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British National Party

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The British National Party (BNP) is a political party in the United Kingdom. It is the largest far-right party in British politics.

History and overview

The party was founded in 1982 by John Tyndall, previously the chairman of the National Front. The current National Chairman, Nick Griffin, joined the BNP in 1989 after spending time as an activist for the National Front while reading law at Cambridge University.

The BNP's first electoral success came in September 1993, when Derek Beackon was elected as BNP councillor for Millwall in London on a low turnout. He lost his seat in council elections the following year, although his personal vote actually increased by 30% compared to 1993 (turnout was 70%).

Almost all commentators class the BNP as a far-right Nationalist party, and opponents consider it to be Neo-Nazi, although it has attempted to present itself as more mainstream since Nick Griffin took over as National Chairman. The majority of members say they are not racist.

In 1998, Griffin was convicted of violating section 19 of the Public Order Act 1986, which states that

a person who publishes or distributes written material which is threatening, abusive or insulting and intends thereby to incite racial hatred, or, having regard to all the circumstances, racial hatred is likely to be stirred up thereby

It has been reported that:

  • the BNP had links with American neo-Nazi William Pierce, who addressed the BNP national rally in 1995.
  • Griffin has appeared on the same platform alongside David Duke of the Ku Klux Klan.

Opponents of the BNP state that it retains its links to openly pro-violence neo-Nazi organisations such as Combat 18. The BNP denies these links.

BNP electoral strategy

The BNP aims to appeal to those members of the population who consider immigration to be a threat to their jobs, and to those who fear immigration is a cause of rising crime and declining culture. The BNP says it would implement a policy of "voluntary repatriation". It stops short of explaining whether this would apply to only non-nationals, or else all non-whites.

The party has often been accused of exploiting and inflaming racial tensions for its own benefit in a number of areas, a claim the BNP deny.

No BNP candidate have ever won a seat as a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons, though in 2001 -- partially due to widespread "race riots" in the north of England -- BNP local election results improved markedly. In the council elections in May 2001 three BNP candidates gained seats on Burnley council, which many people took as an important indicator of the mood of the British electorate. In the council elections of 2003 the BNP increased their Burnley total by five seats, thus becoming the second-largest party on the council there. The BNP has also performed well in parts of the Black Country in the West Midlands.

In the same 2003 elections the BNP contested a record 221 seats (around 2% of all contested seats). They won eleven council seats in all, though Nick Griffin did not win.

The party claims to be UK-wide party, and has contested seats in Wales and Scotland. In the Scottish parliamentary elections of 2003, they only contested the Glasgow region, with one person on their list. They got a vote of 1.1% coming tenth. They failed to contest any Scottish seats in the 2001 elections, but did manage to put up a candidate for Newport West in Wales.

Opponents claim that the party is currently in crisis over Griffin's expulsion of party founder Tyndall, who has retaliated by suing Griffin.

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