Simon Darby
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Simon Darby (born 8 November 1964) is a British
politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...
and former deputy chairman 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 ...
.


Background

By occupation a communications consultant, Darby began his political career in the National Democrats, most of whose activity was centred on his West Midlands base. Darby joined the BNP when his local National Democrat group defected to the party en bloc. He soon became associated with the modernising wing of the party 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 ...
. He was appointed local organiser following Griffin's election as leader, and was courted for membership by the Freedom Party on its foundation, although he refused to leave the BNP. Darby's involvement in local politics led to him being elected to
Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council is the local authority for Dudley metropolitan borough. It is more commonly known as Dudley Council or Dudley MBC. The present authority was formed as a result of further reorganisation of local government ...
in 2003. He lost the seat in a round of elections the following year. Despite this loss, Darby remained one of the leading figures in the BNP, to the extent that Griffin, who in 2005-06 faced jail before being cleared of
inciting racial hatred Incitement to ethnic or racial hatred is a crime under the laws of several countries. Australia In Australia, the Racial Hatred Act 1995 amends the Racial Discrimination Act 1975, inserting Part IIA – Offensive Behaviour Because of Race, Colour ...
, designated Darby as party leader should he have been imprisoned. Darby stood in the 2007 Welsh National Assembly Elections in the
North Wales North Wales ( cy, Gogledd Cymru) is a region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders Mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdonia N ...
region but was not elected.


Later party career

Newspaper reports identify Darby as the BNP's deputy leader in 2007. He became a personal assistant to
Richard Barnbrook Richard Barnbrook (born 24 February 1961) is a British politician and a former member of the London Assembly. He was elected as a British National Party (BNP) list candidate in the 2008 election, though he resigned the BNP whip in August 201 ...
following the latter's election as the BNP's representative on the Greater London Authority in May 2008. In this capacity, in November 2008 Darby faced criticism after admitting carrying out BNP party political work from his office as Barnbrook's assistant at City Hall. Darby denied that he used GLA resources and said that he always made up any office hours spent on party activities. Darby is now the national press officer for the BNP. In 2009, Darby was criticised after pictures showed a member of an Italian political rally giving a Fascist style salute while Darby spoke on stage. When asked about the incident, Darby responded, "I can't do anything about that. There were 500 people and three of them were caught doing that stupid behaviour." In May the same year, he clashed with Archbishop
Dr John Sentamu John Tucker Mugabi Sentamu, Baron Sentamu, (; ; born 10 June 1949) is a retired Anglican bishop and life peer. He was Archbishop of York and Primate of England from 2005 to 2020. Born near Kampala in Uganda, Sentamu studied law at Makerere Un ...
who had condemned the BNP for labelling British citizens of African and Asian descent as "racial foreigners". Defending his comments, Darby insisted, "If I went there and preached down to those
indigenous people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
in the same way that Sentamu does to us then I'd be attacked. If I was derogatory, condescending and arrogant - because that's what John Sentamu is - I would be attacked. And rightly so." On 1 July 2010, Darby resigned his role as deputy chairman citing impartiality regarding the then forthcoming 2010 BNP leadership election challenge, writing on his blog, "I didn't really want to be drawn into the leadership question, however, it seems the inevitable has happened, with adversaries of Nick Griffin raising the issue of the position of Deputy Leader in general, and referring to me in particular. As you know, the position carries absolutely no
constitutional A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these prin ...
weight, and I feel it totally unfair and underhand, in a potential contest that involves solely the leader of the party, that some are seeking to confuse matters by bringing up the position of Deputy." He continues to play a leading role as the party spokesman.


Personal life

A keen
angler Angler may refer to: * A fisherman who uses the fishing technique of angling * ''Angler'' (video game) * The angler, ''Lophius piscatorius'', a monkfish * More generally, any anglerfish in the order Lophiiformes * '' Angler: The Cheney Vice Pres ...
and ornithologist, Darby has a Bsc (Hons) in biology and chemistry.


Elections contested

UK Parliament elections Welsh Assembly elections (Additional members region; party list) European Parliament elections


References


External links


BNP website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Darby, Simon 1964 births Living people British National Party politicians People from West Bromwich Councillors in the West Midlands (county) English far-right politicians British political candidates