New Britain Party

It was led from its creation by Dennis Delderfield, a former Common Councilman of the City of London and editor of the City of London & Dockland Times.{{cn|date=November 2024}} In 1980, the party absorbed the anti-immigration United Country Party, which had been chaired by TV astronomer Patrick Moore.{{Cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/moore-joins-ranks-of-grumpy-old-men-with-claim-that-bbc-is-run-by-women-447926.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110806070614/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/moore-joins-ranks-of-grumpy-old-men-with-claim-that-bbc-is-run-by-women-447926.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=6 August 2011|title=Moore joins ranks of grumpy old men with claim that BBC 'is run by women'|last=Verkaik|first=Robert|date=8 May 2007|work=The Independent|access-date=12 February 2010}} Around this time it also absorbed a small anti-devolution group called the Keep Britain United Party. This party had contested a single seat (Carmarthen) in the 1979 general election.[http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/ge79/partycand.htm UK General Election, May 1979: Party Vote and Lost deposits]{{Cite web |url=http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/ge79/i05.htm |title=UK General Election results May 1979 |access-date=29 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303195051/http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/ge79/i05.htm |archive-date=3 March 2016 |url-status=dead }}

New Britain was described as an "avowedly racist party" by The Observer.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/may/21/foodanddrink.expertopinions|title=Far Right invades anti-Europe party|last=Rayner|first=Jay|date=21 May 2000|work=The Observer|access-date=12 February 2010}} It campaigned for the return of capital punishment, and was supported by the Christian Affirmation Campaign, a right-wing traditionalist movement{{Cite web|url=http://archive.catholicherald.co.uk/article/29th-november-1974/8/righties-unite|title = Catholic Herald - Archives}} opposed to what it saw as the World Council of Churches' support for Communist regimes in Africa. Delderfield signed a letter in 2000 that argued that "suburb after suburb and town after town across the land have been taken over by Asians, Africans and Afro-Caribbeans.... In the not too distant future they will have direct control in many areas."{{Cite news|url=http://www.whatnextjournal.co.uk/Pages/Back/Wnext29/Ukip.html|title=Brownshirts in Blazers? The Rise of UKIP|last=Sullivan|first=Martin|year=2004|work=What Next|access-date=12 February 2010}}

The party became active participants in by-elections, contesting those held in City of London and Westminster, Beaconsfield, Penrith and the Border and Bermondsey,{{Cite book|last=Tatchell|first=Peter|title=The battle for Bermondsey|publisher=Heretic Books|year=1983|isbn=0-946097-11-9}} as well as putting up two candidates in the general elections of 1979 and 1983. Its best performance was at the Bournemouth East by-election of November 1977, but the party's candidate in the Ilford North by-election of March 1978 was revealed to be a convicted child abuser after nominations had closed, and his endorsement was withdrawn.

In the 1994 European Parliament election, the last to be held under first-past-the-post, it achieved moderate success, saving its deposit in one seat and nearly doing so in another.

In the 2010 general election, former chairman Dennis Delderfield stood as an independent candidate in the Cities of London and Westminster Parliamentary constituency, from the contact address listed on the New Britain website.{{Cite web |url=http://www.westminster.gov.uk/workspace/assets/publications/CLW-SoPN-1271776318.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=9 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101202232403/http://westminster.gov.uk/workspace/assets/publications/CLW-SoPN-1271776318.pdf |archive-date=2 December 2010 |url-status=dead}}

Some former members later joined the United Kingdom Independence Party, including Mike Nattrass, later a Member of the European Parliament for UKIP, who stood as New Britain candidate in the Dudley West by-election of 1994, gaining 146 votes. His fellow UKIP MEP Jeffrey Titford was also a briefly a member after the Referendum Party folded.{{Cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/the-true-face-of-a-party-which-wants-us-out-of-europe-8004371.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220618/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/the-true-face-of-a-party-which-wants-us-out-of-europe-8004371.html |archive-date=18 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=The true face of a party which wants us out of Europe (Or 10 things the UKIP don't want you to know about them)|date=3 August 2012|work=The Independent|access-date=16 October 2015}}{{Cite book|last=Daniel|first=Mark|title=Cranks and gadflies: the story of UKIP|publisher=Timewell Press|year=2005|isbn=1-85725-209-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=My7bPb1XnVIC&pg=PA45}} Another UKIP candidate, Brian Smalley, joined in 1994 and was a member of the national committee.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}}

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Category:1976 establishments in the United Kingdom