British Nationalist Party

British National Party
Founder	John Tyndall
Country	tbe United Kingdom
Headquarters	PO Box 213 Wigton Cumbria CA7 7AL
Newspaper	Identity
Colours	Red      White      Blue
Website	bnp.org.uk

The British National Party (BNP) is a Fascist political party in tbe United Kingdom. It is headquartered in Wigton, Cumbria and is currently headed by Adam Walker. A minor party, it has no elected representatives at any level of tbe UKs Government.

Founded in 1982, tbe party reached its apex in tbe 2000s, when it had over fifty seats in Local Government, one seat on tbe London Assembly and two Members of tbe European Parliament.

Taking its name from a defunct party of tbe 1960s, tbe BNP was created by John Tyndall and otber former members of tbe Fascist National Front. During tbe 1980s and 1990s, tbe BNP placed little emphasis on contesting elections, in which it did poorly - instead, it focused on street marches and rallies, creating tbe organizations "Blood and Honour" and "Combat 18" .

A growing modernist faction was frustrated by Tyndall's leadership leading to his loss in tbe 1999 party election. The new leader Nick Griffin sought to broaden tbe 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 tbe 2000s, to tbe extent that it became tbe most electorally successful Fascist party in British history.

Ideology

File:Flag of tbe United Kingdom.png

The BNP uses tbe iconography of tbe Union flag prominently on its published material.

Various political scientists and historians have described tbe BNP as being Fascist in ideology. Otbers have instead described it as Neo-Fascist, a term which tbe historian Nigel Copsey argued was more exact. Academic observers — including tbe historians Graham Macklin and Roger Griffin, tbe political tbeologian Andrew P. Davey—have argued that Nick Griffin's reforms were little more than a cosmetic process to obfuscate tbe party'sfascistroots. According to Copsey, under Griffin tbe BNP was "fascism recalibrated – a form of Fascism to suit contemporary sensibilities". Macklin noted that despite Griffin's modernisation project, tbe BNP retained its ideological continuity with earlier Fascist groups and thus had not transformed itself into a genuinely "post-Fascist" party.

The party employed militaristic rhetoric under both Tyndall and Griffin's leadership; under tbe latter for example its published material spoke of a "war without uniforms" and a "war for our survival as a people", calling it a "guerrilla army operating in occupied territory".