Anne-Marie Waters closes down For Britain Movement
H&D has for the past couple of years been reporting on the crowded yet feeble state of British nationalism (both racial and civic). It’s been clear for a long time that several of the parties now competing for the same political space couldn’t survive for much longer.
Today there was news of the first major casualty. Anne-Marie Waters, leader of the For Britain Movement, announced that she was closing down the party – although it’s not yet certain that she has the legal / constitutional power to do so.
Ms Waters told her followers that “support for patriotic politics has collapsed, at least publicly, in recent years”. We don’t disagree with her, though we might question her reasons.
Characteristically, Ms Waters blames opposition violence, which she claims is supported by the mainstream media and politicians. She doesn’t explain why in the face of far worse violence during the 1990s and 2000s, nationalist politics made progress.
Ms Waters says that she is immediately moving away from electoral politics but will continue her anti-Islamist work, with a particular focus on “a support service for victims of rape and sexual assault”. She asks for financial support in this work, but states that “the process of closing everything down” at FBM has started today.
H&D understands from several FBM organisers that they will resist their leader’s decision and will if necessary argue that she does not have the legal power to close down the party. The Electoral Commission requires political parties to abide by their constitutions, and FBM remains registered as a party. In the first instance, however, anyone wishing to stand as an FBM candidate would need the signature of the party’s nominating officer Mike Speakman, a former police officer who is a long-time ally of Ms Waters.
Those FBM activists who accept that the party is over are likely to join the British Democrats and/or Patriotic Alternative, though the latter is not registered as a political party. The sole elected FBM councillor – former BNP councillor Julian Leppert – is due for re-election in his Epping Forest ward next May.
In the next H&D we shall look back on the strange history of the For Britain Movement, a party founded by an ultra-Zionist but which attracted (notably in its most successful branch) significant figures from the old BNP. Perhaps the party’s death (if confirmed) goes to prove that ideological consistency still matters, even in the ‘post-modern’ politics of 2022.
By-election voters reject entire nationalist movement: time for a reboot
Two dramatic parliamentary by-election results tonight delivered a potentially fatal blow to the authority of Boris Johnson. But they also showed that voters even in strongly pro-Brexit constituencies have rejected the entire nationalist movement as presently constituted.
A wide range of different nationalist parties and independents were on the ballot papers in the West Yorkshire constituency of Wakefield, and the Devon constituency of Tiverton & Honiton, offering various combinations of UKIP-style politics; criticism of immigration; rejection of ‘woke’; traditional patriotism; opposition to Islam; racial or semi-racial nationalism; and/or conspiracy theories about the pandemic. Yet the voters were decidedly unimpressed.
On the issues listed above (with the likely exception of CoVID conspiracism which has niche appeal at best) there are undoubtedly many thousands of voters across the two constituencies (as elsewhere in the UK) who agree with civic or racial nationalist policies.
As recently as 2010, the BNP (which of course no longer even pretends to function as a proper political party) polled 2,581 votes in Wakefield (5.8%).
Yet this week all six of the nationalist or anti-lockdown parties in Wakefield added together polled only half this total: just 1,293 votes!!
In Wakefield the most active nationalist campaign was fought by Ashlea Simon of Britain First, who had achieved the country’s best nationalist result at last month’s local elections, polling 21.6% in Walkden North ward, Salford.
Wakefield is of course on the other side of the Pennines, but this West Yorkshire city has many of the same racial problems that led to strong BNP votes in the 2000s. And the fact that the by-election was caused by a homosexual Muslim Conservative MP being jailed for sexual abuse of a 15-year-old boy, ought to have been a gift for even a semi-racial nationalist party.
Ms Simon and her team (including Britain First leader Paul Golding) put in a serious effort, but polled only 311 votes (1.1%), finishing 8th of 15 candidates.
This wasn’t a great result, but the outcome for other nationalist contenders in Wakefield was truly dire. Jayda Fransen of the British Freedom Party was bottom of the poll with only 24 votes (less than 0.1%).
Ms Fransen had to stand as an independent because her party isn’t yet registered. She and the two men who pull the strings in her ‘party’ – Ulster ‘businessman’ Jim Dowson and former MEP Nick Griffin – talk a good fight online, but are effectively seeking to con potential donors that they are running a serious political force (rather than the farce that it truly is).
In a rational world, Fransen, Dowson and Griffin would never show their face again in any political forum, online or in person. But doubtless they are shameless enough to keep the con going.
The best of a feeble bunch of civic nationalist results in Wakefield was Reform UK – successor to Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party – finishing sixth with 513 votes (1.9%). But given the comparatively vast resources expended by Richard Tice’s party, this is another shockingly meagre return. Tice’s donors must be running out of patience.
The rump of UKIP polled 124 votes (0.5%), beaten by the English Democrats with 135 votes (0.5%).
And while the anti-lockdown and anti-vaccination movement continues to make a lot of noise both online and in occasional demonstrations, their standard bearer in Wakefield – the Freedom Alliance – barely registered with 187 votes (0.7%).
Meanwhile in Tiverton & Honiton – a traditionally safe Conservative and strongly pro-Brexit seat in Devon – nationalist results were equally dismal.
Reform UK’s total here was even worse than in Wakefield: 481 votes (1.1%). UKIP again failed miserably with 241 votes (0.6%), just ahead of one of the splinter groups from UKIP, the Heritage Party (led by a half-Jamaican and focusing heavily on CoVID-scepticism) who took only 167 votes (0.4%).
The wooden spoon went to Frankie Rufolo of the anti-Islam party For Britain Movement, who polled 146 votes (0.3%). For Britain is led by a former UKIP leadership candidate Anne-Marie Waters, who is now allied to EDL founder ‘Tommy Robinson’ and claims that she is building towards winning a seat in Parliament at the next general election. On present trends she wouldn’t win a parliamentary seat if she lived for another millennium.
Ever since the collapse of the BNP a decade ago there has been nothing even resembling a large-scale, successful racial nationalist party. The BNP no longer even pretends to function as a proper political party. Patriotic Alternative (the fastest growing racial nationalist force in the UK) is not registered as a party and so is unable to contest elections. And various smaller parties ranging from the British Democratic Party to the National Front are not yet a substantial presence in parliamentary elections.
Both of the constituencies that had by-elections yesterday were strongly pro-Brexit, and were won by Boris Johnson’s pro-Brexit Conservative Party in 2019. Yet the by-elections were caused by personal scandals forcing the resignation of Conservative MPs. So there ought to have been potential for various types of nationalist to attract voters who had previously backed the Tories.
In this context the Wakefield and Tiverton & Honiton results were frankly an embarrassment not just for the parties concerned, but for everyone who calls himself a British nationalist.
Many of those who were active in these campaigns are decent patriots. Yet their political strategies and in most cases their entire party structures should be consigned to the scrapheap.
If we cannot now escape from crank ideas and personal bitterness; if we cannot now agree some form of realistic yet principled agenda and create a serious political movement (whether that movement is electorally focused, or at least for now concentrates on non-electoral politics) – then we deserve the contempt of our fellow Britons and we are unworthy of our ancestors.
Post-Brexit civic nationalists face High Noon in Yorkshire and Devon by-elections
Nominations closed this afternoon for two parliamentary by-elections to be held on 23rd June in the West Yorkshire constituency of Wakefield and the Devon constituency of Tiverton & Honiton.
Each of these by-elections follows scandals that disgraced the previous Conservative MP. In Wakefield a homosexual Muslim Conservative – overseas readers might think we are making this up but it’s absolutely true – resigned after being convicted for sexually assaulting a teenage boy. He has since been imprisoned.
In Tiverton & Honiton, the local Conservative MP resigned after he admitted viewing pornography on his phone while at work in the chamber of the House of Commons. Readers will appreciate that parliamentary proceedings can be boring, but this was probably not the best way to relieve the tedium.
Each by-election has attracted a range of civic nationalist, populist and/or anti-Islam candidates.
In Wakefield voters can choose between:
Ashlea Simon of Britain First, an anti-Islamist party backed by former BNP official Paul Golding – as reported in the current edition of H&D, Miss Simon achieved the best nationalist vote at the recent local council elections, polling 21.6% in Walkden North, Salford;
Jayda Fransen, Mr Golding’s former partner both in Britain First and in private life, who is now based in Northern Ireland where she works for Christian businessman Jim Dowson and his political frontman Nick Griffin – they call their outfit the British Freedom Party but it is not in fact a registered political party, so Ms Fransen is listed as Independent on the ballot paper;
Chris Walsh, a Wakefield gym owner and the most local of the civic nationalist candidates, representing the Reform UK party backed by former Brexit Party and UKIP leader Nigel Farage;
Therese Hirst, a frequent candidate in Yorkshire elections for the English Democrats, a party led by Essex solicitor Robin Tilbrook which campaigns for an English Parliament – Ms Hirst (a Theology graduate of Durham University) finished runner-up at the Batley & Spen parliamentary by-election in 2016, polling 4.8%;
Jordan Gaskell, who at the age of 19 received UKIP’s best vote at the recent local government elections: 10.4% in Hindley ward, Wigan – like Ashlea Simon he has what might prove a big disadvantage of coming from the wrong side of the Pennines, though unlike Jayda Fransen he is at least based in England.
Other anti-establishment parties contesting Wakefield include the CoVID-sceptic ‘Freedom Alliance’, the Christian Peoples Alliance, the Yorkshire Party, and the left-populist Northern Independence Party.
Wakefield’s Conservatives have (perhaps surprisingly) selected another Asian candidate. There is also an Asian independent standing, as well as the ‘Monster Raving Loony Party’, and the usual Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green parties.
The by-election is almost certain to be won either by Labour or the Conservatives, but an unusually poor or good result might either finish off one of the crowded field of nationalist or semi-nationalist parties, or give one of them the boost required to raise their profile.
At present none of these parties has anything like the profile achieved by the National Front in the 1970s, the BNP in the 1990s and 2000s, or UKIP and the Brexit Party in the 2010s.
Tiverton & Honiton in contrast to Wakefield is almost certain to be a battle between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats.
Here there is a slightly different range of civic nationalist candidates:
Frankie Rufolo is Exeter organiser of the For Britain Movement, the anti-Islamist party founded by former UKIP leadership candidate Anne-Marie Waters. Mr Rufolo has stood several times in Exeter City Council elections, most recently polling 7.7%.
Andy Foan, a former Royal Navy and RAF pilot, is standing for Reform UK.
Ben Walker, also a Royal Navy veteran, is standing for UKIP, for whom he was once a councillor in South Gloucestershire. In 2019 he was fined more than £11,000 for breaking building regulations.
Jordan Donoghue-Morgan is standing for the Heritage Party, which has absolutely no connection to H&D and is a splinter from UKIP.
Since UKIP were runners-up with 16.5% in this constituency in 2015, there is a fairly substantial civic nationalist or populist right-wing vote to share between these candidates, especially given the Conservative Party’s recent problems.
As in Wakefield, an especially good or bad result for any of the above four candidates could propel their party either into significance or into extinction.
Other candidates in Tiverton & Honiton are the usual ‘big four’: Conservative, Liberal Democrat, Labour and Green.
Neither of the two fastest-growing nationalist organisations in Britain is contesting either of these by-elections. Patriotic Alternative is not yet a registered political party so cannot yet appear on ballot papers. The British Democratic Party has decided (probably wisely) not to enter a crowded field that is likely to turn into a media circus.
Nationalist results at 2022 local elections
Votes have been counted across most of the UK in local council elections, as well as crucial contests for the Northern Ireland Assembly.
As previously explained in H&D, there were much reduced numbers of candidates this year from the UK’s various racial and civic nationalist parties. The once-mighty BNP now seems totally defunct, having no candidates anywhere in the country and no longer even a functioning website.
By far the best result so far was achieved by Ashlea Simon of Britain First, who finished runner-up in Walkden North, Salford with 508 votes (21.6%). H&D has been very critical of Britain First’s leader Paul Golding on both ideological and personal grounds, but we have to admit this is a very good result and a credit to Ms Simon and her campaign team.
The other nationalist party making progress this year is the British Democrats, and even they only had four candidates nationwide. Lawrence Rustem achieved 117 votes (13.7%) in Shepway South ward, Maidstone. Last year Mr Rustem polled 25 votes (2.6%) in the same ward as a For Britain candidate.
British Democrat leader Dr Jim Lewthwaite finished third of six candidates in Wyke ward, Bradford, with 214 votes (7.1%), slightly up from 6.2% in the same ward last year.
Among other Brit Dem candidates, Chris Bateman polled 100 votes (4.6%) in Laindon Park, Basildon. This was the first ever British Democrat campaign in Basildon. Similarly breaking new ground for the Brit Dems was former BNP candidate Michael Jones who polled 253 votes (5.7%) in East Wickham ward, Bexley.
By contrast the For Britain Movement seems to be going backwards: its leader Anne-Marie Waters was heavily defeated in De Bruce ward, Hartlepool. Click here for our analysis of that result.
What had been For Britain’s strongest branch in Epping Forest was marking time this year with token campaigns. Eddy Butler polled just 11 votes (1.3%) in Loughton Alderton, and former BNP councillor Pat Richardson 16 votes (2.0%) in Loughton Broadway.
Former BNP activist Gary Bergin polled 57 votes (1.7%) as For Britain candidate in Claughton ward, Wirral, down from 1.9% last year, while in nearby Shevington ward, Knowsley, Christine Dillon managed only 18 votes (1.0%). One of the party’s few substantial branches is Exeter, where organiser Frankie Rufolo polled 192 votes (7.7%) in Exwick ward. Mr Rufolo’s Exeter colleagues fared a lot worse: Eric Bransden polling 35 votes (1.2%) in Topsham ward, and Chris Stone 25 votes (0.9%) in St Thomas.
Among the other early results was Langley Mill & Aldercar, Amber Valley, where the National Front’s Tim Knowles polled 28 votes (2.6%), a fraction down from 2.7% in 2018. Another veteran NF candidate Chris Jackson (once North West regional organiser for the BNP) yet again contested his home ward of Todmorden, Calderdale, polling 101 votes (3.1%), up from 2.3% last year.
On the civic wing of nationalism, Reform UK – the main faction of the old UKIP, backed by Nigel Farage and led by Richard Tice – is fading badly. In Chipping Ongar, Greensted and Marden Ash ward, Epping Forest, Reform UK’s Peter Bell finished bottom of the poll with 26 votes (2.7%), behind Robin Tilbrook of the English Democrats with 72 votes (7.5%).
Other English Democrat results included 8.3% for Maxine Spencer in Dearne North, Barnsley and 5.5% for her neighbour Janus Polenceusz in Dearne South.
Reform UK seems now to have just one strong branch – Derby, where they held on to the two council seats they were defending – plus one semi-strong branch, Bolton, where as in Derby they had a full slate of candidates, three of whom managed above 10%. In the rest of the country the party barely exists.
The remaining fragment of UKIP – which was the country’s largest party at the 2014 European Parliamentary elections – had only seventeen candidates for English councils plus eleven candidates for Scottish councils. Only Jordan Gaskell in Hindley ward, Wigan with 10.4% achieved a remotely credible vote.
Two UKIP splinter groups still just about function. The Heritage Party, led by half-Jamaican former London Assembly member David Kurten, had fourteen English council candidates and one Welsh, plus one candidate for the Northern Ireland Assembly. Their best vote was 7.9% for Nick Smith in Cippenham Green ward, Slough, while most others polled tiny votes. An even smaller UKIP splinter is the Alliance for Democracy and Freedom, the best of whose five English council results was 7.3% for Phillip Moulson in South ward, NE Lincolnshire.
Gary Butler – who has contested elections during the past twelve years for the National Front, BNP and English Democrats – this year polled 49 votes (3.3%) as an Independent in Heath ward, Maidstone. His wife Melanie Butler polled 94 votes (5.8%) in Shepway North, Maidstone.
Graham Williamson – a leading activist in the National Front during the 1980s – has long since abandoned racial nationalism in favour of ‘community politics’. He was easily re-elected in South Hornchurch ward, Havering, for his ‘Rainham Independent Residents Association’.
Click here to see full breakdown of nationalist / UKIP type candidates and their results.
Is this the end of ‘For Britain’?
Anne-Marie Waters – founder and leader of the For Britain Movement – was heavily defeated yesterday in her attempt to win election to Hartlepool Borough Council. Ms Waters had moved to the area and campaigned intensively for a couple of years, believing that various local scandals including the ‘grooming’ of young girls by Asian Muslims would push voters towards her anti-Islam party.
Karen King won Hartlepool’s De Bruce ward in 2019 to become one of For Britain’s first elected councillors, alongside Julian Leppert in Epping Forest. Boundary changes then led to an all-out election for the entire Hartlepool council in May 2021: Anne-Marie Waters and Ms King both contested De Bruce ward, where each elector had three votes. Ms King lost her seat by only 15 votes, though Ms Waters finished much further down the field.
This year Ms King chose not to stand and Ms Waters was For Britain’s only Hartlepool candidate, again in De Bruce ward, but was again badly beaten, finishing third of four candidates with 203 votes (14.5%), down from 479 votes (22.2%) last year.
In the run-up to this year’s campaign, Ms Waters forged a high-profile political alliance with Tommy Robinson, founder of the English Defence League. Several activists quit For Britain because they didn’t wish to be associated with Robinson’s hooliganism and criminality.
It seems that the gamble of admitting Robinson to For Britain has failed. Only the prospect of electoral success had held Ms Waters’ party together, as there are fundamental disagreements between the party leader (whose views on many issues are liberal and multiracialist) and the ex-BNP activists in Epping Forest who control her only substantial branch.
During today and tomorrow we will report on other nationalist or semi-nationalist election results from across the UK.
A party on its deathbed: no BNP candidates in this year’s elections
See also updated list of candidates
Regular H&D readers will know that our editor and assistant editor were once leading activists in the British National Party. Twenty years ago our editor raised money for Nick Griffin (then party leader) and paid for the Griffin family’s holiday in the USA.
Unfortunately Griffin betrayed us all and destroyed the party, leaving a political wreck to be steered round hopelessly by his successor Adam Walker and his crooked treasurer Clive Jefferson.
The BNP now only exists to obtain donations and legacies for the benefit of its leaders, not for any sort of serious politics: and now the slow death of the party has been confirmed by its failure to field a single candidate anywhere in the UK at this year’s local council elections.
Other nationalist parties are at least making an effort, devoting their far more modest financial resources to actual politics rather than to their leaders’ personal benefit.
The National Front has two candidates this year, Chris Jackson in Calderdale and Tim Knowles in Amber Valley.
H&D expects Dr Jim Lewthwaite, leader of the British Democrats, again to run the most effective nationalist campaign, standing again in Wyke ward, Bradford. This year he has three fellow British Democrat candidates, all in the south of England and all ex-BNP: Michael Jones in Bexley, Chris Bateman in Basildon, and former councillor Lawrence Rustem in Maidstone.
Eddy Butler who masterminded the BNP’s first ever election victory in East London in 1993, is now in the For Britain Movement, a populist anti-immigration party whose leader Anne Marie Waters (a former UKIP leadership candidate) is sincerely ‘anti-racist’ but many of whose candidates and activists are ex-BNP, including its only elected councillor Julian Leppert.
Ms Waters will make a second attempt to win De Bruce ward, Hartlepool, after her near-miss last year, while Eddy Butler and former BNP councillor Patricia Richardson are contesting wards in Epping Forest. There are a total of 14 For Britain candidates nationwide.
Paul Golding, who twenty years ago was one of Nick Griffin’s young favourites, had promised fifty candidates or more from his anti-Muslim party Britain First, newly re-registered with the Electoral Commission, but has delivered only three. One of these is Golding’s girlfriend Ashlea Simon, standing in Salford; while another is ex-BNP candidate Nicholas Scanlon in Greenwich.
Robin Tilbrook’s English Democrats, at the opposite end of the spectrum from Paul Golding in terms of respectability but very much a ‘civic nationalist’ party, have five candidates including Mr Tilbrook himself in Epping Forest and Steve Morris in Bury, each of whom have been doggedly contesting the same wards for several years.
The only remaining unresolved controversy about Brexit is how it will affect the Union with Northern Ireland. We shall be looking at Ulster politics soon in another article. On the mainland it seems that the various pro-Brexit parties are steadily declining. The largest of them is Reform UK who have 123 candidates this year, and who are contesting every seat in two council areas: Bolton and Derby.
UKIP is now almost dead but has managed to find 28 candidates, while the Heritage Party (no connection to H&D!) led by half-Jamaican former UKIP leadership candidate David Kurten has 15 candidates.
H&D will have full reports on the local election campaign and analysis of the results in Issue 108 of our magazine which will be published the week after polling day in May.
Note: The statistics in this article and the accompanying candidate list have been obtained from many hours of research on local council websites across the UK during the past two days. Inevitably there is the possibility of error either by ourselves or by council returning officers. H&D will continually update and correct all facts relating to this year’s elections and this site will continue to be the most accurate and impartial source for electoral news regarding British nationalist parties across the ideological spectrum.
Nationalist and patriotic candidates at the 2022 elections
Note: The statistics below have been obtained from many hours of research on local council websites across the UK during the past few days. Inevitably there is the possibility of error either by ourselves or by council returning officers. H&D will continually update and correct all facts relating to this year’s elections and this site will continue to be the most accurate and impartial source for electoral news regarding British nationalist parties across the ideological spectrum.
National Front – 2 candidates
Tim Knowles, Langley Mill & Aldercar, Amber Valley 28 votes (2.6%) 4th of 4
Chris Jackson, Todmoden, Calderdale 101 votes (3.1%) 5th of 5
British Democrats – 4 candidates
Chris Bateman, Laindon Park, Basildon 100 votes (4.6%) 4th of 5
Michael Jones, East Wickham, Bexley 253 votes (5.7%) 8th of 8 in three vacancy election
Dr Jim Lewthwaite, Wyke, Bradford 214 votes (7.1%) 3rd of 6
Lawrence Rustem, Shepway South, Maidstone 117 votes (13.7%) 3rd of 4
For Britain Movement – 14 candidates
Leo Robinson, Keighley West, Bradford 41 votes (1.2%) 7th of 7
Eddy Butler, Loughton Alderton, Epping Forest 11 votes (1.3%) 4th of 4
Pat Richardson, Loughton Broadway, Epping Forest 16 votes (2.0%) 4th of 4
Frankie Rufolo, Exwick, Exeter 192 votes (7.7%) 7th of 9 in two vacancy election
Chris Stone, St Thomas, Exeter 25 votes (0.9%) 6th of 6
Eric Bransden, Topsham, Exeter 35 votes (1.2%) 4th of 4
Anne-Marie Waters, De Bruce, Hartlepool 203 votes (14.5%) 3rd of 4
Barry McGrath, St Andrew’s & Docklands, Hull 65 votes (3.8%) 4th of 4
Christine Dillon, Shevington, Knowsley 18 votes (1.0%) 4th of 4
Terrence Oakes, Town Centre, St Helens 176 votes (15.3%) 4th of 4 in two vacancy election
Sam Harding, Charlemont with Grove Vale, Sandwell 74 votes (2.6%) 4th of 5
Nigel Pearson, Chard South, Somerset 171 votes (6.1%) 7th of 7
Mia Americanos-Molinaro, Welham Green & Hatfield South, Welwyn Hatfield 19 votes (1.1%) 5th of 5
Gary Bergin, Claughton, Wirral 57 votes (1.7%) 5th of 5
Britain First – 3 candidates
Nicholas Scanlon, Eltham Page, Greenwich 255 votes (10.6%) 6th of 7 in two vacancy election
Ashlea Simon, Walkden North, Salford 508 votes (21.6%) 2nd
Carl Burgess, Brynna and Llanharan, Rhondda 191 votes (5.6%) 8th of 8 candidates in three vacancy election
English Democrats – 5 candidates
Maxine Spencer, Dearne North, Barnsley 128 votes (8.3%) 3rd of 5
Janus Polenceusz, Dearne South, Barnsley 101 votes (5.5%) 4th of 5
Steve Morris, Besses, Bury 166 votes (5.3%) 10th of 11 in three vacancy election
David Black, Sinfin, Derby 56 votes (2.3%) 5th of 5
Robin Tilbrook, Chipping Ongar, Greensted & Marden Ash, Epping Forest 72 votes (7.5%) 4th of 5
English Constitution Party – 2 candidates
Colin Birch, Hylands & Harrow Lodge, London Borough of Havering 140 votes (4.5%)
Jane Birch, Hylands & Harrow Lodge, London Borough of Havering 125 votes
Reform UK – 123 candidates
Sam Wood, Lligwy, Anglesey 108 votes (3.5%) 7th of 7 in two vacancy election
Norma Saggers, Lee Chapel N, Basildon 157 votes (8.7%) 3rd of 3
Ian Bishop, Billesley, Birmingham 93 votes (2.2%) 9th of 9 in two vacancy election
Aimee Monson, Astley Bridge, Bolton 108 votes (3.1%) 5th of 5
Daniel Swarbrick, Bradshaw, Bolton 191 votes (5.8%) 4th of 4
Martin Mcloughlin, Breightmet, Bolton 228 votes (7.4%) 3rd of 4
Amy Hare, Bromley Cross, Bolton 183 votes (4.5%) 4th of 5
Gareth Fitzsimmons, Crompton, Bolton 198 votes (5.0%) 3rd of 4
Sharon Whitworth, Farnworth, Bolton 143 votes (4.9%) 4th of 5
Alex McAllister, Great Lever, Bolton 149 votes (5.2%) 3rd of 5
Norman Cryer, Halliwell, Bolton 156 votes (5.6%) 3rd of 5
Phillip Worthington, Harper Green, Bolton 180 votes (5.6%) 4th of 5
Gordon Campbell, Heaton & Lostock, Bolton 596 votes (13.9%) 3rd of 4
Loren Richards, Horwich & Blackrod, Bolton 46 votes (1.2%) 6th of 6
Darren Lear, Horwich NE, Bolton 40 votes (1.1%) 6th of 6
Robert Lowe, Hulton, Bolton 171 votes (5.3%) 5th of 5
Julie Pattison, Kearsley, Bolton 221 votes (7.6%) 5th of 6
Keith Harris, Little Lever & Darcy Lever, Bolton 485 votes (14.8%) 4th of 5
Christopher Riley, Rumworth, Bolton 62 votes (1.7%) 4th of 5
Helen Shaw, Smithills, Bolton 183 votes (4.8%) 4th of 5
Trevor Jones, Tonge with the Haulgh, Bolton 401 votes (13.9%) 3rd of 4
Jeff Armstrong, Westhoughton N & Chew Moor, Bolton 84 votes (2.2%) 5th of 5
Richard Bates, Westhoughton S, Bolton 97 votes (2.8%) 5th of 5
Robert Prince, Brentwood North, Brentwood 31 votes (1.9%) 5th of 5
Kevin Cadwallader, East, Bury 236 votes (7.6%) 8th of 9 in three vacancy election
Paul Allen, Norton Canes, Cannock Chase 87 votes (5.0%) 3rd of 3
Steven Thomas, College, Cheltenham 47 votes (2.4%) 8th of 8 in two vacancy election
Allan Griffiths, Furnace Green, Crawley 91 votes (5.2%) 4th of 4
David Surtees, Seaton, Cumberland 69 votes (4.1%) 5th of 5
Julie Paxton, Abbey, Derby 103 votes (3.5%) 5th of 5
David Adams, Allestree, Derby 139 votes (2.9%) 5th of 5
Alan Graves, Alvaston, Derby [defending councillor] 1,692 votes (54.9%) 1st of 4
Stephen Handley, Arboretum, Derby 128 votes (4.9%) 4th of 4
James Wise, Blagreaves, Derby 103 votes (2.8%) 4th of 4
Alan Lindsey, Boulton, Derby [new candidate defending seat] 1,176 votes (41.0%) 1st of 4
Alfred Saxby, Chaddesden, Derby 89 votes (3.0%) 4th of 5
George Warren, Chellaston, Derby 100 votes (2.6%) 5th of 5
Lucy Murphy, Darley, Derby 104 votes (2.7%) 5th of 5
Gouy de Muyncke, Derwent, Derby 62 votes (2.8%) 4th of 4
Carol Bradley, Littleover, Derby 55 votes (1.3%) 5th of 5
Nigel Caulton, Mackworth, Derby 97 votes (3.7%) 5th of 5
Steve Peach, Mickleover, Derby 85 votes (1.7%) 5th of 5
Anthony Blaney, Normanton, Derby 135 votes (4.8%) 3rd of 4
Helen Caulton, Oakwood, Derby 82 votes (2.6%) 5th of 5
Brenden May, Sinfin, Derby 96 votes (3.9%) 4th of 5
Stephen Fowke, Spondon, Derby 248 votes (7.5%) 5th of 5
Austin Ward, Brierley Hill, Dudley 89 votes (3.7%) 4th of 4
Clare Fawcett, Eastleigh C, Eastleigh 70 votes (3.1%) 6th of 6
Peter Bell, Chipping Ongar, Greensted and Marden Ash, Epping Forest 26 votes (2.7%) 5th of 5
Steve Richards, Fareham West, Fareham 44 votes (1.9%) 6th of 6
Dave Vernon, Connah’s Quay – Golftyn, Flintshire 52 votes (4.7%) 5th of 5 in two vacancy election
Aaron Pinder, Leesland & Newton, Gosport 93 votes (4.6%) 7th of 7 in two vacancy election
Steve Wright, Manor House, Hartlepool 131 votes (10.7%) 4th of 4
Steve Sandick, Rossmere, Hartlepool 43 votes (3.6%) 4th of 4
Glynis Jones, Seaton, Hartlepool 295 votes (17.4%) 3rd of 3
Sarah Smith, Godmanchester and Hemingford Abbots, Huntingdonshire 206 votes (7.1%) 7th of 7 in three vacancy election
Ian Robinson, Netherton, Hyndburn 88 votes (7.9%) 3rd of 3
Wayne Fitzharris, Overton, Hyndburn 178 votes (11.6%) 3rd of 3
Sarah-Kay Fitzharris, Peel, Hyndburn 45 votes (6.1%) 3rd of 3
Paul Hacker, Rishton, Hyndburn 81 votes (5.1%) 4th of 4
Paul Brown, St Oswald’s, Hyndburn 120 votes (5.8%) 6th of 7 in two vacancy election
Richard Oakley, St Oswald’s, Hyndburn 35 votes 7th of 7 in two vacancy election
Susan Laird, Holme Valley N, Kirklees 63 votes (1.2%) 6th of 6
Michael Pastor, Blackfen & Lamorbey, London Borough of Bexley 325 votes (7.4%) 8th of 8 in three vacancy ward
Marc Mason, Blendon & Penhill, London Borough of Bexley 262 votes (6.2%) 8th of 8 in three vacancy ward
Marian Newton, Falconwood & Welling, London Borough of Bexley 245 votes (5.7%) 8th of 8 in three vacancy ward
Linda Purcell, St Mary’s & St James, London Borough of Bexley 125 votes (4.1%) 6th of 7 in two vacancy election
Graham Reakes, Kelsey & Eden Park, London Borough of Bromley 105 votes (2.2%) 10th of 10 in three vacancy election
Edward Apostolides, Shortlands & Park Langley, London Borough of Bromley 156 votes (3.1%) 10th of 10 in three vacancy election
Victor Jackson, West Wickham, London Borough of Bromley 133 votes (2.6%) 11th of 11 in three vacancy election
David Schofield, Bush Hill Park, London Borough of Enfield 71 votes (1.6%) 11th of 11 in three vacancy election
Jeff Evans, Ridgeway, London Borough of Enfield 88 votes (1.8%) 11th of 11 in three vacancy election
Deborah Cairns, Whitewebbs, London Borough of Enfield 85 votes (1.7%) 11th of 12 in three vacancy election
Wendy Beaumont, Eltham Park & Progress, London Borough of Greenwich 98 votes (2.3%) 7th of 7 in two vacancy election
Tom Bright, Eltham Town & Avery Hill, London Borough of Greenwich 164 votes (3.5%) 10th of 10 in three vacancy election
Terry Wheeler, Greenwich Peninsula, London Borough of Greenwich 48 votes (2.3%) 13th of 13 in three vacancy election
Sharon Kent, Kidbrooke Park, London Borough of Greenwich 127 votes (4.9%) 7th of 7 in two vacancy election
Mark Simpson, Mottingham, Coldharbour & New Eltham, London Borough of Greenwich 149 votes (3.4%) 8th of 8 in three vacancy election
Ruth Handyside, Shooters Hill, London Borough of Greenwich 89 votes (2.8%) 7th of 7 in two vacancy election
Jimmy Wu, Woolwich Arsenal, London Borough of Greenwich 74 votes (2.4%) 10th of 10 in three vacancy election
Ian Price, Hatch End, London Borough of Harrow 208 votes (6.2%) 7th of 7 in two vacancy election
Zbigniew Kowalczyk, Pinner South, London Borough of Harrow 108 votes (1.8%) 9th of 9 in three vacancy election
Howard Koch, Stanmore, London Borough of Harrow 95 votes (2.4%) 11th of 11 in three vacancy election
Lynne Huxtable, Beam Park, London Borough of Havering 23 votes (2.0%) 8th of 8 in two vacancy election
David Small, Bunhill, London Borough of Islington 51 votes (2.1%) 13th of 14 in three vacancy election
Edward Cole, Clapham Common & Abbeville, London Borough of Lambeth 23 votes (0.8%) 9th of 9 in two vacancy election
Kay McKenzie, Custom House, London Borough of Newham 93 votes (3.2%) 14th of 14 in three vacancy election
Daniel Oxley, Royal Albert, London Borough of Newham 48 votes (3.3%) 9th of 9 in two vacancy election
David Sandground, Wall End, London Borough of Newham 103 votes (2.4%) 13th of 14 in three vacancy election
Alex Wilson, Bridge, London Borough of Redbridge 274 votes (6.8%) 9th of 10 in three vacancy election
Paul Randolfi, Dulwich Village, London Borough of Southwark 50 votes (1.1%) 9th of 9 in two vacancy election
John Cronin, Old Kent Road, London Borough of Southwark 121 votes (3.2%) 11th of 11 in three vacancy election
Matt Davis, Chingford Green, London Borough of Waltham Forest 150 votes (3.4%) 9th of 9 in three vacancy election
Robin Williams, Endlebury, London Borough of Waltham Forest 54 votes (1.9%) 7th of 7 in two vacancy election
Richard King, Larkswood, London Borough of Waltham Forest 70 votes (1.6%) 11th of 11 in three vacancy election
Nick Buckley, Deansgate, Manchester 30 votes (1.7%) 5th of 5
Gordon Fletcher, Valley, North Tyneside 110 votes (3.9%) 4th of 4
Robert Everall, Cayton, North Yorkshire 130 votes (11.0%) 4th of 4
Sue Morris, Park, Peterborough 116 votes (4.1%) 5th of 5
Tony Allen, Paston & Walton, Peterborough 142 votes (7.1%) 5th of 5
Frank Knight, Batchley & Brockhill, Redditch 103 votes (5.3%) 3rd of 4
Chris Scott, Horley C & S, Reigate & Banstead 181 votes (8.2%) 4th of 4
Joseph Fox, South Park & Woodhatch, Reigate & Banstead 90 votes (4.0%) 4th of 4
Phil Bourqui, Uppingham, Rutland 36 votes (2.9%)
Peter Durnell, Bristnall, Sandwell 150 votes (6.2%) 3rd of 4
Graham Nock, Charlemont with Grove Vale, Sandwell 53 votes (1.9%) 5th of 5
John Booker, West Ecclesfield, Sheffield 356 votes (8.4%) 4th of 5
Alan Grace, St Luke’s, Southend 45 votes (1.9%) 7th of 7
Amodio Amato, Woodfield, Stevenage 50 votes (3.5%) 4th of 4
Taff Davies, Cheadle Hulme South, Stockport 64 votes (1.5%) 5th of 5
Dottie Hopkins, Davenport & Cale Green, Stockport 108 votes (3.4%) 5th of 6
Lynn Schofield, Edgeley & Cheadle Heath, Stockport 60 votes (2.0%) 5th of 5
John Kelly, Offerton, Stockport 91 votes (2.7%) 5th of 5
Stephen Speakman, Stepping Hill, Stockport 46 votes (1.1%) 5th of 5
Barbara Mitchison, Denton NE, Tameside 100 votes (4.7%) 4th of 4
Mike Hancock, Cowbridge, Vale of Glamorgan 190 votes (5.7%) 9th of 9 in three vacancy election
David Dews, Wrenthorpe & Outwood W, Wakefield 160 votes (3.9%) 6th of 6
Elaine Williams, Birchills-Leamore, Walsall 156 votes (7.1%) 3rd of 3
Graham Eardley, Pelsall, Walsall 278 votes (10.4%) 3rd of 3
Neal Webber, Oxhey, Watford 37 votes (1.8%) 4th of 4
Max Windsor-Peplow, Bedwardine, Worcester 30 votes (1.1%) 6th of 7
Paul Hickling, St Peter’s Parish, Worcester 29 votes (1.4%) 5th of 5
Charles Dodman, Little Acton, Wrexham 12 votes (1.5%) 4th of 4
UKIP – 28 candidates
George Cowen, North Berwick Coastal, East Lothian 18 first prefs (0.3%) 8th of 8 in three vacancy election
Stuart Martin, Grangemouth, Falkirk 27 first prefs (0.5%) 8th of 8 in three vacancy election
Gerald Haddrell, Kirkcaldy N, Fife 45 first prefs (0.9%) 8th of 8 in three vacancy election
Christopher Ho, Greater Pollok, Glasgow 46 first prefs (0.5%) 11th of 11 in four vacancy election
Melanie Roberts, Colne Valley, Kirklees 106 votes (1.9%) 5th of 5
Kathleen Garner, South Croydon, London Borough of Croydon – 117 votes (2.5%) 13th of 13 in three vacancy election
Julie Carter, Ealing Common, London Borough of Ealing 101 votes (1.7%) 11th of 11 in three vacancy election
Nicholas Markwell, Greenford Broadway, London Borough of Ealing 158 votes (3.9%) 11th of 11 in three vacancy election
Geoff Courtenay, Colham & Cowley, London Borough of Hillingdon 199 votes (4.8%) 11th of 11 in three vacancy election
Daryl Gardner, Airdrie N, North Lanarkshire 25 first prefs (0.4%) 8th of 8 in four vacancy election
Neil Wilson, Motherwell SE & Ravenscraig, North Lanarkshire 40 first prefs (0.7%) 8th of 8 in four vacancy election
Jane McEachan, Battle Hill, North Tyneside 113 votes (4.4%) 4th of 4
Jack Thomson, Chirton, North Tyneside 89 votes (4.4%) 5th of 5
Pamela Hood, Cullercoats, North Tyneside 60 votes (1.6%) 4th of 5
William Jackson, Preston, North Tyneside 49 votes (1.6%) 5th of 5
Henry Marshall, Tynemouth, North Tyneside 69 votes (1.7%) 4th of 4
Lynda Davis, Almond & Earn, Perth & Kinross 50 first prefs (1.3%) 6th of 6 in three vacancy election
Michael Virgo, Stannington, Sheffield 122 votes (2.2%) 6th of 6
Peter Richardson, Somerton, Somerset 97 votes (2.6%) 6th of 6 in two vacancy election
Janice Mackay, Clydesdale S, South Lanarkshire 52 first prefs (1.0%) 8th of 8
David Mackay, East Kilbride Central S, South Lanarkshire 30 first prefs (0.6%) 9th of 9
Yvonne Mackay, East Kilbride W, South Lanarkshire 18 first prefs (0.3%) 8th of 8
Donald Mackay, Larkhall, South Lanarkshire 21 first prefs (0.3%) 9th of 9
Reg Coulson, Copt Hill, Sunderland – Mr Coulson died during the campaign so this election was countermanded
Alun Elder-Brown, Broadwater, Tunbridge Wells 18 votes (1.4%) 6th of 6
Victor Webb, Culverden, Tunbridge Wells 85 votes (3.5%) 4th of 4
Jordan Gaskell, Hindley, Wigan 231 votes (10.4%) 4th of 4
Philip Griffiths, Oxton, Wirral 38 votes (1.0%) 5th of 5
Heritage Party – 16 candidates
Glenn Beattie, Upper Bann constituency, Northern Ireland Assembly, 128 first prefs (0.2%) 12th of 12 in five vacancy STV election
Rob Gordon, Talybolion, Anglesey 48 votes (2.2%) 11th of 11 in three vacancy election
Andrew Ross, Craven, Bradford 60 votes (1.0%) 6th of 6
Ben Downton, St Mary’s, Castle Point 23 votes (1.2%) 4th of 4
Caroline Morra, Broadfield, Crawley 112 votes (6.0%) 4th of 4
William Dixon, Howgate, Cumberland 50 votes (3.4%) 4th of 5
Charlie Garrod, Walton South, Elmbridge 69 votes (2.3%) 4th of 4
Frances Crompton, Yateley West, Hart 52 votes (2.2%) 4th of 4
Zachary Stiling, Selsdon & Addington Village, London Borough of Croydon – 45 votes (1.3%) 9th of 9 in two vacancy election
Michelle Dray, Baldock Town, North Hertfordshire 32 votes (1.5%) 5th of 5
Bernard Toolan, Peverell, Plymouth 92 votes (2.0%) 5th of 5
Nick Smith, Cippenham Green, Slough 138 votes (7.9%) 3rd of 3
David Cox, Carterton NW, West Oxfordshire 39 votes (3.3%) 5th of 5
Judith Squire, Heathlands, Woking 58 votes (1.9%) 4th of 4
Richard Squire, Mount Hermon, Woking 53 votes (1.7%) 4th of 4
Tim Read, St John’s, Woking 87 votes (3.1%) 4th of 4
Alliance for Democracy and Freedom – 5 candidates
Sarah Packman, Bramley, Basingstoke & Deane 175 votes (7.2%) 3rd of 3
Marianne Fitzgerald, Binley & Willenhall, Coventry 113 votes (3.4%) 5th of 5
Sandra Sparrow, Stoke Park, Ipswich 31 votes (1.7%) 5th of 5
Phillip Moulson, South, NE Lincolnshire 102 votes (7.3%) 3rd of 4
Paul Goldring, Royton N, Oldham 79 votes (3.1%) 5th of 5
Independents
Gary Butler, Heath, Maidstone 49 votes (3.3%) 5th of 5
Melanie Butler, Shepway North, Maidstone 94 votes (5.8%) 5th of 5
further details to follow
Civic nationalism’s last stand fails in Bexley by-election
The United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) changed British politics under Nigel Farage’s leadership. Despite the British electoral system preventing Farage from ever winning a Westminster seat, electoral pressure from UKIP forced Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron to hold the 2016 Brexit referendum, and Farage’s campaign skills played a large part in the narrow victory for ‘Leave’ at that referendum.
Yet UKIP never built anything like a proper infrastructure of branches and activists. Its members (indeed almost all of its councillors) were a ragbag of contrarians and cranks, without a coherent ideology beyond Euroscepticism.
Eventually UKIP split in several directions: its most anti-immigration faction (containing a few good racial nationalists but unfortunately at leadership level obsessed by Islam) created the For Britain Movement, led by Anne-Marie Waters. Multiple other splinters ensued, and as in every party split the majority of members simply gave up.
The main successor party to UKIP was the Brexit Party, what remains of that becoming Reform UK, launched by Nigel Farage (who has since given up party politics in favour of broadcasting) and now led by Farage’s ally Richard Tice.
The leader himself was Reform UK’s candidate at a parliamentary by-election yesterday in Old Bexley & Sidcup, on the outer borders of South East London. Richard Tice and his party spent a fortune on their campaign, mobilising their entire London activist base.
Moreover they were up against a weak Tory candidate and a (temporarily at least) weakened Tory Prime Minister. The constituency was strongly pro-Brexit, and the election took place right at the moment when the government’s Covid strategy, until now seen by the vast majority of voters as broadly successful, seemed to be wobbling.
Yet Reform UK’s last stand fizzled out. At least they avoided the sort of joke vote that their handful of local candidates have polled. Tice saved his deposit and finished in third place: but it was a very distant third place indeed, 6.6% (1,432 votes). The seat stayed fairly safe for the Conservatives, though their majority over Labour was slashed from 18,952 to 4,478.
To put this in perspective, this constituency was never especially strong for the BNP even in that party’s glory days, but even the BNP – with a mere fraction of Tice’s financial resources – polled seven hundred votes more, though a lower percentage, 4.7% (2,132 votes) here at the 2010 general election.
Needless to say, Tice’s various rivals for the civic nationalist vote fared even worse yesterday: Elaine Cheeseman for the English Democrats polled 1.3% (271 votes); John Poynton for the rump UKIP 0.9% (184 votes); and the mixed-race. ex-UKIP, ex-GLA member David Kurten – leader of the Heritage Party – just 0.5% (116 votes).
Of the eleven by-election candidates, Kurten was the most outspokenly anti-vaccination, anti-lockdown, Covid-sceptic. His joke vote should be a sobering influence on those in the broader nationalist movement who believe that Covid conspiracy theories can be politically fruitful.
More seriously, Tice’s Reform UK campaign – despite spending a fortune for a pretty miserable return – just about avoided disaster and might keep his donors interested for a while longer. Racial nationalists have long known that the UKIP legacy would have to fade away before our own movement could have any realistic chance of renewing its electoral impact at the level of the 1990s and 2000s, let alone anything more ambitious than that.
Tice’s failure was a step in that direction, and we can safely predict an even worse result for the assorted candidates of civic nationalism in a fortnight’s time at the next parliamentary by-election in North Shropshire.
For us the message should be: get our own ideological and organisational house in order. We no longer have the excuse of an unbeatable civic nationalist obstacle on UK ballot papers – and there is no insuperable anti-White conspiracy. Both in electoral politics and in the broader cultural struggle, our future and the future of White Britons is in our own hands.
Two very different wings of the anti-Islam movement
This week saw bad results in court and at the ballot box for two very different wings of the anti-Islamist movement.
Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – better known under his alias ‘Tommy Robinson’ – is a chancer and petty criminal who has made a good living out of the anti-Islam movement (and an even better living from certain sections of international Zionism).
‘Tommy’ is regarded as the founder (and certainly the best known face) of the English Defence League (EDL) an avowedly ‘anti-racist’, fanatically pro-Israel, and militantly anti-Islam alliance of football hooligan gangs that briefly flourished a few years ago before breaking up into competing factions.
Since the EDL’s decline, ‘Tommy’ has fancied himself as a journalist but has continued to be mainly a self-publicist, and had a short disastrous venture into electoral politics when he contested the North West England region at the 2019 European Parliamentary elections, finishing eighth with just 2.2%.
Perhaps because of his public devotion to the Israeli cause, the mainstream media gave ‘Tommy’ soft treatment for many years, which perhaps encouraged this ageing adolescent thug (now 38) to believe he could get away with anything.
Despite his public poses, ‘Tommy’ doesn’t care a damn about the victims of (for example) ‘grooming gangs’: in order to win publicity for himself he risked derailing a trial of two such cases in Canterbury (2017) and Huddersfield (2018).
And now ‘Tommy’ has lost a libel case after he made a series of what turned out to be unsubtantiated allegations against a Syrian-born schoolboy. ‘Tommy’ has been ordered to pay £100,000 in damages and also faces a costs bill that could easily run to £500,000. Since he claims to be bankrupt (despite the vast sums he has milked from the movement), ‘Tommy’ hopes to tear up the bill and carry on regardless, but might face serious questions as to where all the donors’ money has gone.
Yesterday’s judgment ruthlessly punctures ‘Tommy”s journalistic pretensions:
“This judgment – but more importantly – the award of damages will mark clearly that the Defendant has failed to demonstrate the truth of his allegations. The Defendant took on the burden of proving his allegations to be true. He has failed. In reality, and for the reasons I have explained, his evidence fell woefully short.”
Though she has several times eagerly accepted endorsements from ‘Tommy’, and endorsed his campaigns in return, Anne Marie Waters is a very different character and the For Britain Movement she leads is very different from the EDL.
Though we might disagree with much of Ms Waters’ ideology and sometimes doubt her political choices, no one can doubt that she is a genuine, committed, and often courageous campaigner. After she broke away from UKIP to form the For Britain Movement, she bravely accepted numerous former BNP activists as members, candidates and party officials – notably the former BNP and English Democrat electoral strategist Eddy Butler, still best known for his ‘Rights for Whites’ campaigns that won the BNP their first councillor, Derek Beackon in the East End’s Isle of Dogs in 1993.
Mr Butler’s colleague – H&D subscriber and former BNP mayoral candidate Julian Leppert – is presently the only elected councillor for Ms Waters’ party, and one of very few racial nationalist councillors of any stripe anywhere in the UK in 2021 (though his party leader is very much not a racial nationalist!).
By coincidence, on the very same day that ‘Tommy Robinson’ lost his libel case, two For Britain candidates were heavily defeated in local council by-elections. Both candidates are longstanding racial nationalists of high calibre and both showed courage and commitment in putting themselves forward as candidates, at a time when our movement’s electoral fortunes are at a low ebb.
There was no reason to think that either of the wards was especially good territory for a pro-White campaign, and the nationwide political context remains one in which most racially conscious Whites tend to favour Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party, despite its recent loss of support among the socially liberal middle classes.
(Notably, the vast majority of potential voters for our types of candidate/party remain supportive of the government’s policies for dealing with the Covid pandemic: there is little or no electoral backing for the Covid-sceptic or anti-vaccination stances favoured by significant numbers of movement activists, but ignored or opposed by the vast majority of voters.)
So it was no surprise to see very modest votes for the two For Britain candidates: 26 votes (1.2%) for Gary Bergin in Liscard ward, Wirral; and 37 votes (1.6%) for Dave Haslett in Humberstone & Hamilton ward, Leicester.
Readers should note that in the Leicester ward a candidate for Reform UK (the renamed Brexit Party led by Nigel Farage’s close ally Richard Tice) also polled just 37 votes (1.6%).
There appears to be no magic recipe for electoral success within the space to the ‘right’ of the Conservative Party. Those who are looking towards some form of new racial nationalist alliance have serious thinking to do – at one time it seemed that civic nationalism with an anti-Islamist, pro-Zionist edge was the way forward, at least for those prepared to swallow their ideological objections in the interest of electoral ‘strategy’. That argument no longer holds water.
Civic nationalism crashes to defeat in Yorkshire by-election
Parts of the Batley & Spen constituency in West Yorkshire were among the strongest racial nationalist areas in Britain during the first decade of the 21st century. The BNP’s David Exley won the mainly White working-class Heckmondwike ward at a by-election in August 2003 – one of a series of BNP victories either side of the Pennines, triggered by the Oldham riots of May 2001. Cllr Exley retained his seat in 2004 and a second Heckmondwike councillor was gained in 2005. Even as late as 2010 when the local BNP fought its last campaign, they managed 17.6%.
Admittedly this is just one of the six wards that make up Batley & Spen, but the party also polled very well elsewhere in the constituency in the 2000s, including the Tory wards Liversedge & Gomersal and Birstall & Birkenshaw. Any parliamentary by-election in Batley & Spen should have been (and should still be) good news for any serious pro-White nationalist party.
Yet when such a by-election first occurred here, it was in dramatic circumstances that made racial nationalist campaigning appear distasteful. A week before the Brexit referendum in June 2016, Batley & Spen’s Labour MP Jo Cox was murdered by a deranged Heckmondwike resident who was quickly labelled a ‘far right terrorist’ by the media. Despite living in Heckmondwike, Thomas Mair had no connection whatever with the BNP and was totally unknown to any other British nationalists, apart from the eccentric Alan Harvey (a former NF member long resident in South Africa) to whose newsletter South African Patriot Mair subscribed.
The other mainstream parties gave Labour a clear run in the ensuing by-election held in October 2016 and Labour’s Tracy Brabin won a majority of more than 16,000, with the civic nationalist English Democrats in second place on 4.8% and a much-diminished BNP third on 2.7%.
Reaction to Jo Cox’s murder only briefly disguised an anti-Labour trend among White voters. As in neighbouring Dewsbury, many White voters have been repelled by what they see as an Asian takeover of the local Labour party and by policies of the Asian Labour-led Kirklees council. To some extent these voters (using Brexit as a proxy issue for unmentionable racial concerns) have drifted to the Tories in recent elections. Even though UKIP and the Brexit Party failed to make much progress here, a former UKIP activist formed a populist movement called the Heavy Woollen Independents (a reference to the former staple industry of this area) who polled 12.2% at the 2019 general election, leaving Labour even more dependent on the presumed loyalty of Asian voters, concentrated in the Batley part of the constituency.
So when Tracy Brabin won the inaugural mayoral election for West Yorkshire in May this year, causing a second Batley & Spen parliamentary by-election in five years, one can understand eyes lighting up across various populist and broadly nationalist movements. All the more so because of a mini-scandal that pushed Batley into nationwide headlines in March this year, when a teacher at Batley Grammar School was briefly suspended for showing his pupils a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed.
A crowded ballot paper of sixteen candidates for the by-election – held on July 1st – included several from the spectrum of pro-Brexit, populist, Islam-obsessed or broadly civic nationalism. Perhaps the best known to H&D readers were Anne-Marie Waters – the multiracialist but Islam-obsessed leader of the For Britain Movement, whose party includes several experienced racial nationalists even though its leader and her coterie are sincerely ‘anti-racist’; and Jayda Fransen, the anti-Islam campaigner and former deputy leader of Britain First who is nominal leader of Jim Dowson’s donation-hunting enterprise that calls itself the British Freedom Party (even though it isn’t and perhaps never will be a registered political party – so Ms Fransen had to stand as an Independent).
At the start of her campaign Ms Waters publicised an endorsement from ‘Tommy Robinson’, an ultra-Zionist career criminal who founded the English Defence League. Perhaps she hoped For Britain could become the political wing of the now defunct EDL – if so it was a foolish ambition.
The results declared early on the morning of July 2nd told their own story. Ms Waters finished twelfth of sixteen candidates with 97 votes (0.3%), while Ms Fransen was fifteenth with 50 votes (0.1%). This was little short of a disaster for civic, Islam-obsessed nationalism – especially since unlike Ms Fransen and her paymaster Dowson, Ms Waters and For Britain had attempted to fight a serious campaign, with seasoned political veterans including Eddy Butler and his wife Sue travelling from Essex, and former BNP activist Gary Bergin travelling from the Wirral.
Nor can they point to any other candidate from the same spectrum having cornered the White vote, as this entire spectrum polled poorly. The English Democrats (who at least had a relatively local candidate) fared best of a bad bunch with 207 votes (0.5%), followed by UKIP on 0.4%, the anti-lockdown Freedom Alliance on 0.3%, the SDP (once a centrist party but now pro-Brexit populists) on 0.1% a fraction ahead of Ms Fransen, and the ex-UKIP splinter Heritage Party (absolutely no connection to H&D!) polling even worse than Ms Fransen with a truly microscopic 0.05%.
Unlike the May local elections covered in Issue 102, one cannot explain these results in terms of a resurgent Tory Party taking the votes of pro-Brexit, racially conscious Whites. Contrary to expectations, the Tory vote actually fell here compared to 2019, and despite maverick charlatan George Galloway taking most of the Muslim vote, Labour managed to hold the seat, confounding pundits and bookmakers’ odds. The Tory campaign in the final few days was handicapped by the scandal that forced health minister Matt Hancock to resign last weekend, but almost every observer assumed this would merely reduce the size of an expected Tory victory.
I’m writing this article within hours of the result, so this is very much an instant analysis, but these are some of the lessons I think we can draw from what was surely the most significant by-election in years for our broadly-defined movement.
- Lunatic acts of political violence are a disaster for every wing of our movement, since even the most moderate civic nationalists are tarred by association in the minds of many potentially sympathetic voters. I’ve no doubt that many racially conscious folk cast their votes for Labour’s Kim Leadbeater because she is the sister of murdered MP Jo Cox.
- Outside Northern Ireland and some Scottish islands, very few Whites in the UK now define their politics in religious terms – and they regard those who do as a bit mad. No offence to those H&D readers who are religious believers and for whom this is the centre of their lives, but we should not fool ourselves about faith’s lack of electoral impact. Even racially conscious voters do not respond well to a campaign that is ‘over the top’ in shrill references to Islam. We can imply such things in sensibly worded racial nationalist leaflets, but hysterical ‘Islamophobia’ is not a vote-winner.
- George Galloway won most of the Muslim vote in Batley by campaigning on issues related to Palestine and Kashmir; but there is no equivalent bonus to be won among White voters by wrapping oneself in the Israeli flag. Aggressive Zionism is not a vote-winner among non-Jewish Britons, neither does it serve as an alibi for ‘racism’ as some former BNP veteran campaigners seem to believe.
- While Kim Leadbeater undoubtedly lost many Muslim votes because she is a lesbian (in addition to other factors depressing the Asian Labour vote), and Anne-Marie Waters perhaps lost a few socially conservative White voters for the same reason, homosexuality is no longer an issue for the vast majority of White voters, though the ‘trans’ nonsense is another matter.
- There continues to be no electoral benefit in campaigning against the government’s handling of the pandemic. Several parties focused on anti-lockdown policies all polled very poorly, especially the one for whom Covid-scepticism is its raison d’être, the Freedom Alliance whose candidate attracted only 100 votes (0.3%).
- Brexit’s electoral relevance is at last fading, and the Tory party’s hold over sections of the White working class is a lot weaker than many pundits have assumed. It’s Hartlepool (the ultra-Brexity constituency that fell to the Tories by a big majority two months ago) that’s the exceptional ‘outlier’; there are far more constituencies broadly similar to Batley & Spen, including neighbouring Dewsbury, presently held by the Tories.
- Kim Leadbeater won mainly due to White voters retaining (or returning to) traditional Labour loyalties. She lost most of the Muslim vote to George Galloway. In the probably unlikely event that Galloway can recruit high quality Muslim candidates to his new ‘Workers Party’, Labour might have difficulties in some other seats, but it’s more likely that they will just have problems turning out their Muslim voters after Keir Starmer’s shift of Labour policy away from hardline anti-Zionism. Most especially the modern left’s obsession with issues such as ‘trans rights’ will be a handicap in Muslim areas across Britain.
- The many and various consequences of multiracialism continue to provide rich electoral potential for racial nationalists, if and when we get our own act together. Many For Britain activists logically belong in the same party as British Democrats leader Dr Jim Lewthwaite and Patriotic Alternative leaders Mark Collett and Laura Towler, as well as many other movement activists and veterans of the old BNP who are (temporarily?) in political retirement.
All of these questions and more will be the background to a discussion of nationalist strategy post-Brexit and post-Covid. We look forward to hearing readers’ views in forthcoming editions of H&D.