British National Party

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

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

In the 2001 General Election no candidate was elected as an MP in the House of Commons, though in the same year due to widespread "race riots" in the north of England their local election results improved markedly. In the May council elections three BNP candidates were elected to Burnley council, to the dismay of many.

The BNP is by most commentators considered to be a far-right Nationalist or neo-Nazi party, although its presentation has attempted to become more mainstream since Nick Griffin took over as National Chairman. However, the BNP is believed to retain it's links to openly pro-violent neo-Nazi organisations such as Combat 18.

The party has often been acused of exploiting and inflaming racial tensions for its own benefit in a number of areas.

See also: fascism, nationalism, democracy

External links:

• BNP homepage
• BNP: A Party on the fringe (source: The BBC)
• Miscellaneous British Fascist and anti-Fascist material (source: British Workers' Movement)