Nationalist Alliance
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Nationalist Alliance | |
|---|---|
| Leader | Catherine Parker-Brown |
| Founded | 2005 |
| Dissolved | 2008 |
| Headquarters | England, United Kingdom |
| Ideology | Far-right |
The Nationalist Alliance was a far-right movement in British politics that aimed to serve as an umbrella group for the various white supremacist groups in Britain. The party was registered with the Electoral Commission in 2005, although its registration has since lapsed.[1]
Founded in 2004 by majority-BNP members,[2]: 104 the NA sought to build a closer alliance with other groups on the far right that were not affiliated with and worked outside of the British National Party. One such alliance was a potential merge with the Freedom Party, though this did not come to pass, as Adrian Davies, chairman of the party, felt reluctant to join with some of the more extremist elements of the NA.[3]
Seeking to further ties with other far-right activists, the party held a meeting attended by members of the White Nationalist Party and the National Front at Rawdon Conservative Club in September 2005 as a memorial to John Tyndall, British fascist political activist and previous chairman of the National Front.[4] The event featured an address by a number of notable far-right nationalists, such as Richard Edmonds, member of the BNP, Eddy Morrison, NA party leader and ex-leader of the White Nationalist Party, and John Wood, former senior member of the WNP.[5] Towards the end of the meeting, the club had some of its windows smashed by unknown assailants; the club secretary later stated that the event had been booked under a false address with the booking secretary, and that he had been unaware of the nature of the group before the event took place.[4]
Split
The meeting held at Rawdon brought media attention upon both the NA and the far-right activists affiliated with the event, and leading to its eventual split. A photograph of some of the members inside the meeting appeared in an edition of Searchlight magazine, leading to accusations made amongst the activists as to where and from whom the image had come from.
Along with the failure of the Freedom Party initiative[clarification needed] and the rise of ideological clashes within the party, the NA split in September of 2005, with Morrison, Wood and Watmough breaking off to form the British Peoples Party.[6]
The split led to recriminations across the far-right movement, Morrison himself being verbally attacked by Martin Webster - former far-right leader and political activist - on Webster's online bulletin, Webster having accused Morrison of simply using the NA as a way to collect money from its members, a charge Morrison denied.[7]