British Freedom Party

The BFP was registered on 18 October 2010 by Paul Weston (party leader), George Whale (nominating officer) and Richard Bateman (treasurer). According to The Guardian it was created by "disgruntled members" of the British National Party (BNP).{{cite news|last=Trilling|first=Daniel|title=10 myths of the UK's far right|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2012/sep/12/myths-uk-far-right-politics|access-date=1 October 2012|newspaper=The Guardian|date=12 September 2012}} The chairman until January 2013 was Paul Weston, a former UK Independence Party candidate in Cities of London and Westminster.{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/english-defence-league-prepares-to-storm-local-elections-6267740.html|newspaper=The Independent|title=English Defence League prepares to storm local elections|author=Kevin Rawlinson|date=25 November 2011|access-date=13 December 2011}} He described the party as "central" in orientation.{{cite episode|series=The Arena|airdate=8 December 2011|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nkPuNop-fA|title=Michael Coren interviews Paul Weston}}

The BFP formed a pact with the English Defence League (EDL), whereby members of the latter could stand as election candidates under the British Freedom Party name, given suitable circumstances. It was announced in April 2012 that the EDL leader, Tommy Robinson, would be named deputy party leader. According to The Guardian he would focus on anti-Islamic strategies. Weston was replaced in early January 2013 by Kevin Carroll, former deputy leader of the EDL.{{cite web |url=http://britishfreedom.org/kev-carroll-becomes-british-freedom-chairman/ |title=Kev Carroll Becomes British Freedom Chairman|publisher=British Freedom |access-date=2013-01-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130106090431/http://britishfreedom.org/kev-carroll-becomes-british-freedom-chairman/ |archive-date=2013-01-06 }} Weston went on to found Liberty GBMartin Evans, [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/10792895/Election-candidate-arrested-over-Churchill-speech.html "Election candidate arrested over Churchill speech"], The Telegraph, 28 April 2014 which put forward three candidates, including Weston, for the 2014 European election.[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-27186573 "Euro candidate Paul Weston arrested over Islam remarks"], BBC News, 28 April 2014

The stated objectives of the British Freedom Party were "to defend and restore the freedoms, traditions, unity, identity, democracy and independence of the British people, to establish full sovereignty over all our national affairs by restoring the supremacy of the British Parliament, to withdraw from the European Union, to promote democratic British nationalist principles, to promote the social, economic, environmental and cultural interests of the British people and to preserve and promote the ancestral rights and liberties of the British people as defined in the British Constitution."{{cite web|url=http://britishfreedom.org/about/mission-statement/ |publisher=British Freedom Party |title=British Freedom Party Mission Statement |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130115122735/http://britishfreedom.org/about/mission-statement/ |archive-date=January 15, 2013|via=Wayback Machine |accessdate=2 May 2014}}

The party also had a 20 Point Plan{{cite web|publisher=British Freedom|url=http://britishfreedom.org/about/20-point-plan/|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130115122948/http://britishfreedom.org/about/20-point-plan/ |title=20 Point Plan|via=Wayback Machine |archivedate=15 January 2013|accessdate=2 May 2014}} on its main website, highlighting some of its key policies. They ranged from economic issues to social ones.

The British Freedom Party espoused what it called "cultural nationalism".{{cite web |publisher=British Freedom Party |url=http://britishfreedom.org/tag/civic-nationalism/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101103062530/http://britishfreedom.org/tag/civic-nationalism/ |title=What is British Cultural Nationalism? |archive-date=3 November 2010 |access-date=2 May 2014}} Weston said in an interview that the founders of the British Freedom Party "believed that culture, not color, was the important thing in Britain especially multi-cultural Britain. We can have one culture and it's not important about what color or race you come from".{{cite web|first=Jerry |last=Gordon |url=http://www.newenglishreview.org/custpage.cfm/frm/108985/sec_id/108985 |title=A Future for Britain Free from Islamization: An Interview with British Freedom Party Chairman, Paul Weston|work=New English Review|date=March 2012}}{{primary inline|date=February 2024}}

Stephen Tweed, the BFP's local party organiser for Kings Lynn and West Norfolk,{{cite web|title=Free Speech Banned on YouTube |url=http://britishfreedom.org/tag/stephen-tweed/ |publisher=British Freedom Party |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120922115140/http://britishfreedom.org/tag/stephen-tweed/ |archive-date=22 September 2012|accessdate=2 May 2014}} objected in April 2012 to the creation of an Islamic centre in an old pub in King's Lynn, because it would be "exclusive, it will not be for the general public, it will be for Muslims only".{{cite news|title=Racist messages about King's Lynn Islamic centre taken off website|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-17853780|access-date=2 October 2012|newspaper=BBC News Norfolk|date=26 April 2012}}

According to the party's official return to the Electoral Commission, at the end of 2010 the party had 62 members. The report continues "Our membership to date is approximately 149", but no date is provided.British Freedom Party Statement of Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2010, page 3 (Available from [https://pefonline.electoralcommission.org.uk/Search/SOASearch.aspx Electoral Commission searchable database])''

In the 2012 local elections the British Freedom Party fielded six candidates, five of them in Liverpool. All polled very low, ranging from 0.6% of the vote to 4.2%. In Fazakerley, Peter Stafford received 50 votes, a 1.51% share of the total in that ward.{{cite web|url=http://councillors.liverpool.gov.uk/mgElectionElectionAreaResults.aspx?EID=19&RPID=4950592|title=Election results by wards, 3 May 2012 |date=3 October 2022 |publisher=Liverpool City Council}}
- {{cite web|url=http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-communities/childwall-netherley-echo/childwall-netherley-news/2012/05/05/liverpool-council-election-results-2012-100252-30905426/|title=Liverpool Council election results 2012|date=4 May 2012|work=Liverpool Echo}}

The party stood Kevin Carroll, the deputy leader of the EDL, in the November 2012 Police and Crime Commissioner election in Bedfordshire.{{cite web|url=http://www.police-foundation.org.uk/uploads/holding/projects/pcc_candidates_update.pdf |title=Police and Crime Commissioners: Who's running?|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120813021609/http://www.police-foundation.org.uk/uploads/holding/projects/pcc_candidates_update.pdf |archivedate=13 August 2012|publisher=The Police Foundation|date=31 October 2012|accessdate=31 July 2012}} He came fourth with 8,675 votes (10.6%),[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-20347794 "Bedfordshire Tories criticise Nadine Dorries MP as Labour wins"], BBC NEWS Beds, Herts & Bucks, 16 November 2012 saving his deposit.{{citation needed|date=November 2012}}

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{{English Defence League}}

{{UK far right}}

Category:2010 establishments in the United Kingdom

Category:2013 disestablishments in the United Kingdom

Category:Anti-Islam sentiment in the United Kingdom

Category:British National Party breakaway groups

Category:Defunct political parties in England

Category:English Defence League

Category:Eurosceptic parties in the United Kingdom

Category:Defunct far-right political parties in the United Kingdom

Category:Nationalist parties in the United Kingdom

Category:Political parties disestablished in 2013

Category:Political parties established in 2010