Liberty GB
{{Short description|British far-right political party}}
{{Infobox political party
| name = Liberty Great Britain
| logo = Liberty GB.png
| colorcode =
| chairman = Paul Weston
| spokesperson =
| foundation = March 2013
| ideology = {{ubl|Hard Euroscepticism|Right-wing populism|National conservatism|Social conservatism}}
| headquarters = Regent Street, London
| international =
| website = {{URL|https://web.archive.org/web/20180212150025/https://www.libertygb.org.uk/|libertygb.org.uk}} (Archive)
| country = the United Kingdom
| deputy chairman =
| merged = For Britain
| position = Far-right{{cite web|url=http://tellmamauk.org/liberty-gb/|title=Liberty GB – An Insight into the 'Group'|website=TellMAMA|date=14 January 2014}}
- {{cite news|url=http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/12910415.Sydenham_and_Forest_Hill_hustings_cancelled_due_to_presence_of__far_right_wing__candidate/|first=Jamie|last=Micklethwaite|title=Sydenham and Forest Hill hustings cancelled after candidates allegedly refuse to appear at event with Liberty GB member George Whale|work=News Shopper|date=27 April 2015}}
- {{cite news |first=Lizzie |last=Dearden |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/former-ukip-candidate-and-pegida-uk-leader-paul-weston-says-muslims-should-not-hold-political-power-a6856086.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220614/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/former-ukip-candidate-and-pegida-uk-leader-paul-weston-says-muslims-should-not-hold-political-power-a6856086.html |archive-date=2022-06-14 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Former Ukip candidate and Pegida UK leader says 'Muslims should not hold political power' and claims Syrian refugees do not exist |work=The Independent |date=5 February 2016 }}
- {{cite news|first=Jess|last=Commons|url=http://www.thedebrief.co.uk/things-to-do/tv-and-film/why-you-need-to-watch-the-documentary-exploring-whether-britain-actually-is-racist-20151054648|title=Why You Need To Watch The Documentary Exploring If Britain Actually Is Racist|website=The Debrief|date=5 October 2015|access-date=21 February 2016|archive-date=3 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303105031/http://www.thedebrief.co.uk/things-to-do/tv-and-film/why-you-need-to-watch-the-documentary-exploring-whether-britain-actually-is-racist-20151054648|url-status=dead}}{{cite news|author=Mike Lockley|url=http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/radio-host-cleared-over-scumbag-7069475 |title=Radio host cleared over 'scumbag' tweet jibe to {{sic|Mus|ilm|nolink=y}} campaigner|work=Birmingham Mail|date=4 May 2014}}
| membership =
| youth_wing =
}}
Liberty Great Britain or Liberty GB was a minor far-right{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/dead-murdered-labour-mp-batley-and-spen-by-election-bnp-politician-jack-buckby-a7089966.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220614/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/dead-murdered-labour-mp-batley-and-spen-by-election-bnp-politician-jack-buckby-a7089966.html |archive-date=2022-06-14 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Jo Cox: Former BNP politician Jack Buckby to contest by-election for murdered MP's Batley and Spen seat|access-date=19 June 2016|author=Siobhan Fenton|work=The Independent}} British nationalist political party founded and led by Paul Weston that described itself as "counter-jihad".{{cite journal|date=4 September 2015|title=A Day in the "Swamp": Understanding Discourse in the Online Counter-Jihad Nebula|journal=Democracy and Security |volume=11 |issue=3 |pages=248–274|doi=10.1080/17419166.2015.1067612|last1=Lee|first1=Benjamin|s2cid=62841363 |url=https://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/id/eprint/78286/1/a_day_in_the_swamp_author_sub.pdf}} [http://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/78286/1/a_day_in_the_swamp_author_sub.pdf Open source version]
Liberty GB was anti-immigration, anti-Islamic and traditionalist.{{cite web|author=Sonia Gable|url=http://www.searchlightmagazine.com/blogs/searchlight-blog/liberty-it-isn%E2%80%99t|title=Liberty it isn't|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140503134607/http://www.searchlightmagazine.com/blogs/searchlight-blog/liberty-it-isn%E2%80%99t |archivedate=3 May 2014|work=Searchlight|date=12 March 2013}} The group's Facebook page described it as "patriotic counter-jihad party for Christian civilisation, Western rights and freedoms, British culture, animal welfare and capitalism".
History
= Foundation by Paul Weston =
Paul Weston, the founder, was a former member of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) and was that party's candidate in Cities of London and Westminster at the 2010 general election.{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/english-defence-league-prepares-to-storm-local-elections-6267740.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220614/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/english-defence-league-prepares-to-storm-local-elections-6267740.html |archive-date=2022-06-14 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|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 left UKIP over what he described as its failure to address issues related to Islam in Britain, and took over the British Freedom Party (BFP) from Peter Mullins. That party formed an alliance with the far-right English Defence League. Weston left the BFP in 2013. He has predicted that within 20 years there will be a war in Britain between the white working class and immigrants. He is married to a Romanian and claims to have been a deep sea diver, a pilot in Africa and a property developer in the Czech Republic.{{cite news|author=Martin Evans|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/10792895/Election-candidate-arrested-over-Churchill-speech.html|title=Election candidate arrested over Churchill speech|work=The Daily Telegraph|date=28 April 2014}}
It was registered with the Electoral Commission by Weston and George Whale on 5 March 2013.{{cite web|url=http://search.electoralcommission.org.uk/English/Registrations/PP2032|title=Liberty GB registration record|publisher=Electoral Commission}}
= 2014 European election =
Liberty GB stood three candidates in the 2014 European Parliament election in the South East England constituency: Weston, Enza Ferreri (Liberty GB's media officer) and Jack Buckby (Liberty GB's outreach officer).{{cite web|url=http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/2015guide/south-east-european-candidates-2014/|title=South East Euro Candidates 2014|website=UK Polling Report|access-date=2014-05-08|archive-date=2014-06-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140630234127/http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/2015guide/south-east-european-candidates-2014/|url-status=dead}} Buckby founded the "National Culturists" while at university in Liverpool in 2012.{{cite news|author=Matthew Francey |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/jack-buckby-is-proud-to-be-britains-next-nick-griffin/|title=Jack Buckby is proud to be Britain's next Nick Griffin|website=Vice|date=20 February 2013}} Its three candidates received 2,414 votes (0.11%), placing it 14th of the 15 parties contesting the election.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/eu-regions/E15000008|title=Vote 2014 – South East|work=BBC News|date=26 May 2014}}
= 2014 Paul Weston arrest =
On 26 April 2014, Weston was arrested while addressing passers-by outside Winchester Guildhall. A member of the public complained to police and he was detained after failing to move on under a dispersal order. He was further arrested on suspicion of religious or racial harassment.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-27186573|title=Euro candidate Paul Weston arrested over Islam remarks|work=BBC News|date=28 April 2014}} Weston's speech quoted from Winston Churchill's 1899 book, The River War, about Churchill's experiences as a British army officer in Sudan; the passage quoted was critical of Islam. Weston is a former UKIP candidate who left that party over what he described as its failure to address issues related to Islam in Britain, and then joined the British Freedom Party.
= 2014 Tim Burton radio host trial =
Tim Burton, a radio presenter who was a member of Liberty GB, was acquitted of charges of racially aggravated harassment on 4 May 2014 at Birmingham magistrates' court. He had tweeted comments about Fiyaz Mughal OBE, a Muslim campaigner of Tell MAMA UK.
= 2016 Batley and Spen by-election =
Following the killing of the incumbent Labour MP Jo Cox, Liberty GB contested the Batley and Spen by-election (the Conservative Party, Liberal Democrats, Green Party and UKIP declined to contest it). The party's candidate was Jack Buckby, who was a member of the youth division of the British National Party (BNP) under Nick Griffin before leaving the party. He says he left because he believed that the BNP was too racist.{{cite news|last1=Cowburn|first1=Ashley|title=Jo Cox: Liberty GB Move to Contest Labour MP's Former Seat Branded 'Obscene' and 'Contemptible'|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/jo-cox-death-labour-mp-seat-batley-and-spen-by-election-liberty-gb-bnp-jack-buckby-a7091141.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220614/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/jo-cox-death-labour-mp-seat-batley-and-spen-by-election-liberty-gb-bnp-jack-buckby-a7091141.html |archive-date=2022-06-14 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|website=www.independent.co.uk|access-date=21 June 2016|date=20 June 2016}} Buckby polled just over 1% of the vote; he lost his deposit, as did all the candidates except the winner, the Labour candidate Tracy Brabin.
= Dissolution by Paul Weston =
Paul Weston dissolved the party in November 2017, choosing instead to back Anne Marie Waters' new party, For Britain.{{cite web|url=https://libertygb.org.uk/news/important-announcement-paul-weston-concerning-future-liberty-gb|title=An Important Announcement from Paul Weston Concerning the Future of Liberty GB|publisher=Liberty GB|access-date=3 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171204061304/https://libertygb.org.uk/news/important-announcement-paul-weston-concerning-future-liberty-gb|archive-date=4 December 2017|url-status=dead}}
Electoral performance
= General election, 7 May 2015 =
{{Main|2015 United Kingdom general election}}
The party contested three constituencies, obtaining a total of 418 votes.
= 2016 Batley and Spen by-election =
{{Main|2016 Batley and Spen by-election}}
See also
References
{{reflist|30em}}
External links
- {{official website|http://libertygb.org.uk}}
{{English Defence League}}
{{UK far right}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:2013 establishments in England
Category:Political parties established in 2013
Category:Defunct far-right political parties in the United Kingdom
Category:Nationalist parties in the United Kingdom
Category:Eurosceptic parties in the United Kingdom
Category:UK Independence Party breakaway groups
Category:Anti-Islam sentiment in the United Kingdom