slogans originated by David Eden Lane, one of nine founding members of the defunct white separatist insurrectionary terrorist organization The Order. The slogans have served ...
slogan: "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children."


White supremacism

A
white supremacist White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White s ...
party, the NF rejected the concept of
racial equality Racial equality is a situation in which people of all races and ethnicities are treated in an egalitarian/equal manner. Racial equality occurs when institutions give individuals legal, moral, and political rights. In present-day Western society, ...
. It argued that different races can be ranked hierarchically based on differing abilities, and that the "higher races" compete for world domination. It believed that
racial segregation Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crimes against hum ...
was natural and ordained by God, but that non-whites had been encouraged to migrate to Britain and other white-majority countries to breed with the indigenous inhabitants and thus bring about "
white genocide The white genocide, white extinction, or white replacement conspiracy theory is a white supremacist conspiracy theory which states that there is a deliberate plot, often blamed on Jews, to promote miscegenation, interracial marriage, mass non ...
" through assimilation. It opposed inter-racial marriage and
miscegenation Miscegenation ( ) is the interbreeding of people who are considered to be members of different races. The word, now usually considered pejorative, is derived from a combination of the Latin terms ''miscere'' ("to mix") and ''genus'' ("race") ...
—typically referring to the latter as "mongrelisation"—and displayed particular anxiety about black men seducing white women. It claimed its racial prejudice arose from a natural desire for racial preservation rather than hatred of other races. The NF claimed that most non-white racial groups were inferior to "Caucasoids and Mongoloids". In the mid-1970s, Tyndall used ''Spearhead'' to claim that "the negro has a smaller brain and a much less complex cerebral structure" than whites; in the early 1980s, ''Nationalism Today'' carried articles maintaining that black Africans had lower average IQs than whites and thus were unfit "to go to white schools" or "live in white society". Its published material presented black people as dirty and unhygienic, infected with disease and incapable of governing themselves. ''Spearhead'' featured references to black people being
cannibals Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is well documented, bo ...
; at least one article claimed they ate dirt and faeces. The NF sought academic support for its views, placing great importance on
scientific racist Scientific racism, sometimes termed biological racism, is the pseudoscientific belief that empirical evidence exists to support or justify racism (racial discrimination), racial inferiority, or racial superiority.. "Few tragedies can be more e ...
publications. Its booklist offered academic and quasi-academic books endorsing scientific racism; early party literature often referenced the work of
Hans Eysenck Hans Jürgen Eysenck (; 4 March 1916 – 4 September 1997) was a German-born British psychologist who spent his professional career in Great Britain. He is best remembered for his work on intelligence and personality, although he worked on other ...
,
William Shockley William Bradford Shockley Jr. (February 13, 1910 – August 12, 1989) was an American physicist and inventor. He was the manager of a research group at Bell Labs that included John Bardeen and Walter Brattain. The three scientists were jointly ...
,
Arthur Jensen Arthur Robert Jensen (August 24, 1923 – October 22, 2012) was an American psychologist and writer. He was a professor of educational psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. Jensen was known for his work in psychometrics an ...
and
Richard Herrnstein Richard Julius Herrnstein (May 20, 1930 – September 13, 1994) was an American psychologist at Harvard University. He was an active researcher in animal learning in the B. F. Skinner, Skinnerian tradition. Herrnstein was the Edgar Pierce Profess ...
, while ''Spearhead'' and other NF publications repeatedly cited articles from the ''
Mankind Quarterly ''Mankind Quarterly'' is a peer-reviewed journal that has been described as a "cornerstone of the scientific racism establishment", a "white supremacist journal", and "a pseudo-scholarly outlet for promoting racial inequality". It covers phys ...
''. In citing these studies, the party claimed that its views were scientific, although Fielding observed that the NF's racial views relied "as much on blind assertion, on faith, as on 'scientific' sources".


Anti-immigrationism and repatriation

The cornerstone of the Front's manifesto since 1974 has been the compulsory deportation of all non-white immigrants and their descendants, as well as the white British partners in mixed-race relationships. It stated that the "repatriation" process could take ten years, adding that before deportation, non-whites would be stripped of British citizenship and placed behind white Britons when it came to access to welfare, education and housing. It accompanied this with a call to prohibit future non-white migration to Britain. In the 1970s the NF stated that it did not oppose the arrival of white immigrants from Commonwealth countries, but called for "firm controls" on the migration of whites from elsewhere. During its first decade, the party emphasised the claim that it was the politicians who enabled immigration—rather than migrants themselves—who were to blame. In 1969, it stated: "Your enemies are not the coloured immigrants, but the British government which let them come in hundreds of thousands." It claimed that Labour had promoted migration to boost their vote and that Conservatives had seen migrants as cheap labour. Its early publications generally avoided derogatory terms for non-whites like "wog" or "nigger", although such language appeared at party rallies. As it developed, the NF press included racially inflammatory headlines like "Black Savages Terrorize Old Folk" and "Asians Import Bizarre Sex-Murder Rites", also comparing non-white migrants to vermin by describing areas as "immigrant-infested". The NF linked other issues to race and immigration, targeting concerns among the white British about immigrants being competition for jobs, housing and welfare. Common NF claims included that immigrants carried diseases like
leprosy Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a long-term infection by the bacteria ''Mycobacterium leprae'' or ''Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the nerves, respiratory tract, skin, and eyes. This nerve damag ...
and
tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
, that they were a burden on the
National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...
(NHS), and that incompetent migrant staff were detrimental to the NHS. It claimed that immigrants evaded taxes and that they were arrogant, aggressive and unhygienic in the workplace. It maintained that blacks were a source of crime, and that black pupils eroded school quality.


Antisemitism and Holocaust denial

The NF is
antisemitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...
. It claimed that Jews form a biologically distinct race—one of the world's "higher races"—and that they seek to destroy the white "Caucasoid" race. The Front alleged that a Jewish cabal orchestrated non-white migration into Britain, hoping to weaken the white race through racial mixing, as well as through internationalism and encouraging internal division. The party propagated the
conspiracy theory A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * * * * The term has a nega ...
that Jews did this to plunge other "higher races" in disarray so that they would be left dominant. As mentioned in ''Spearhead'', this achieved, "the Jewish nation would be the only surviving ethnically identifiable population group amid a mongrelised world population", the latter being easier for Jews to control. This conspiracy theory owed much to the 19th-century Russian antisemitic forgery ''
Protocols of the Elders of Zion ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'' () or ''The Protocols of the Meetings of the Learned Elders of Zion'' is a fabricated antisemitic text purporting to describe a Jewish plan for global domination. The hoax was plagiarized from several ...
'', and was previously articulated by the BUF. Whereas the BUF explicitly claimed Jews were behind this global conspiracy, the NF were aware of considerable public disapproval of antisemitism following the Holocaust so used code-words and dogwhistles such as "Money Power", "internationalist", "cosmopolitan", "alien", "rootless", "shifty", "money-lenders" and "usurers" instead of "Jews". In the 1970s the NF denied it was "antisemitic", instead calling itself "
anti-Zionist Anti-Zionism is opposition to Zionism. Although anti-Zionism is a heterogeneous phenomenon, all its proponents agree that the creation of the modern State of Israel, and the movement to create a sovereign Jewish state in the region of Palestine ...
"; it claimed to oppose "Zionists" rather than all Jews. Within the NF, the word "
Zionism Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after ''Zion'') is a Nationalism, nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is ...
" was not used in the commonly understood manner, which is to describe the ideology promoting the formation of a Jewish state, but rather applied to the alleged Jewish cabal secretly manipulating the world. For instance, one issue of ''Spearhead'' stated that "the twin evils of International Finance and International Communism" are "perhaps better described as International Zionism". Fielding observed that party members used the term "Zionist" indiscriminately, often against any critics. Many of the Front's central members, among them Chesterton, Tyndall and Webster, had long histories of antisemitism before joining the party. For instance, in 1963, Tyndall claimed that "Jewry is a world pest wherever it is found in the world today. The Jews are more clever and more financially powerful than other people and have to be eradicated before they destroy the Aryan peoples." In an early edition of ''Spearhead'', Tyndall stated: "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?" While some of its senior members had previously called for a genocide of the Jews, the party itself engaged in
Holocaust denial Holocaust denial is an antisemitic conspiracy theory that falsely asserts that the Nazi genocide of Jews, known as the Holocaust, is a myth, fabrication, or exaggeration. Holocaust deniers make one or more of the following false statements: ...
, referring to the Holocaust as "the six million myth". It is possible that most senior NF figures were aware that the Holocaust really happened, but denied its occurrence for tactical reasons, hoping that the spread of Holocaust denial would facilitate a more positive attitude toward Nazi Germany among Britain's population.


Government and the state

During the 1970s the Front alleged that the UK's
liberal democracy Liberal democracy is the combination of a liberal political ideology that operates under an indirect democratic form of government. It is characterized by elections between multiple distinct political parties, a separation of powers into ...
was "bogus democracy" and declared that it would forge "a genuinely democratic political system", utilising referendums on major issues. In making claims such as that "true democracy is that which is representative of the will of the people", the NF espoused
populist Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against " the elite". It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term developed ...
rhetoric. Fielding nevertheless believed that "the essence of the NF ideology is incompatible with democracy" and instead reflected an "elitist tendency" at odds with its "populist rhetoric". The NF saw democracy as a luxury that was subordinate to the preservation of the nation. In ''Spearhead'', Tyndall stated that although he would support parliamentary democracy if he thought it in the
national interest The national interest is a sovereign state's goals and ambitions (economic, military, cultural, or otherwise), taken to be the aim of government. Etymology The Italian phrase ''ragione degli stati'' was first used by Giovanni della Casa around t ...
, "the survival, and the national recovery of Britain stand as top priority over all. We will support whatever political methods are necessary to attain that end." He called for governance by a strong leader, an individual unencumbered by political parties and elections so that they could focus on the national interest rather than the interests of sub-groups or short-term considerations. In ''Spearhead'', Tyndall stated that "it is only in banana republics, where the 'sophisticated' Western institutions of a multi- or two-party system, powerful trade unions and a 'free' press have not yet taken root, that there is still scope for men of real personality and decision to emerge and truly lead." Fielding believed that had the NF achieved political office it would have marginalised parliament and governed in a
totalitarian Totalitarianism is a form of government and a political system that prohibits all opposition parties, outlaws individual and group opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high if not complete degree of control and regul ...
manner. Under its Strasserite leadership during the 1980s, the NF adopted a different position on governance, influenced heavily by the Third International Theory propounded by Libya's leader Muammar Gaddafi in '' The Green Book''. It promoted the establishment of communal political structures, with street councils, area councils, county councils and a National People's Council "for each of the British Nations". In its view of this future, the British population would be armed and trained in military tactics, allowing for the establishment of local militias rather than a state-controlled professional army.


International institutions and relations

Regarding international institutions as part of the Jewish conspiracy's plan for a one world government, the Front opposed UK membership of the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
and the
European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisb ...
(EEC). To replace the EEC, the NF called for stronger UK links with the "White countries" of the British Commonwealth, namely Canada, Australia and New Zealand, but also the white-minority governments of Rhodesia and South Africa. According to the Front, this would "strengthen the ethnic, cultural and family ties between peoples of British stock all over the world". It stated that an NF-led UK would not remain allied to the United States because the latter was dominated by the Jewish conspiracy, and called for withdrawal from the
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two Nor ...
, with Britain instead boosting its defensive capabilities through nuclear weaponry. During the 1970s the Front was
British unionist Unionism in the United Kingdom, also referred to as British unionism, is a political ideology favouring the continued unity of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as one sovereign state, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and North ...
, advocating for the unity of the United Kingdom. From the late 1960s onward it supported the
Ulster Unionists The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it led unionist opposition to the Irish Home Rule movem ...
, deeming
Irish republicanism Irish republicanism ( ga, poblachtánachas Éireannach) is the political movement for the unity and independence of Ireland under a republic. Irish republicans view British rule in any part of Ireland as inherently illegitimate. The develop ...
a communist conspiracy to undermine British unity. The NF argued that the UK had been too soft in dealing with militant Irish republicans; it argued that military courts should replace civil ones, that
Provisional Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate Irish reun ...
members should be interned and that those guilty of sabotage or murder should be executed. In the early 1970s it alleged that the Irish Republic was harbouring republican militants, "an act of war" that required trade sanctions. In that decade the NF endorsed the
Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party The Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party (VUPP), informally known as Ulster Vanguard, was a unionist political party which existed in Northern Ireland between 1972 and 1978. Led by William Craig, the party emerged from a split in the Ulster Un ...
, but many Ulster Unionists were suspicious of the NF; in 1973 the
Ulster Defence Association The Ulster Defence Association (UDA) is an Ulster loyalism, Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 as an umbrella group for various loyalist groups and Timeline of Ulster Defence Association act ...
proscribed it as "a neo-Nazi movement". In 1985 – by which time Strasserites dominated the party – the NF called on Northern Ireland to declare independence in response to the
Anglo-Irish Agreement The Anglo-Irish Agreement was a 1985 treaty between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland which aimed to help bring an end to the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The treaty gave the Irish government an advisory role in Northern Irela ...
.


Economic policy

During the 1970s the Front identified as neither
capitalist Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, priva ...
nor
socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
, advocating an economic system drawing on both. It endorsed
private enterprise A privately held company (or simply a private company) is a company whose shares and related rights or obligations are not offered for public subscription or publicly negotiated in the respective listed markets, but rather the company's stock is ...
but rejected
laissez-faire capitalism ''Laissez-faire'' ( ; from french: laissez faire , ) is an economic system in which transactions between private groups of people are free from any form of economic interventionism (such as subsidies) deriving from special interest groups. A ...
, claiming that the latter places the interests of business above that of the nation. It promoted economic nationalism, calling for maximum national self-sufficiency and a rejection of international free trade. By this approach it wished to separate Britain from the international financial system, which it believed was controlled by the Jewish conspiracy. It opposed foreign ownership of British industry, endorsing
protectionist Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulations. ...
and monetarist policies, advocating the state control of banking and financial services, and calling for a state bank to provide interest-free loans to fund
municipal housing Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, d ...
construction. These economic views were common across Britain's far-right, being akin, for example, to those of the BUF. After the Strasserite faction took control in the 1980s, the NF adopted
distributist Distributism is an economic theory asserting that the world's productive assets should be widely owned rather than concentrated. Developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, distributism was based upon Catholic social teaching princ ...
policies, maintaining the emphasis on an economic system neither capitalist nor socialist. In the party's material from 1980, it claimed that "Capitalism and Communism" were "twin evils" to be overcome by "Revolutionary Nationalism". In keeping with the Strasserites' distributism, the 1980s NF called for large business and industry to be redistributed into a tripartite system: small privately owned enterprises, workers' co-operatives and, in the case of financial institutions and heavy industry, nationalised enterprises. To solve unemployment, the party stated that it would encourage urban-to-rural migration, with heavily mechanised agriculture being replaced by small, labour-intensive farms.


Social issues

The NF adopted a strong stance against liberal and socially permissive policies, claiming that what it perceived as the growing permissiveness of British society was orchestrated by the Jewish conspiracy. Tyndall called for a moral "regeneration" penetrating "every sphere of work and leisure", including prohibitions on "art, literature or entertainment by which public moral standards might be endangered". Although placing little importance on religion, during the 1970s the party claimed that God had set forth absolute moral values. The party opposed changes to traditional
gender roles A gender role, also known as a sex role, is a social role encompassing a range of behaviors and attitudes that are generally considered acceptable, appropriate, or desirable for a person based on that person's sex. Gender roles are usually cent ...
. ''Spearhead'' stated that the NF saw "the feminine role as principally one of wife, mother and home maker". In the party's first year, it largely ignored the
1967 Abortion Act The Abortion Act 1967 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom legalising abortions on certain grounds by registered practitioners, and regulating the tax-paid provision of such medical practices through the National Health Service (NH ...
that legalised
abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...
, although by 1974 had adopted an
anti-abortion Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life or abolitionist movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in respons ...
stance, stating that abortions should only be legal in medical emergencies. According to Tyndall, the legalisation of abortion was part of a conspiracy to reduce white British births. The issue decreased in resonance within the party during the early 1980s but was re-emphasised when the Strasserites took control. The party condemned
homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...
, mixed-race marriages, and prostitution. In the 1970s the NF claimed that the teaching profession was full of "communists", and stated that under an NF government all teachers deemed unsuitable would be fired. That decade, it stressed that education should be suited to the varying abilities of students although did not outright condemn
comprehensive school A comprehensive school typically describes a secondary school for pupils aged approximately 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is res ...
ing. It called for greater emphasis on examinations and sporting competitions, with a rejection of "slapdash Leftwing-inspired teaching fads". It stated that it would emphasise the teaching of British history to encourage patriotism while expanding science and technology in the curriculum at the expense of the
social sciences Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of soci ...
. The Front exalted self-sufficiency, asserting that the individual should be willing to serve the state and that citizens' rights should be subordinate to their duties. During the 1970s the Front criticised the UK's
welfare state A welfare state is a form of government in which the state (or a well-established network of social institutions) protects and promotes the economic and social well-being of its citizens, based upon the principles of equal opportunity, equitabl ...
, stating that it wanted to end the perception of the UK as a "loafer's paradise". From its early years the NF promoted a tough stance on law and order, calling for harsher criminal sentencing, tougher prisons, and the reintroduction of both
capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
, and
national service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The ...
. Emphasising self-responsibility, it rejected the idea that an individual's misdeeds should be attributed to their societal background.


Organisation and structure


Leadership and branches

During its 1970s heyday the National Front was headed by its directorate, a body of between 7 and 20 party members. With strict control over local and regional organisations, the directorate determined party policy, controlled its structures and finances, oversaw admissions and expulsions, and determined tactics. A third of the directorate were required to stand down every year, with a postal ballot of the membership to determine their replacements. Between 1971 and 1975, the directorate elected two of its members to be the chairman and deputy chairman. However, at the 1977 annual general meeting it agreed—at Tyndall's instigation—that the chairman would instead be elected through a postal ballot of the membership. As the directorate met in London infrequently, in practice the running of the party was left to the chairman and deputy chairman. The NF's local presence divided into "groups", which had under twelve members, and "branches", which had over twelve. Fielding stated that in July 1973 the party had 32 branches and 80 groups, while the journalist Martin Walker claimed that in January 1974, it had 30 branches and 54 groups. Most were in south-east England, with 11 branches and 8 groups in
Greater London Greater may refer to: *Greatness, the state of being great *Greater than, in inequality (mathematics), inequality *Greater (film), ''Greater'' (film), a 2016 American film *Greater (flamingo), the oldest flamingo on record *Greater (song), "Greate ...
and 5 branches and 22 groups elsewhere in the south-east. It had 5 branches and 3 groups in the Midlands, 7 branches and 11 groups in the north, 1 branch and 7 groups in western Britain and 1 group each in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Each branch or group had its own five-person committee, with annual elections for the committee positions. Typically taking place in pubs, branch meetings focused largely on practical issues like raising finances. Some NF branches established supporters' associations for sympathisers unwilling to become members. Supporter organisations were established elsewhere in the world; in New Zealand in 1977 and in Australia, Canada and South Africa in 1978. In April 1974, the party introduced regional councils to co-ordinate between the national party and its local groups and branches. After the Strasserite faction secured control in 1986, it formally adopted a cadre system of leadership. This made the party more elitist, creating what the Strasserites called "a revolutionary cadre party; a movement run by its most dedicated and active members rather than by armchair nationalists". This was linked to the idea that each NF member should be a "political soldier", a "New Type of Man" who rejected the "materialist nightmare" of contemporary capitalist society and underwent a personal "Spiritual Revolution" to dedicate themselves fully to the nation.


Security and violence

Preoccupied with security, during the 1970s the Front created a file of its opponents' names and addresses. To guard its marches, it formed "defence groups"—later called the "Honour Guard"—who often carried makeshift weapons. These marches often took place in areas with high migrant populations to instil fear in the latter, whip up racial tensions and generate publicity. These tactics have continued into more recent times. Local authorities sometimes banned its marches; in 2012,
Aberdeen City Council gd, Comhairle Cathair Obar Dheathain , native_name_lang = , other_name = , image_skyline = Town House, Municipal Offices and Court Houses in Aberdeen.jpg , image_caption ...
rejected the NF's request to hold a procession on
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
's birthday. The NF also disrupted anti-fascist and mainstream political meetings. In 1975, NF activists attacked a National Council of Civil Liberties meeting, with eight people requiring hospitalisation; in another instance they stormed a
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 ...
meeting discussing the transition to black-majority rule in Rhodesia, chanting "
White Power White pride and white power are expressions primarily used by white separatist, white nationalist, fascist, neo-Nazi and white supremacist organizations in order to signal racist or racialist viewpoints. It is also a slogan used by the prominen ...
". The Front claimed that its members only resorted to violence in self-defence, although in the 1970s Fielding observed the group using force "aggressively". Fielding believed the most notable violent clash involving the NF was the Red Lion Square disorders in June 1974, during which an anti-fascist protester, Kevin Gateley, was killed. Another prominent clash took place in Lewisham in August 1977, when
Trotskyist Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a rev ...
groups attacked the NF marchers, resulting in the "Battle of Lewisham". In April 1979, an anti-NF demonstration in
Southall Southall () is a large suburban county of West London, England, part of the London Borough of Ealing and is one of its seven major towns. It is situated west of Charing Cross and had a population of 69,857 as of 2011. It is generally divided ...
clashed with police, resulting in the
death of Blair Peach Clement Blair Peach (25 March 1946 – 24 April 1979) was a New Zealand teacher who was killed during an anti-racism demonstration in Southall, London, England. A campaigner and activist against the far right, in April 1979 Peach took part in ...
. There have also been actions where covert NF involvement was suspected but not proven. For instance, in 1974, several men put up NF posters in
Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...
, assaulted individuals they accused of being Jewish and attacked the
Communist Party of Britain (Marxist–Leninist) The Communist Party of Britain (Marxist–Leninist), often abbreviated as CPB-ML, is a British Marxist–Leninist political party. It originated in 1968 as an anti-revisionist split from the Communist Party of Great Britain and was chaired by ...
bookshop. The local NF branch denied involvement. In June 1978, 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 ...
headquarters was hit by an arson attack; the slogan "NF Rules OK" was graffitied on the building. The NF denied responsibility. The party's leadership showed little concern with the violence of its members and supporters, and openly praised some of its members convicted for violent activity.


Sub-groups and propaganda output

The NF formed various sub-groups. In 1974, it launched the NF Trade Unionists Association, and issued a short-lived trade unionist magazine, ''The British Worker''. During the 1970s it encouraged members to infiltrate other groups, such as the
Hunt Saboteurs Association The Hunt Saboteurs Association (HSA) is a United Kingdom organisation that uses hunt sabotage as a means of direct action to stop fox hunting. It was founded in 1963, with its first sabotage event occurring at the South Devon Foxhounds on 26 De ...
and ratepayers' and residents' associations, through which to promote the NF. In 1978, the party's directorate established a legal department to deal with the growing number of members being charged with inciting racial hatred under the 1976 Race Relations Act. Also in the 1970s, it formed a Student Association, and issued the student magazine ''Spark''. The NF Student Association initially tried recruiting students at universities, but later refocused attention towards schools and
sixth form In the education systems of England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepare for A-l ...
s. In 1978 it launched the Young National Front (YNF): membership was restricted to 14 to 25 years olds. The YNF issued a newsletter, ''Bulldog'', and organised a football competition between YNF teams. The NF observed how the left mobilised anti-fascist support through musical ventures like
Rock Against Racism Rock Against Racism (RAR) was a political and cultural movement which emerged in 1976 in reaction to a rise in racist attacks on the streets of the United Kingdom and increasing support for the far-right National Front at the ballot box. Betwe ...
and decided to employ similar techniques. In 1979, Pearce—then the YNF leader—established
Rock Against Communism Rock Against Communism (RAC) was the name of white power rock concerts in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and has since become the catch-all term for music with racist lyrics as well as a specific genre of rock music derived ...
(RAC), through which the NF held concerts featuring neo-Nazi skinhead bands. Tyndall and other senior NF members liked the opportunity for expanding party membership that RAC offered them, but were concerned that associations with the skinhead subculture would damage the NF's image. After Tyndall left the party, in 1982 RAC was revived with
Skrewdriver Skrewdriver were an English punk rock band formed by Ian Stuart Donaldson in Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire, in 1976. Originally a punk band, Skrewdriver changed into a white supremacist rock band after reuniting in the 1980s. Their original l ...
as its flagship band. In 1983 the NF launched a record label, White Noise Records, which became an important source of revenue for several years. The RAC had difficulty finding venues willing to stage its concerts and in 1984 got around this by staging its first large open-air concert at the
Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...
home of Nick Griffin's parents. Later in the 1980s, Skrewdriver broke from the NF to establish its own far-right music promotion network,
Blood & Honour Blood & Honour is a Neo-Nazism, neo-Nazi music promotion network and right-wing extremist political group founded in the United Kingdom by Ian Stuart Donaldson and Nicky Crane in 1987. It is composed of White Nationalism, White Nationalists an ...
.


Support

There was regional variation in the support that the NF received during the 1970s, reflected both in its vote share and the size and number of its branches. Paralleling the earlier support of the BUF, the NF's strength was centred heavily in England; its support was far weaker in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. In England, its support clustered along the South Coast and in London and Birmingham.


Finances

The National Front was not open about its finances, but often stressed that it was short of funds. It is likely that in its heyday, it had just enough money to pay for its two full-time officials, three head office secretaries and party expenses. Its central funds came from several sources: membership dues, the sale of its publications, donations, and lotteries. Donations were requested at rallies and meetings, and also provided by wealthy supporters, some from abroad. Branches were expected to finance their own candidates in election campaigns, raising funds from jumble sales and social events.


Membership


Numbers

The NF faced a high membership turnover. In 1977, Walker described its membership as being "like a bath with both taps running and the plughole empty. Members pour in and pour out." Fielding echoed this, stating that the NF's "stable membership" was lower than the number of people who have "passed through" it; Taylor suggested that during the 1970s, "at least 12,000" people joined and then left. Many of those attracted to the party because of its anti-immigrationism may have departed on discovering its fascist ideology. In other cases, individuals may have left because the hardship they encountered — social ostracism, job losses, verbal abuse and, on rare occasions, assault — became too much to endure, particularly as the party's fortunes declined in the latter 1970s. The Front refused to disclose the number of members that it had. Thurlow suggested that "the most reliable estimates" were produced by the anti-fascist magazine ''
Searchlight A searchlight (or spotlight) is an apparatus that combines an extremely bright source (traditionally a carbon arc lamp) with a mirrored parabolic reflector to project a powerful beam of light of approximately parallel rays in a particular direc ...
''. ''Searchlight'' claimed that from its origins with 4,000 members in 1968, the party reached a peak membership of 17,500 in 1972, which had declined to 10,000 in 1979, to 3,148 in 1984 and to 1,000 in 1985. An estimate of party membership in 1989 put adherents of the Flag Group at about 3,000 and of the Strasserite faction at about 600. Even at its 1970s peak, the Front's membership was half that of the BUF during its 1930s heyday.


Profile

No adequate sociological sampling of NF members took place, but interviews with members were conducted during the 1970s by Taylor, Fielding and Billig. Max Hanna noted that as of 1973, most NF members were "from the skilled working class and lower-middle class" but with variation among branches. Fielding observed that party activism was generally carried out by upper working- and lower middle-class members rather than by their lower working-class and upper middle-class counterparts. Fielding also noted that the party contained individuals of all age ranges, although added that men in their thirties and fifties predominated over those in their forties, suggesting that the latter were typically preoccupied with raising families. Fielding found that NF members were sensitive to ideas that they were "fascistic" or "cranky", instead regarding themselves as "patriots" or "nationalists". He noted that race was the main issue that led members to join the Front, that they perceived their racial ideas to be "
common sense ''Common Sense'' is a 47-page pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in 1775–1776 advocating independence from Great Britain to people in the Thirteen Colonies. Writing in clear and persuasive prose, Paine collected various moral and political argu ...
", and that they expressed harsh prejudices against non-white Britons. A common perception among members was that life had changed for the worse in Britain, often outlined by the expression: "the country is going to the dogs". The members Fielding encountered widely perceived Britain's political leaders as corrupt and cruel and tended to believe conspiracy theories. Fielding believed that some of the membership were "motivated by a search for community and reassurance in a world they find difficult to understand". For some, joining the NF was a psychological act of defiance against society, while many joined because friends and relatives had done so. Fielding suggested that the NF's moral indignation regarding perceived slackers and anti-social elements had particular appeal for upper working and lower middle-class Britons because these were the sectors of society which felt that they worked hardest for the least reward. During the 1970s, the NF attempted to attract youth through new sub-groups. Many young people attracted to the group may have done so as a form of youthful rebellion, enjoying the "shock value" that membership offered; in this they had similarities with the late 1970s
punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...
movement. Ryan Shaffer stated that the party's shift away from traditional campaigning during the 1980s and its growing affiliation with neo-Nazi youth groups restricted its appeal to "mostly young people".


Voter base

The NF's electoral support was overwhelmingly urban and English, with little support in rural parts of England or in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. According to Walker, the 1974 election results suggested that the NF's electoral heartlands were in London's
East End The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...
and inner north-east suburbs. He noted that it gained much support from "respectable working-class" areas, where many traditional Labour voters were attracted by its racial appeals. Examining the party's East End support, the sociologist Christopher T. Husbands argued that NF support was not evenly distributed across the area, but constrained to
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 common land, Green, much of which survives today as Bethnal Green Gardens, beside Cambridge Heat ...
,
Shoreditch Shoreditch is a district in the East End of London in England, and forms the southern part of the London Borough of Hackney. Neighbouring parts of Tower Hamlets are also perceived as part of the area. In the 16th century, Shoreditch was an impor ...
,
Hoxton Hoxton is an area in the London Borough of Hackney, England. As a part of Shoreditch, it is often considered to be part of the East End – the historic core of wider East London. It was historically in the county of Middlesex until 1889. It li ...
and
Haggerston Haggerston is a locale in East London, England, centred approximately on Great Cambridge Street (now renamed Queensbridge Road). It is within the London Borough of Hackney and is considered to be a part of London's East End. It is about 3.1 mi ...
. He noted that in these urban strongholds, "only a minority" of white residents sympathised with the NF. A 1978 survey in the East End by ''
New Society ''New Society'' was a weekly magazine of social inquiry and social and cultural comment, published in the United Kingdom from 1962 to 1988. It drew on the disciplines of sociology, anthropology, psychology, human geography, social history and so ...
'' found that while most white residents thought the immigration rate too high, many related positive relationships with Afro-Caribbean and Asian migrants and opposed the NF. Some mocked the Front, although were cautious about doing so publicly, fearing violent retaliation. A 1977 survey by the
University of Essex The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, Essex is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. Essex's shield consists of the an ...
found that 8% of those polled were likely to vote for the Front, reflecting "strong support amongst the working class, the young and the poorly educated". This survey found that support was strongest in the
East Midlands The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It comprises the eastern half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It consists of Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Li ...
(10%), followed by London (8%),
East Anglia East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...
(7%), the
West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...
(6%) and Yorkshire and Humberside (6%). A report published in 1980 instead found that Greater London and the West Midlands were the NF's greatest areas of support, together making up 48% of its national vote share. Determining that 71% of the NF's support came from men, this study also found a strong link to class, with 72% of NF supporters being working-class; it noted that support was "somewhat stronger among the skilled working class than among the semi- and unskilled workers." The 1980 study also examined views of the NF among the broader electorate, finding that 6% would "seriously consider" voting for the NF. Two-thirds of respondents believed that the NF stirred up racial tensions to advance its cause, 64% believed that there was a Nazi element to the party and 56% believed that the NF wanted Britain to become a
dictatorship A dictatorship is a form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, which holds governmental powers with few to no limitations on them. The leader of a dictatorship is called a dictator. Politics in a dictatorship are ...
.


Explanations

Increasing levels of non-white immigration have been cited as an explanation for the NF's electoral growth in the 1970s. One argument was that areas with large non-white immigrant communities were most susceptible to NF support, and the higher the non-white population, the higher the resentment among local whites and the greater the support for the NF. An alternate explanation is that the NF did particularly well in areas where the non-white population was moderately sized; and whites turned to the NF because they feared that the local non-white population would grow, particularly if neighbouring areas already had large non-white populations. On examining voting data from the 1977 Greater London Council election, the political scientist Paul Whiteley argued that the NF's vote share was best explained by the "working-class authoritarianism" phenomenon examined in the United States by S. M. Lipset. Christopher Husbands instead believed that the "territorial sensitivity" prevalent in English working-class culture was key. He argued that the English working-class largely created personal identities based on their neighbourhood rather than their profession, leaving them susceptible to far-right appeals based on location rather than leftist ones based on workplace solidarity. He argued that there were parallels with the Netherlands, where urban working-class communities had also expressed support for the far-right, although not in France, Germany, or Italy, where the urban proletariat had not offered substantial support for far-right parties.


Electoral performance

The National Front experienced its greatest success between 1972 and 1977. By the late 1970s, the party's support had drastically declined and in the 1980s it largely withdrew from electoral participation. The Front's emergence as an electoral force during the 1970s was an "unprecedented development" in British politics, the first time a far-right party gained so many votes.


General and by-elections

The Front never gained a seat in the
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
. In the 1970 general election, the NF fielded ten candidates and averaged 3.6% of the vote share in those constituencies. It did better in subsequent by-elections; in the 1972 Uxbridge by-election it received 8.2% and in the 1973 West Bromwich by-election it received 16%, the first time that the party saved its electoral deposit. In the February 1974 election, 54 of its candidates averaged 3.3% of the vote, while in the October 1974 election, 90 candidates averaged 3.1%. In the October 1974 general election, the Front gained over twenty-five times as many votes as the BUF had gained at any election; this suggested that "politically speaking", fascism was "far stronger" in 1970s Britain than in 1930s Britain, the only European country where this was the case. In 1977 the NF contested three by-elections, gaining 5.2% of the vote in the City of London and Westminster South by-election, 8.2% in the Birmingham Stechford by-election and 3.8% in the Ashfield by-election. In the Birmingham Stechford by-election, followed by another in Birmingham Ladywood in 1977 and in Lambeth Central in 1978, it beat the Liberals to reach third place. Within a few years the NF's electoral support had drastically declined; in the 1979 general election, it fielded 303 candidates and averaged 0.6% of the total national vote, losing £45,000 in deposits. In the seats contested, it averaged 1.3% of the vote, a number which rose to 2% in the 88 constituencies it contested in Greater London. This election "marked the beginning of the end of the movement's claim to seek political legitimacy through the ballot box". In the 1983 general election, the NF fought 54 seats, averaging 1% in each.


EU parliament elections


Local elections

Although performing better in local elections than general ones, the NF never won a local council seat. In October 1969, two Conservative councillors on Wandsworth London Borough Council—Athlene O'Connell and Peter Mitchell—defected to the Front, but returned to the Conservatives in December. In the May 1974 London council elections, the party averaged 10% of the vote in the boroughs of Haringey, Islington, Brent, Southwark and Lewisham, while its best result was in Hounslow. In the April 1976 council elections, the NF boosted its vote in many towns, securing 21% of the vote in
Sandwell Sandwell is a metropolitan borough of the West Midlands county in England. The borough is named after the Sandwell Priory, and spans a densely populated part of the West Midlands conurbation. According to Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, t ...
, 20.7% in
Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunian ...
, 18.54% in
Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...
and 17% in
Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...
. The NF made gains in the 1977 Greater London Council elections, where it contested all but one seat. Its 91 GLC candidates gained 120,000 votes, over twice the total that the party had accrued in the whole of England in 1974. In
Inner London Inner London is the name for the group of London boroughs which form the interior part of Greater London and are surrounded by Outer London. With its origins in the bills of mortality, it became fixed as an area for statistics in 1847 and was u ...
, it gained the third-largest vote share. Its share of the London vote also increased, reflecting an average rise from 4.4% in the October 1974 general election to 5.3% in the 1977 GLC election. It averaged over 10% of the vote in three boroughs: Hackney, Newham and Tower Hamlets. The NF's vote share began to stagnate in the local elections from 1977 and 1978. By 1977, the party's electoral support had peaked and, by the London Borough Council elections of 1978, its support "had very noticeably declined" in the city, something that was then reflected in local elections elsewhere in the UK. In 2010, the NF gained its first elected representative in 35 years after John Gamble, a local councillor on
Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council is the local authority of the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham in South Yorkshire, England. It is a metropolitan district council, one of four in South Yorkshire and one of 36 in the metropolitan countie ...
, defected to it from the
England First Party The England First Party (EFP) was an English nationalist and far-right political party. It had two councillors on Blackburn with Darwen council between 2006 and 2007. Formation and policies They were formed in 2004 by Mark Cotterill who ha ...
. In 2011 he was removed for failure to attend meetings in six months.


Parish and community councils

The NF obtained several representatives on parish councils and
community council A community council is a public representative body in Great Britain. In England they may be statutory parish councils by another name, under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007, or they may be non-statutory bodies. In ...
s. In 2010, Sam Clayton, a representative for Bilton and Ainsty with Bickerton Ward in
Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Harrogate in North Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist destination and its visitor at ...
—originally elected uncontested as a BNP candidate in 2008—defected to the NF. By 2011 he was no longer on the council. In 2011 the NF gained a representative on Langley Parish Council in
Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...
, when Timothy Knowles was elected without opposition. On failing to attend council meetings, he was ejected from the council several months later. In October 2015, the NF chairman David MacDonald was elected to Garthdee Community Council in
Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...
with 18 votes.


Reception

By the late 1960s, the National Front was "the principal electoral force" on the British far-right, and still dominated that scene at the start of the 1980s. By 1977, the NF was England's fourth largest political party in terms of electoral support, a level of success which—according to Thurlow—"testified to the significance" of the immigration issue in 1970s British politics. Along with Tyndall's BNP, the NF was the most significant far-right group in Britain in the second half of the 20th century, according to Durham. The party also helped shape new far-right subcultures, for instance by cultivating the early white power skinhead music scene. Billig suggested that the NF's long-term importance might have been in keeping anti-Semitism alive in Britain at a time when, following the Holocaust, it was weakened. Billig also argued that the NF helped tilt British politics to the right, encouraging the Conservatives to take a harder stance on immigration under Thatcher's leadership. During the NF's 1970s heyday, the mainstream media only occasionally paid it attention; the NF claimed that this was part of a conspiracy against the party. It often had a better relationship with local newspapers, which were more likely to publish letters sent in by the NF. In the 1970s, NF branches often sought good relations with police to ensure protection of NF events. While the party acknowledged sympathy for its views among the lower ranks of the police, it maintained that the police hierarchy was part of the conspiracy against it. During the 1970s, the party had cells among
prison officer A prison officer or corrections officer is a uniformed law enforcement official responsible for the custody, supervision, safety, and regulation of prisoners. They are responsible for the care, custody, and control of individuals who have been ...
s. By 2011, both the prison service and police had forbidden their employees from being NF members.


Opposition

Major social and political groups largely ignored the NF's rise, hoping that depriving it of publicity would hasten its decline, although Jewish and leftist groups took a more proactive approach to opposing it. Leftist approaches varied: the
Communist Party of Great Britain The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPG ...
and
Labour Party Young Socialists The Labour Party Young Socialists (LPYS) was the youth section of the Labour Party in Britain from 1965 until 1991. In the 1980s, it had around 600 branches, 2,000 delegates at its national conferences and published a monthly newspaper, ''Socia ...
mobilised the labour movement against racism to diffuse the NF's appeal, while the
International Marxist Group :''See also the International Marxist Group (Germany). The International Marxist Group (IMG) was a Trotskyist group in Britain between 1968 and 1982. It was the British Section of the Fourth International. It had around 1,000 members and suppor ...
and the International Socialists/Socialist Workers Party favoured direct action to disrupt the NF, holding to the slogan: "No platform for fascists". In 1974, the National Union of Students adopted a "no platform" policy regarding the NF, while the Labour Party forbade its candidates from sharing public platforms, radio, or television slots with NF candidates. 120 Labour-controlled councils banned the party from using local municipal halls. Labour and the
Trade Union Congress The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions in England and Wales, representing the majority of trade unions. There are 48 affiliated unions, with a total of about 5.5 million members. Frances ...
(TUC) helped mobilise the trade union movement against the NF; the National Union of Mineworkers called for the government to ban the party. Far-left and left-wing activists demonstrated outside NF meetings, encouraging landlords to bar the NF from using their premises, and sometimes assaulted NF members. Anti-fascist and anti-racist groups formed the National Co-Ordinating Committee in September 1977. That November, various left and far-left groups launched the Anti-Nazi League (ANL), which gained public endorsements from several Labour politicians, trade union leaders, academics, actors, musicians and athletes, some of whom later distanced themselves from it amid concerns that its sub-campaign, School Kids Against the Nazis, was politicising schoolchildren with leftist propaganda. A more moderate alternative, the Joint Committee Against Racialism (JCAR), was launched in December 1977, uniting Labour, Conservative and Liberal Party members. Rock Against Racism was formed in 1976, holding two well-attended music festivals in London in 1978. In January 1978, both Christians Against Racism and Fascism and the British Council of Churches' own anti-fascist organisation were formed. Taylor noted that by the end of 1977, an "unprecedented range of groups from almost every section of British society spreading right across the political spectrum had declared an intention to oppose the NF and the racism upon which it fed".


References


Footnotes


Sources

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Further reading

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External links

*
2005 Manifesto



BBC 1975: National Front rallies against Europe

Catalogue of Wayne Ashcroft's papers on the National Front
held at the
Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick The Modern Records Centre (MRC) is the specialist archive service of the University of Warwick in Coventry, England, located adjacent to the Central Campus Library. It was established in October 1973 and holds the world's largest archive collecti ...

''The Lost Race'' BBC documentary about the National Front and other far-right groups produced in 1999
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