Richard Charles Edmonds (10 March 1943 – 23 December 2020) was an English politician. He was the deputy chairman and national organiser of the

British National Party The British National Party (BNP) is a far-right, fascist political party in the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in Wigton, Cumbria, and its leader is Adam Walker. A minor party, it has no elected representatives at any level of UK gover ...

(BNP) and also prominent in the National Front (NF) during two spells of membership.

Early activities

Edmonds began his political career in 1972 as a member of the National Front (NF), holding a number of positions during John Tyndall's chairmanship of the party. In the October 1974 general election he was NF candidate at

Deptford Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in southeast London, within the London Borough of Lewisham. It is named after a Ford (crossing), ford of the River Ravensbourne. From the mid 16th century to the late 19th it was home ...

, polling 1,731 votes (4.5%). At this time, he was a mathematics teacher at Tulse Hill Comprehensive School. In his election address he said, "To young immigrants, Richard Edmonds says that they should study to the best of their abilities, for their duty and future lie in helping their compatriots to build up their own countries." He followed Tyndall into the New National Front in 1980 and was appointed head of the youth section, editing ''Young Nationalist'' magazine. From 1982, Edmonds held senior positions within the newly formed

(BNP), eventually becoming deputy leader and also acting leader for a spell in 1986 while Tyndall was in prison for

incitement to 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 ...

. Edmonds took a role in funding the party, including partially funding the purchase of a new party headquarters and bookshop in

Welling Welling is an area of South East London, England, in the London Borough of Bexley, west of Bexleyheath, southeast of Woolwich and of Charing Cross. Before the creation of Greater London in 1965, it was in the historical county of Kent. E ...

. Edmonds ran the party's Welling premises, living in the premises, for ten years, from 1989 to 1999. In the 1992 election he gained a 3.6% share of the vote in Bethnal Green and Stepney, the party's best showing in that election.

Criminal convictions, Holocaust denial and media coverage

Edmonds was a

Holocaust denier 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: * ...

. In 1988, ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, w ...

'' revealed that the ''Holocaust News'', a publication that claimed

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; ...

was an "evil hoax", was being published by Edmonds, on behalf of a BNP front organisation, the Centre for Historical Review, and distributed by members. According to John Tyndall, after this interview took place Edmonds gave Jon Craig and Jo Revell, the two journalists covering the story, his business card telephone number in the strictest confidence. Subsequently, the published article contained the name of the company Edmonds worked for. Tyndall wrote that the next day Edmonds was told he would have to leave. The theme was re-visited in '' Panorama'' on 8 April 1991, when Edmonds described the publication as "a wonderful statement of the truth". In 1993, Edmonds and a group of BNP members were drinking outside a pub in

Bethnal Green Bethnal Green is an area in the East End of London northeast of Charing Cross. The area emerged from the small settlement which developed around the Green, much of which survives today as Bethnal Green Gardens, beside Cambridge Heath Road. By ...

; when a black man and his white girlfriend tried to pass, the BNP crowd spat at them and shouted "nigger lover" and "monkey" at them. Edmonds threw a beer glass at them and his companions "glassed" the man's face and punched and kicked him. Edmonds was eventually sentenced to the time he had already spent in jail on remand. He also has a conviction for damaging a statue of Nelson Mandela on the South Bank in London. There was further controversy in 1993 when he told ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

s Duncan Campbell that "we he BNPare 100% racist". Edmonds had previously clarified his position to ''Panorama'' as "racism means long live the white race, long live the British race". In 2005, Edmonds gave support to the British Holocaust denier

David Irving David John Cawdell Irving (born 24 March 1938) is an English author and Holocaust denier who has written on the military and political history of World War II, with a focus on Nazi Germany. His works include '' The Destruction of Dresden'' (1 ...

when he was arrested for denying the Holocaust in Austria. Edmonds shouted to Irving, "Stay strong, stay strong, good luck to you." Edmonds told reporters that he was defending free speech.

Nick Griffin's leadership of the BNP

Edmonds' held the position of national organiser until 1999 when he was forced to resign following the elevation of

Nick Griffin Nicholas John Griffin (born 1 March 1959) is a British politician and white supremacist who represented North West England as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2009 to 2014. He served as chairman and then president of the far-righ ...

in the leadership election that year. Edmonds remained Tyndall's closest ally but was not expelled from the party when Tyndall and another long-term ally, John Morse, were expelled in 2003, before being subsequently reinstated. Edmonds continued to write for '' Spearhead'' until it ceased publication on Tyndall's death in 2005. He is a long-term supporter of John Tyndall. Although he sometimes attended events sponsored by the

Nationalist Alliance The Nationalist Alliance was a far-right movement in British politics that aimed to serve as an umbrella group for the various white supremacist groups in Britain. The party was registered with the Electoral Commission in 2005, although its regi ...

, Edmonds remained a member of the BNP, playing a leading role in its

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 ...

branch (which has been at times somewhat cool towards the national leadership). Edmonds was co-opted by Griffin onto the BNP's Advisory Council in September 2008, thereby returning to the upper echelon of the party and ending his period of apparent dissidence. However, in August 2010, following Eddy Butler's unsuccessful leadership challenge, Edmonds was sacked from the Advisory Council due to his open criticism of Griffin's fundraiser,

Jim Dowson James Dowson is a far-right political activist from Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. He has been active across the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States and has been described by ''The Times'' as "the invisible man of Britain's far r ...

, and to his support for the leadership bid by Butler. Following the party's poor showing in the 2011 English local elections,

Welsh Assembly The Senedd (; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and () in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, it makes laws for Wales, agrees certain taxes and scrutinises the Welsh ...

and Scottish Parliamentary elections, Edmonds announced his candidature for the leadership of the BNP. According to ''

'', Edmonds, a "BNP hardliner", had little chance of success, although at the time then MEP Andrew Brons was supporting Edmonds against Griffin. At the end of May 2011, Richard Edmonds stepped down from his challenge in favour of Brons.

Rejoined the National Front

The NF in a report on its 2011 AGM, claimed that Edmonds had decided to rejoin the party. This was subsequently confirmed and he took up a role as an activist for the group. He was the party's candidate in the

2012 Croydon North by-election The Croydon North by-election was a by-election for the Parliament of the United Kingdom's House of Commons constituency of Croydon North in the London Borough of Croydon. The by-election was caused by the death of its Member of Parliament Malc ...

, finishing eighth out of twelve candidates with 161 votes (0.7% vote share) and in Carshalton and Wallington for the 2015 general election, receiving 49 votes (0.1%). He was the NF's candidate in the Batley and Spen by-election, held on 20 October 2016, following the murder of the MP Jo Cox.STATEMENT OF PERSONS NOMINATED AND NOTICE OF POLL
, 27 September 2016. Retrieved 30 September 2016 Edmonds gained 87 votes (0.43%).Samantha Gildea
"Batley and Spen by-election: Labour's Tracy Brabin elected as new MP"
''Huddersfield Examiner'', 21 October 2016

Elections contested

UK Parliament elections

Greater London Council elections

London Assembly elections

References

Bibliography

*N. Copsey, ''Contemporary British Fascism: The British National Party and the Quest for Legitimacy'', Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004 *John Tyndall, ''The Eleventh Hour'', Welling: Albion Press, 1998 {{DEFAULTSORT:Edmonds, Richard 1942 births Living people 20th-century English criminals National Front (UK) politicians English fascists British Holocaust deniers English people convicted of assault British National Party politicians Schoolteachers from London English politicians convicted of crimes People from Hounslow English far-right politicians British people convicted of hate crimes People convicted of racial hatred offences