Ray Hill (British Activist)

Raymond Hill (2 December 1939 – 14 May 2022) was a former leading figure in the British far right who went on to become a well-known informant. A sometime deputy leader of the British Movement and a founder member of the British National Party, Hill also secretly worked for ''Searchlight'' in feeding information about the groups' activities.

Early years

Born in Mossley, Lancashire, Hill was educated at the local Church of England primary school and at Stamford Secondary School in Ashton-under-Lyne. He spent three years in the army in the 1950's. Ray moved to Leicester in 1965 where he met Glennis and they were married in June 1966. Their first daughter Suzanne Marion was born a year later in July 1967.

British Movement

Hill made his first steps in the far right in the latter 1960s with a local group called the Anti-Immigration Society (AIMS), promptly switching to the larger Racial Preservation Society to which AIMS was closely linked. From there he met Colin Jordan and soon became a member of the British Movement, being appointed Organiser for Leicester in 1968 as well as Jordan's election agent for his campaign in the 1969 Birmingham Ladywood by-election. Although his wife largely tolerated his political involvement, Hill's arrest for actual bodily harm in late 1969 led to his disengagement and the couple deciding to emigrate.

South Africa

Hill emigrated to South Africa the following year, and became disabused of his former views after becoming friendly with members of South Africa's Jewish community. He was asked by a friend to infiltrate the South African National Front, an organisation for ex-pat whites, eventually rising to the chairmanship as well as undertaking a series of speaking engagements for the Afrikaans Herstigte Nasionale Party (a radical breakaway from the ruling National Party).

Return to Britain

Hill returned to Leicester in 1980 where he became associated with Anthony Reed Herbert, initially in the National Front, then in the British Democratic Party. Hill did not actually join either group; instead, he renewed his membership in the British Movement. Around this time Hill also began to work in secret for ''Searchlight'', helping to foil an alleged gun-running plot by the BDP. Hill's presence as a double agent in the BM also ensured that their activities were disrupted and that they were subject to several police investigations regarding allegations of planned violence.

By then deputy leader of the BM, Hill clashed with leader Michael McLaughlin in 1982 and succeeded in splitting the party. Hill, a former boxer in the army with a reputation as a street fighter, had the support of the BM's large skinhead following and took them with him when he joined the newly launched British National Party in 1982 (also convincing Reed Herbert to bring his BDP on board). Indeed, Hill claimed that he had contacted BNP leader John Tyndall, at the time leading a group called the New National Front (NNF), as early as 1981 to discuss forming a new united party. Hill contended that he hoped to bring disparate far-right groups together to sabotage their activity and that ultimately he hoped to challenge Tyndall for the leadership and fight a dirty and highly divisive campaign to increase the sabotage. Hill's activities on behalf of the BNP included a June 1982 attempted takeover of the BBC
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