Kenny Smith (activist)
Scottish far-right activist (born 1972/73)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kenneth Smith (born 1971 or 1972) is a Scottish far-right activist who held senior roles in the fascist British National Party (BNP) and neo-Nazi Patriotic Alternative (PA), before founding the white-nationalist Homeland Party in 2023 after splitting-off from PA.[3]
1971 or 1972 (age 53–54)[1]
affiliations
- Patriotic Alternative (2019–2023)
- British National Party (1991–2007)
Kenny Smith | |
|---|---|
Smith in 2023 | |
| Chairman of the Homeland Party | |
| Assumed office May 2023 | |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Kenneth Smith 1971 or 1972 (age 53–54)[1] Isle of Lewis, Scotland |
| Party | Homeland (since 2023) |
Other political affiliations |
|
Domestic partner | Claire Ellis[2] |
He has worked as a part-time sports coach and in the tourism industry in the Isle of Skye.
Politics and views
Smith became active in politics when he went to a British National Party meeting in Glasgow in 1991.[4] During his membership of the BNP, he ran as a political candidate,[5][6] winning 135 votes (0.9% of the 15,496 votes) in the Springburn district in the 2007 Glasgow City Council election.[7] He distributed British National Party flyers at an anti-abortion event led by Ian Paisley of the Democratic Unionist Party in Stornoway in 1998.[4] Smith became the head of administration for the BNP.[8]
In 2008, Smith was one of several people sued by British National Party (BNP) leader Nick Griffin after Smith was ejected by the BNP and started the enoughisenoughnick blog.[9] Other defendants included his now ex-wife Nicholla Smith.[9] Until then Nicholla was the BNP organiser for Falkirk and Kenny was the Scottish regional organiser and head of administration.[9]
After being ejected from the British National Party,[9] Smith joined the Patriotic Alternative and became the group's Scottish organiser during the late 2010s.[10] In April 2023, Smith disagreed with the leadership of Patriotic Alternative, left the organisation, and founded the Homeland Party.[11][12]
Smith runs Claymore Books, which has been described by Patriotic Alternative as a "publishing house run by nationalists for the nationalist community".[13]
Smith founded Patriotic Alternative's fascist fitness club with Kristofer Kearney,[14][15] and has appeared on Kearney and Ashley Podsiad-Sharp's The Absolute State of Britain (TASOB) podcast, founded by Sharp, which "has consistently featured explicit racism, misogyny, anti-Semitism, Holocaust denial, veneration of Hitler, and apologism for Nazi atrocities and right-wing terrorism."[16] Both Kearney and Podsiad-Sharp have been convicted and sentenced to prison for possessing and disseminating terrorist material.[17][18]
Career and personal life
Smith is from the Isle of Lewis in Scotland[19] and was born in 1972 or 1973.[4]
He has worked as a part-time children's sport coach and the manager of tourist accommodation on the Isle of Skye.[4]
In 2022, he pled guilty at the Portree Sheriff Court to breaches of the Firearms Act 1968 and received an admonition.[20] Smith lives in Broadford, Skye.[20]
Smith is engaged to Claire Ellis, a native of Slough who was an organiser for Patriotic Alternative's southwest branch while she was in Devon.[21] In May 2022, Ellis said she would move to Scotland so she could "start a new life" with Smith.[21] They were engaged at a Patriotic Alternative conference in Scotland later that year.[21] According to The Herald, Ellis and far-right streamer Jody Swingler are founders of a Skye-based soap company, Clean & Pure, with white nationalist links.[21][13]
