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106-519: The Boston Bypass Independents was a localist political party founded in 2006 based in Boston, Lincolnshire , England. It was renamed the Boston District Independents in 2011 and was dissolved in 2012. The party campaigned on a wide range of issues but principally on the more vigorous promotion of a bypass for the town. The party won a majority of the seats on Boston Borough Council at

212-577: A defunct 1960s far-right party , the BNP was created by John Tyndall and other former members of the fascist National Front (NF). During the 1980s and 1990s, the BNP placed little emphasis on contesting elections, in which it did poorly. Instead, it focused on street marches and rallies, creating the Combat 18 paramilitary—its name a coded reference to Nazi German leader Adolf Hitler —to protect its events from anti-fascist protesters. A growing 'moderniser' faction

318-406: A 2009 radio interview, Griffin referred to this as a "bloodless genocide". It presents the idea that white Britons are engaged in a battle against their own extinction as a racial group. It reiterated a sense of urgency about the situation, claiming that both high immigration rates and high birth rates among ethnic minorities were a threat to the white British. In 2010, it for instance was promoting

424-401: A BNP government they would be "repatriated" to their countries of origin. In the early 1990s it produced stickers with the slogan "Our Final Solution: Repatriation". Tyndall understood this to be a two-stage process that would take ten to twenty years, with some non-whites initially leaving willingly and the others then being forcibly deported. During the 1990s, party modernisers suggested that

530-669: A bulletin to BNP branches declaring C18 to be a proscribed organisation, furthermore suggesting that it may have been established by agents of the state to discredit the party. To counter the group's influence among militant British nationalists, he secured the American white nationalist militant William Pierce as a guest speaker at the BNP's annual rally in November 1995. John Tyndall was both [the BNPs] greatest asset and its greatest drawback. His persistence, rock-like reliability and leadership had kept

636-502: A change in principle. Griffin also sought to shed the BNP's image as a single-issue party , by embracing a diverse array of social and economic issues. Griffin renamed the party's monthly newspaper from British Nationalist to The Voice of Freedom , and established a new journal, Identity . The party developed community-based campaigns, through which it targeted local issues, particularly in those areas with large numbers of skilled white working-class people who were disaffected with

742-399: A form of " cultural genocide ", and stating that it promoted the interests of non-whites at the expense of the white British population. However, internal documents produced and circulated under Griffin's leadership demonstrated that—despite the shift in its public statements—it remained privately committed to biological racist ideas. The party emphasises what it sees as the need to protect

848-608: A landslide victory with 25 seats, the first party to take overall control since the borough was formed in 1974. All the Labour and Liberal Democrat councillors lost their seats, with only five Conservatives and two independents elected. The Better Boston Group was a political group that split from the Boston Bypass Independents in October 2007 under the leadership of Cllr Anne Dorrian. She had unsuccessfully stood for leadership of

954-401: A massive programme of repatriation and resettlement overseas of those peoples of non-European origin already resident in this country. — The BNP's first policy on repatriation, 1982 Opposition to immigration has been central to the BNP's political platform. It has engaged in xenophobic campaigns which emphasise the idea that immigrants and ethnic minorities are both different from, and

1060-455: A national television platform with mainstream panellists. Griffin's performance was however widely regarded as poor. Despite its success, there was dissent in the party. In 2007 a group of senior members known as the "December rebels" challenged Griffin, calling for internal party democracy and financial transparency, but were expelled. In 2008, a group of BNP activists in Bradford split to form

1166-491: A period of change in the party. Influenced by Le Pen's National Front in France, Griffin sought to widen the BNP's appeal to individuals who were concerned about immigration but had not previously voted for the extreme-right. The BNP replaced Tyndall's policy of compulsory deportation of non-whites to a voluntary system whereby non-whites would be given financial incentives to emigrate. It downplayed biological racism and stressed

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1272-526: A political chameleon, Griffin had once been considered a party hardliner before switching allegiance to the modernisers in the late 1990s. In his youth, he had been involved in the NF as well as Third Positionist groups like Political Soldier and the International Third Position . Criticising his predecessors for fuelling the image of the BNP as "thugs, losers and troublemakers", Griffin inaugurated

1378-427: A result, BNP organisers began to favour indoor rallies, although street marches continued to be held throughout the mid-to-late 1980s. Through the streets now we are marching. Like an army as to war. For the cause of race and nation. With our banners to the fore. Into battle, into battle, into battle BNP! Into battle BNP! — BNP marching song, 1982 In its early years, the BNP's involvement in elections

1484-743: A single party. To this end, Tyndall established a Committee for Nationalist Unity (CNU) in January 1982. In March 1982, the CNU held a conference at the Charing Cross Hotel in London, at which 50 far-right activists agreed to the formation of the BNP. The BNP was formally launched on 7 April 1982 at a press conference in Victoria . Led by Tyndall, most of its early members came from the NNF, although others were defectors from

1590-446: A size something along the lines of a small town or village. In reference to localism, Edward Goldsmith , former editor of The Ecologist magazine, claims: "The problems facing the world today can only be solved by restoring the functioning of those natural systems which once satisfied our needs, i.e. by fully exploiting those incomparable resources which are individual people, families, communities and ecosystems, which together make up

1696-564: A state that "should impose its will on people", claiming that it was the anti-fascist group Unite Against Fascism —and not the BNP—who were the real fascists. More broadly, many on Britain's extreme-right sought to avoid the term "British fascism" because of its electorally unpalatable connotations, utilising "British nationalism" in its place. After Griffin took control of the party, it made increasing use of nativist themes in order to emphasise its "British" credentials. In its published material,

1802-464: A threat to, the white British and white Irish populations. In its campaign material it presented non-whites both as a source of crime in the UK, and as a socio-economic threat to the white British population by taking jobs, housing, and welfare away from them. It engaged in welfare chauvinism , calling for white Britons to be prioritised by the UK's welfare state. Party literature included such as claims as that

1908-590: A transformation away from liberal democracy , while its social policies oppose feminism , LGBT rights , and societal permissiveness . Operating around a highly centralised structure that gave its chair near total control, the BNP built links with far-right parties across Europe and created various sub-groups, including a record label and trade union. The BNP attracted most support from within White British working-class communities in northern and eastern England, particularly among middle-aged and elderly men. A poll in

2014-636: A view akin to those of earlier fascists such as Hitler and Arnold Leese . The BNP adheres to an ideology of ethnic nationalism . It promotes the idea that not all citizens of the United Kingdom belong to the British nation. Instead, it states that the nation only belongs to "the English, Scots, Irish and Welsh along with the limited numbers of peoples of European descent, who have arrived centuries or decades ago and who have fully integrated into our society". This

2120-429: A vote share of 18% in the areas it contested. In Barking and Dagenham, it saw 12 of its 13 candidates elected to the council. At the 2008 London Assembly election , the BNP gained 130,000 votes, reaching the 5% mark and thus gaining an Assembly seat. At the 2009 European Parliament election , the party gained almost 1 million votes, with two of its candidates, Nick Griffin and Andrew Brons , being elected as Members of

2226-481: A wide range of movements and concerns and it proposes that by re-localizing democratic and economic relationships, social, economic and environmental problems will be more definable and solutions more easily created. They include anarchism , bioregionalism , environmentalism , the Greens , and more specific concerns about food, monetary policy and education. Political parties of all persuasions have also occasionally favored

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2332-411: Is "Anglo-centric". The party employed militaristic rhetoric under both Tyndall and Griffin's leadership; under the latter for example its published material spoke of a "war without uniforms" and a "war for our survival as a people". Tyndall described the BNP as a revolutionary party, calling it a "guerrilla army operating in occupied territory". The British National Party exists to secure a future for

2438-540: Is a cultural or civic value rather than a value that supports ethnic understanding in Hong Kong identity politics. Jane Wills argued that an increasing numbers of populist politicians are endorsing localism as a framework for public policy. She defined populism as a form of politics that involves people speaking in a register that is authentic to the experiences and needs of those people. In other words, most likely Populist Party policies would contradict parties that support

2544-684: Is a group that Griffin referred to as the "home people" or "the folk". According to Tyndall, "The BNP is a racial nationalist party which believes in Britain for the British, that is to say racial separatism." Richard Edmonds in 1993 told The Guardian ' s Duncan Campbell that "we [the BNP] are 100% racist". The BNP does not regard UK citizens who are not ethnic white Europeans as "British", and party literature calls on supporters to avoid referring to such individuals as "Black Britons" or "Asian Britons", instead describing them as "racial foreigners". Tyndall believed

2650-579: Is held by those affected by the issues instead of power sources that do not understand the needs of local communities. Localism as a philosophy is related to the principle of subsidiarity . In the early 21st century, localists have frequently found themselves aligned with critics of globalisation . Variants of localism are prevalent within the Green movement . According to an article in International Socialism , localism of this sort seeks to "answer to

2756-408: Is not some asinine and bogus attempt to impose British cultural values on immigrants, but simply to commence repatriating them. — Lee Barnes, senior BNP leader, 2005 The BNP calls for the non-white population of Britain to either be reduced in size or removed from the country altogether. Under Tyndall's leadership, it promoted the compulsory removal of non-whites from the UK, stating that under

2862-641: Is the drain on the intellectual resources of poor countries, so called brain drain . For example, in the past decade, Bulgaria is estimated to have lost more than 50,000 qualified scientists and skilled workers through emigration every year. About a fifth of them were highly educated specialists in chemistry, biology, medicine and physics. Some localists are against political intervention and peace keeping measures. They believe that communities should find solutions to their own problems and in their own time, in whatever fashion they decide. They believe that all societies are capable of achieving long term peace once given

2968-590: The 1997 general election , it contested 55 seats and gained an average 1.4% of the vote. In the early 1990s, the paramilitary group Combat 18 (C18) was formed to protect BNP events from anti-fascists. In 1992, C18 carried out attacks on left-wing targets like an anarchist bookshop and the headquarters of the Morning Star . Tyndall was angered by C18's growing influence on the BNP's street activities, and by August 1993, C18 activists were physically clashing with other BNP members. In December 1993, Tyndall issued

3074-547: The 2005 general election , the BNP expanded its number of candidates to 119 and targeted specific regions. Its average vote in the areas it contested rose to 4.3%. It gained significantly more support in three seats, achieving 10% in Burnley , 13% in Dewsbury , and 17% in Barking . In the 2006 local elections the party gained 220,000 votes, with 33 additional councillors, having averaged

3180-579: The 2007 election and retained control of the council until the 2011 election , when it lost control to the Conservatives . The party was renamed the Boston District Independents shortly after the 2011 election, and was deregistered as a political party in December 2012, with its remaining councillors becoming independents and sitting as a political group rather than a registered party. In

3286-491: The 2019 general election in Hornchurch and Upminster , where he came last. The BNP has been essentially inactive since 2019, and has not put forward a single candidate in any elections since 2019, with the only evidence of any activity being the occasional post on its website or Twitter account. Many academic historians and political scientists have described the BNP as a far-right party, or as an extreme-right party. As

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3392-638: The 2023 Boston Borough Council election , the Boston Independents won control of Boston Borough Council with 24 out of 30 seats. The Boston Bypass Independent Party was formed in September 2006 and formally registered as a political party with the Electoral Commission in December 2006. The bypass issue had already generated two campaign groups, the Boston & District Bypass Pressure Group (BBPG) and

3498-535: The Labour Party government. For instance, in Burnley it campaigned for lower speed limits on housing estates and against the closure of a local swimming bath, while in South Birmingham it targeted pensioners' concerns about youth gangs. In 2006, the party urged its activists to carry out local activities like cleaning up children's play areas and removing graffiti while wearing high-vis jackets emblazoned with

3604-491: The UK Independence Party for its decline, accusing the latter of stealing BNP policies and slogans. In July 2014, Griffin resigned and was succeeded by Adam Walker as acting chairman. In October, Griffin was expelled from the party for "trying to cause disunity [in the party] by deliberately fabricating a state of crisis". In January 2015, membership of the party numbered 500, down from 4,220 in December 2013. At

3710-706: The devolution of power to local authorities. In this vein Alan Milburn , a Labour Party MP, has spoken of "making services more locally accountable, devolving more power to local communities and, in the process, forging a modern relationship between the state, citizens and services" Beginning in the 1970s, a particularly visible strain of localism in the United States was a movement started by Alice Waters to buy locally produced products. This movement originated with organic farming and likely gained impetus because of growing dissatisfaction with organic certification and

3816-415: The general election in 2015 , the BNP fielded eight candidates, down from 338 in 2010. The party's vote share declined 99.7% from its 2010 result. In January 2016, the Electoral Commission de-registered the BNP for failing to pay its annual registration fee of £25. At this time, it was estimated that BNP assets totalled less than £50,000. According to the commission, "BNP candidates cannot, at present, use

3922-471: The white genocide conspiracy theory , calling for global racial separatism and condemning interracial relationships . Under Tyndall, the BNP emphasised anti-semitism and Holocaust denial , promoting the conspiracy theory that Jews seek to dominate the world through both communism and international capitalism . Under Griffin, the party's focus switched from anti-semitism towards Islamophobia . It promotes economic protectionism , Euroscepticism , and

4028-421: The 2000s suggested that most Britons favoured a ban on the party. It faced much opposition from anti-fascists, religious organisations, the mainstream media, and most politicians, and BNP members were banned from various professions. The British National Party (BNP) was founded by the extreme-right political activist John Tyndall . Tyndall had been involved in neo-Nazi groups since the late 1950s before leading

4134-457: The 2007 local elections was "Getting Boston Moving" . Boston had no opposition group on the council prior to the election, as all the Conservative, Labour , Liberal Democrat and independent councillors were represented in a joint administration, meaning that public discontent over traffic congestion was directed at all the existing councillors. The Boston Bypass Independents won the election in

4240-524: The BBI group after their landslide victory in April 2007. It had four councillors on Boston Borough Council. Cllr Brian Rush, the other unsuccessful candidate for party leadership in April 2007, of the group said of the Boston Bypass Independents that "We came in on a typhoon and we are nothing more than a gentle breeze now. It appears to me that we haven't done anything yet. There is nothing that I can put my hand on and say

4346-515: The BBI have thought of that, the inspiration was there and they have carried it through." The group criticised the record of the BBI, including their approval of the Lincolnshire County Council Transport Strategy for Boston. A deal with the county council was struck to aid the BBI with the bypass proposal if they agreed not to stand in the next county council elections, prompting two councillors to resign. The chairman of

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4452-459: The BNP as a "Nazi organisation", while the Anti-Nazi League published leaflets describing the BNP as the "British Nazi Party". Copsey suggested that while the BNP under Tyndall could be described as neo-Nazi, it was not "crudely mimetic" of the original German Nazism. Davey characterised the BNP as a "populist ethno-nationalist" party. The [BNP's] smart modernized veneer... is superficial;

4558-451: The BNP as being fascist in ideology. Others have instead described it as neo-fascist , a term which the historian Nigel Copsey argued was more exact. Academic observers—including the historians Copsey, Graham Macklin, and Roger Griffin , and the political theologian Andrew P. Davey—have argued that Nick Griffin's reforms were little more than a cosmetic process to obfuscate the party's fascist roots. According to Copsey, under Griffin

4664-456: The BNP gained one council seat—won by Derek Beackon in the East London district of Millwall —after a campaign that played to local whites who were angry at the perceived preferential treatment received by Bangladeshi migrants in social housing . Following an anti-BNP campaign launched by local religious groups and the Anti-Nazi League , it lost this seat during the 1994 local elections . In

4770-413: The BNP move away from a policy of compulsory repatriation and toward a voluntary system, whereby non-white persons would be offered financial incentives to leave the UK. This idea, adopted from Powellism , was deemed more electorally palatable. When Griffin took control of the party, the policy of voluntary repatriation was officially adopted, with the party suggesting that this could be financed through

4876-514: The BNP stated that "family size is a private matter" but still called for white Britons who are "of intelligent, healthy and industrious stock" to have large families and thus raise the white British birth-rate. The encouragement of high birth rates among white British families continued under Griffin's leadership. Under Tyndall's leadership, the BNP promoted eugenics , calling for the forced sterilisation of those with genetically transmittable disabilities. In party literature, it talked of improving

4982-621: The BNP was "fascism recalibrated — a form of neo-fascism — to suit contemporary sensibilities". Macklin noted that despite Griffin's 'modernisation' project, the BNP retained its ideological continuity with earlier fascist groups and thus had not transformed itself into a genuinely "post-fascist" party. In this it was distinct from parties like the Italian National Alliance of Gianfranco Fini , which has been credited with successfully shedding its fascist past and becoming post-fascist. The anti-fascist activist Gerry Gable referred to

5088-557: The BNP was the only party which could "do anything effective about the swamping of Britain by the Third World" or "lead the native peoples of Britain in our version of the New Crusade that must be organised if Europe is not to sink under the Islamic yoke". Much of its published material made claims about a forthcoming race war and promoted the conspiracy theory about white genocide . In

5194-532: The BNP's membership and vote share had declined dramatically, groups like Britain First and National Action had splintered off, and the English Defence League had supplanted it as the UK's foremost far-right group. Ideologically positioned on the extreme-right or far-right of British politics, the BNP has been characterised as fascist or neo-fascist by political scientists . Under Tyndall's leadership, it

5300-591: The Better Boston Group, one to become an independent, and two in by-elections. Following the 2011 local elections , the party was almost wiped out completely. In 2008, leader Richard Austin helped found a county-wide party, " Lincolnshire Independents – Lincolnshire First!". In July 2009, the Audit Commission said, in an assessment covering the period from 2004 to 2009, that the council gave poor value for money for taxpayers. That period included 3 years of

5406-593: The Boston Bypass & Economic Growth Pressure Group (BBEG), and the BBI hoped to give this campaign a political element. Additionally the party hoped to re-invigorate local politics in the town which were perceived to have stagnated with several councillors elected unopposed. The BBI group were partly inspired by the success of the Kidderminster Hospital Campaign, which won 16 of the seats on Wyre Forest District Council in 2004. The party's slogan for

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5512-472: The Boston Bypass Pressure Group also called on Cllr Austin and his deputy, Cllr Peter Jordan to resign over the deal with Lincolnshire Council. Both Cllrs Austin and Jordan vigorously denied any such deal and there were four BBI candidates in the subsequent County Council elections in 2009. By autumn 2008, the party had 18 borough councillors remaining, after losing four members in defections to

5618-655: The British 'racial stock' by removing "inferior strains within the indigenous races of the British Isles". Tyndall argued that medical professionals should be responsible for determining whom to sterilise, while a lowering of welfare benefits would discourage breeding among those he deemed to be genetic inferiors. In his magazine Spearhead , Tyndall also stated that "the gas chamber system" should be used to eliminate "sub-human elements", "perverts", and "asocials" from British society. Immigration into Britain by non-Europeans... should be terminated forthwith, and we should organise

5724-613: The British Empire and the British race. He believed that both democratic government and immigration into Europe were parts of the Jewish conspiracy to weaken other races. In an early edition of Spearhead published in the 1960s, Tyndall wrote that "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?" Tyndall added Holocaust denial to

5830-473: The Democratic Nationalists. In November 2008, the BNP membership list was posted to WikiLeaks, after appearing briefly on a weblog. A year later, in October 2009, another list of BNP members was leaked. Eddy Butler then led a challenge to Griffin's leadership, alleging financial corruption, but he had insufficient support. The rebels who supported him split into two groups: one section remained as

5936-576: The European Parliament for North West England and Yorkshire and the Humber respectively. That election also saw extreme-right parties winning seats for various other EU member-states. This victory marked a major watershed for the party. Amid significant public controversy , Griffin was invited to appear on the BBC show Question Time in October 2009, the first time that the BNP had been invited to share

6042-401: The NF's tactic of holding street marches and rallies, believing that these boosted morale and attracted new recruits. Their first march took place in London on St. George's Day 1982. These marches often involved clashes with anti-fascist protesters and resulted in multiple arrests, helping to cement the BNP's association with political violence and older fascist groups in the public eye. As

6148-416: The NF, British Movement , British Democratic Party , and Nationalist Party . Tyndall remarked that there was "scarcely any difference [between the BNP and NF] in ideology or policy save in the minutest detail", and most of the BNP's leading activists had formerly been senior NF figures. Under Tyndall's leadership the party was neo-Nazi in orientation and engaged in nostalgia for Nazi Germany . It adopted

6254-690: The Speaker of the Syrian People's Assembly, Mohammad Jihad al-Laham , and the Prime Minister Wael Nader al-Halqi . Griffin claims he was influential in the speaker of Syria's Parliament writing an open letter to British MPs urging them to "turn Great Britain from the warpath" by not intervening in the Syrian conflict . Griffin lost his European Parliament seat in the May 2014 European election . The party blamed

6360-573: The United Kingdom. It is headquartered in Wigton , Cumbria , and is led by Adam Walker . A minor party , it has no elected representatives at any level of UK government . The party was founded in 1982, and reached its greatest level of success in the 2000s, when it had over fifty seats in local government , one seat on the London Assembly , and two Members of the European Parliament . It has been largely inactive since 2019. Taking its name from that of

6466-592: The anti-Semitic beliefs inherited from Chesterton, believing that The Holocaust was a hoax created by the Jews to gain sympathy for themselves and thus aid their plot for world domination. Among those to endorse such anti-Semitic conspiracy theories was Griffin, who promoted them in his 1997 pamphlet, Who are the Mind Benders? Griffin also engaged in Holocaust denial, publishing articles promoting such ideas in The Rune ,

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6572-573: The area's locals voting for the BNP. At the 2010 general election , the BNP had hoped to make a breakthrough by gaining a seat in the House of Commons , although it failed to achieve this. It nevertheless gained the fifth largest national vote share, with 1.9% of the vote, representing the most successful electoral performance for an extreme-right party in UK history. In the 2010 local elections , it lost all of its councillors in Barking and Dagenham. Nationally,

6678-558: The biosphere or real world" Tip O'Neill , a longtime Democratic Speaker of the House in the US Congress , once famously declared that "All politics is local". He eventually wrote a book by that name: All Politics Is Local: And Other Rules of the Game . Wayne Yeung questions the assumption that localism is a sub-school of European-American populism . Yeung raised an example in which localism

6784-691: The core of the Party remains ideologically fascist, and this was nowhere more apparent than in the BNP manifesto for the 2010 General Election, which returned to a clutch of traditional fascist themes including the bond of blood, homeland, the decadence of contemporary culture, a nostalgia for folk traditions and heritage, and an emphasis on stricter discipline in education and society. During the election campaign anti-Semitism, racism and neo-Nazi sympathies were identified on candidates' social network sites. — Political theologian Andrew P. Davey, 2011 In his writings, Griffin acknowledged that much of his 'modernisation'

6890-424: The country. Speaking on the BBC 's Andrew Marr Show in 2009, Griffin declared that, unlike Tyndall, he "does not want all-white UK" because "nobody out there wants it or would pay for it". My experience as a campaigner against the multi-racial idea in Britain and in favour of our country's centuries-old tradition of racial homogeneity has brought home to me beyond any doubt the fact that Jews are to be found at

6996-487: The cultural incompatibility of different racial groups. This emphasis on culture allowed it to foreground Islamophobia ; following the September 11 attacks in 2001, it launched a "Campaign Against Islam". It stressed the claim that the BNP was " not a racist party" but an "organised response to anti-white racism". At the same time Griffin sought to reassure the party's base that these reforms were based on pragmatism and not

7102-414: The democratic goal of engaging citizens in decisions that affect them. Consequently, localism will encourage stronger democratic and political participatory forums and widening public sphere connectivity. Localists assert that throughout the world's history, most social and economic institutions are scaled at the local level, as opposed to regional, interregional, or global (basically until the late 19th to

7208-547: The disproportionately high levels of funding being directed to the Asian-dominated Daneshouse ward. This breakthrough generated public anxieties about the party, with a poll finding that six in ten supported a ban on it. In the 2003 local elections , the BNP gained 13 additional councillors, including seven more in Burnley; the party received over 100,000 votes in this election. Concerned that much of its potential vote

7314-478: The early 20th centuries). Through ongoing forms of colonialism , imperialism and industrialisation local scales become less central. Most proponents of localism position themselves as defending aspects of this way of life; the phrase "relocalization" is often used in this sense. In the 20th century, localism drew heavily on the writings of Leopold Kohr , E. F. Schumacher , Wendell Berry , and Kirkpatrick Sale , among others. More generally, localism draws on

7420-561: The elites. She also used the term "anti-politics" to describe localist politicians because they stand against mainstream politics. She used the UK Independence Party (UKIP) as an example of a party adopting localism into their policies. Mainstream politicians from the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties were threatened by the rise of UKIP. Many localists are concerned with the problems of developing countries . Many advocate that developing countries should aim to rely on their own goods and services to escape from what they see are

7526-616: The established mainstream parties. In turn, the BNP gained rapidly growing levels of support over the coming years. In July 2000, it came second in the council elections for the North End of the London Borough of Bexley , its best result since 1993. At the 2001 general election it gained 16% of the vote in one constituency and over 10% in two others. In the 2002 local elections the BNP gained four councillors, three of whom were in Burnley, where it had capitalised on white anger surrounding

7632-424: The failing economic model of industrial agriculture for small farmers. While the advocates of local consumption draw on protectionist arguments, they also appealed primarily to an environmental argument: that pollution caused by transporting goods was a major externality in a global economy, and one that " localvores " could greatly diminish. Also, environmental issues can be addressed when decision-making power

7738-536: The far-right National Front (NF) throughout most of the 1970s. Following an argument with senior party member Martin Webster , he resigned from the NF in 1980. In June 1980 Tyndall established a rival, the New National Front (NNF). At the recommendation of Ray Hill —who was secretly an anti-fascist spy seeking to sow disharmony among Britain's far-right—Tyndall decided to unite an array of extreme-right groups as

7844-415: The focus of this aspect of localist activism is on "buy local," "support local food," and "bank local" campaigns, some organizations and businesses also combine the goal of increased local ownership with environmental sustainability and social fairness goals. Examples of localism are: British National Party The British National Party ( BNP ) is a far-right , fascist political party in

7950-712: The forefront of opposition to British racial self-preservation. — Tyndall's belief that a Jewish conspiracy was behind multiracial Britain Under Tyndall's leadership, the BNP was openly anti-Semitic . From A. K. Chesterton , Tyndall had inherited a belief that there was a global conspiracy of Jews bent on world domination, viewing the Protocols of the Elders of Zion as genuine evidence for this. He believed that Jews were responsible for both communism and international finance capitalism and that they were responsible for undermining

8056-434: The idea that at current levels, "indigenous Britons" would be a minority within the UK by 2060. The immigrant communities in Britain are... colonies filled with colonists. They are alien islands inside our towns and cities with their own laws and cultures. They will never integrate as they did not come here to integrate, but to re-create their own cultures in our country. The fact is that the only solution to Multi-Culturalism

8162-459: The indigenous peoples of these islands in the North Atlantic which have been our homeland for a millennia. — The BNP, 2005 The BNP adheres to biological racist ideas, displaying an obsession with the perceived differences of racial groups. Both Tyndall and Griffin believed that there was a biologically distinct white-skinned "British race" which was one branch of a wider Nordic race ,

8268-622: The internal Reform Group, the other left the BNP to form the British Freedom Party . By 2010, there was discontent among the party's grassroots, a result of the change to its white-only membership policy and rumours of financial corruption among its leadership. Some defected to the National Front or left to form parties like the Britannica Party . Anti-fascist groups like Hope not Hate had campaigned extensively in Barking to stop

8374-419: The labels "fascist" and "Nazi", stating that it is neither. In its 1992 electoral manifesto, it said that "Fascism was Italian. Nazism was German. We are British. We will do things our own way; we will not copy foreigners". In 2009, Griffin that the term "fascism" was simply "a smear that comes from the far left"; he added that the term should be reserved for groups that engaged in "political violence" and desired

8480-587: The movement going, but with almost imperceptible growth since its 1982 foundation. — Senior BNP member John Bean In the early 1990s, a "moderniser" faction emerged within the party, favouring a more electorally palatable strategy and an emphasis on building grassroots support to win local elections. It was impressed by the electoral gains made by a number of extreme-right parties in continental Europe — such as Jörg Haider 's Austrian Freedom Party and Jean-Marie Le Pen 's National Front — which had been achieved by both switching focus from biological racism to

8586-642: The name of the party was changed from the Boston Bypass Independents to the Boston District Independents "to shake off its image as the ‘bypass party’". The four remaining councillors at the time were Alison Austin, Richard Austin, Helen Staples and David Witts. This by-election was triggered by the resignation of independent councillor Brian Rush (formerly a member of the Boston Bypass Independents). The Boston District Independents declined to stand and instead assisted another independent candidate, Maggie Peberdy, who came second with 139 votes or 26.7%, with

8692-579: The opportunity to do so. Localism usually describes social measures or trends which emphasise or value local and small-scale phenomena. This is in contrast to large, all-encompassing frameworks for action or belief. Localism can therefore be contrasted with globalisation , and in some cases localist activism has parallels with opposition to corporate-led globalization. Localism can be geographical, but there are also transnational linkages. Localist movements are often organized in support of locally owned, independent businesses and nonprofit organizations. Although

8798-421: The party had campaigned remains unbuilt at 2023. Localist Localism can also refer to a systematic approach to organizing a central government so that local autonomy is retained rather than following the usual pattern of government and political power becoming centralized over time. On a conceptual level, there are important affinities between localism and deliberative democracy . This concerns mainly

8904-408: The party logo. Griffin believed that Peak Oil and a growth in Third World migrants arriving in Britain would result in a BNP government coming to power by 2040. The close of the twentieth century produced more favourable conditions for the extreme-right in Britain as a result of increased public concerns about immigration and established Muslim communities coupled with growing dissatisfaction with

9010-673: The party lose another seat to the British National Party , on a 22% turnout. In the Lincolnshire County Council election on 4 June 2009, party leader Richard Austin lost his Boston South seat to the Conservative candidates, but Ray Newell took the Boston West seat from Labour. In May 2011 the BBI were defeated by the Conservatives with 14 of the remaining 18 Boston Bypass Independents losing their seats. In July 2011,

9116-464: The party made appeals to the idea of Britain and Britishness in a manner not dissimilar to mainstream political parties. In this material it has also made prominent use of the Union flag and the colours red, white, and blue. Roger Griffin noted that the terms "Britain" and "England" appear "confusingly interchangeable" in BNP literature, while Copsey has pointed out that the BNP's form of British nationalism

9222-449: The party's name, descriptions or emblems on the ballot paper at elections." A month later, the party was re-registered. There were ten BNP candidates at the general election in 2017 . At the 2018 local elections , the party's last remaining councillor— Brian Parker of Pendle —decided not to stand for re-election, leaving the party without representation at any level of UK government. The BNP fielded only one candidate, David Furness, at

9328-523: The party's number of councillors dropped from over fifty to 28. Griffin described the results as "disastrous". In a 2011 leadership election , Griffin secured a narrow victory, beating Brons by nine votes of a total of 2,316 votes cast. In October 2012, Brons left the party, leaving Griffin as its sole MEP. In the 2012 local elections , the party lost all of its seats and saw its vote share fall dramatically; whereas it gained over 240,000 votes in 2008, this had fallen to under 26,000 by 2012. Commenting on

9434-577: The perceived cultural incompatibility of different racial groups and by replacing anti-democratic platforms with populist ones. The modernisers called for community campaigns among the white working-class populations of London's East End , and Northern England. While the modernisers gained some concessions from the party's hard-liners, Tyndall opposed many of their ideas and sought to stem their growing influence. In his view, "we should not be looking for ways of applying ideological cosmetic surgery to ourselves in order to make our features more appealing to

9540-504: The political scientist Matthew Goodwin used it, the term referred to "a particular form of political ideology that is defined by two anti-constitutional and anti-democratic elements: first, right-wing extremists are extremist because they reject or undermine the values, procedures and institutions of the democratic constitutional state; and second they are right-wing because they reject the principle of fundamental human equality". Various political scientists and historians have described

9646-678: The previous administration's term of office and only 2 under the BBI. The next recent report from the Audit Commission, in February 2010, judged Boston as a 'fair' Council. One councillor stood down in June 2008 when he was convicted of drink driving. The party lost the subsequent by-election in Coastal ward on 25 July 2008 to the Conservative candidate. Another by-election in Fenside ward on 13 November 2008 saw

9752-465: The problems created by globalisation" with "calls to minimise international trade and to seek to establish economies based on ‘local’ self-sufficiency only." Some localists believe that society should be organised politically along community lines, with each community being free to conduct its own business in whatever fashion its people see fit. The size of the communities is defined such that their members are both familiar and dependent on each other,

9858-404: The public". After the BNP's poor performance at the 1997 general election, opposition to Tyndall's leadership grew. The modernisers called the party's first leadership election, and in October 1999 Tyndall was ousted when two-thirds of those voting backed Nick Griffin , who offered an improved administration, financial transparency, and greater support for local branches. Often characterised as

9964-495: The racial purity of the white British. It condemns miscegenation and "race mixing", stating that this is a threat to the British race. Tyndall said that he "felt deeply sorry for the child of a mixed marriage" but had "no sympathy whatsoever for the parents". Griffin similarly stated that mixed-race children were "the most tragic victims of enforced multi-racism", and that the party would not "accept miscegenation as moral or normal ... we never will". In its 1983 election manifesto,

10070-616: The result, the political scientist Matthew Goodwin noted: "Put simply, the BNP's electoral challenge is over." In the 2012 London mayoral election , the BNP candidate came seventh, with 1.3% of first-preference votes, its poorest showing in the London mayoral contest. The 2012 election results established that the BNP's steady growth had ended. In the 2013 local elections , the BNP fielded 99 candidates but failed to win any council seats, leaving it with only two. In June 2013, Griffin visited Syria along with members of Hungarian far-right party Jobbik to meet with government officials, including

10176-480: The seat being won by another independent candidate, Stuart Ashton. The Boston District Independents was deregistered as a political party in December 2012. Its remaining members on Boston Borough Council continued to sit as a less formal political group of independents rather than a party. At Boston Borough Council's Annual General Meeting in May 2013, the group was reconstituted as "Independent Group 2". The bypass for which

10282-444: The unfair trade relations with the developed world . George Monbiot claims this idea does not recognise the fact that, even if developing countries often get a raw deal in trade relations, refusing to trade at all would be a significant blow, as the countries need the revenue generated by trade. Some localists are also against immigration from poor countries to rich ones. One of the problems they claim results from such immigration

10388-401: The use of the UK's pre-existing foreign aid budget . It stated that any non-whites who refused to leave would be stripped of their British citizenship and categorised as "permanent guests", while continuing to be offered incentives to emigrate. Griffin's BNP also stressed its support for an immediate halt to non-white immigration into Britain and for the deportation of any migrants illegally in

10494-564: The white British and the broader Nordic race to be superior to other races; under his leadership, the BNP promoted pseudoscientific claims in support of white supremacy . Following Griffin's ascendency to power in the party, it officially repudiated racial supremacism and insisted that no racial group was superior or inferior to another. Instead it foregrounded an " ethno-pluralist " racial separatism, claiming that different racial groups had to be kept separate and distinct for their own preservation, maintaining that global ethno-cultural diversity

10600-435: Was "irregular and intermittent", and for its first two decades it faced consistent electoral failure. It suffered from low finances and few personnel, and its leadership was aware that its electoral viability was weakened by the anti-immigration rhetoric of Conservative Party Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher . In the 1983 general election the BNP stood 54 candidates, although it only campaigned in five seats. Although it

10706-523: Was able to air its first party political broadcast , it averaged a vote share of 0.06% in the seats it contested. After the Representation of the People Act 1985 raised the electoral deposit to £500, the BNP adopted a policy of "very limited involvement" in elections. It abstained in the 1987 general election , and stood only 13 candidates in the 1992 general election . In a 1993 local by-election

10812-489: Was an attempt to hide the BNP's core ideology behind more electorally palatable policies. Like the National Front, the BNP's private discourse differed from its public one, with Griffin stating that "Of course we must teach the truth to the hardcore... [but] when it comes to influencing the public, forget about racial differences, genetics, Zionism, historical revisionism and so on... we must at all times present them with an image of moderate reasonableness". The BNP has eschewed

10918-595: Was frustrated by Tyndall's leadership, and ousted him in 1999. The new leader Nick Griffin sought to broaden the BNP's electoral base by presenting a more moderate image, targeting concerns about rising immigration rates, and emphasising localised community campaigns. This resulted in increased electoral growth throughout the 2000s, to the extent that it became the most electorally successful far-right party in British history. Concerns regarding financial mismanagement resulted in Griffin being removed as leader in 2014. By this point,

11024-498: Was going to the UK Independence Party (UKIP), in 2003 the BNP offered UKIP an electoral pact but was rebuffed. Griffin then accused UKIP of being a Labour Party scheme to steal the BNP's votes. It invested much in the campaign for the 2004 European Parliament election , at which it received 800,000 votes but failed to secure a parliamentary seat. In the 2004 local elections , it secured four more seats, including three in Epping . For

11130-412: Was more specifically regarded as neo-Nazi . The party is ethnic nationalist , and it once espoused the view that only white people should be citizens of the United Kingdom. It calls for an end to non-white migration into the UK. It called initially for the compulsory expulsion of non-whites but, since 1999, it has advocated voluntary removals with financial incentives. It promotes biological racism and

11236-519: Was something to be protected. This switch in focus owed much to the discourse of the French Nouvelle Droite movement which had emerged within France's extreme-right during the 1960s. At the same time the BNP switched focus from openly promoting biological racism to stressing what it perceived as the cultural incompatibility of racial groups . It placed great focus on opposing what it referred to as " multiculturalism ", characterising this as

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