Replace category. Categories aren't about currency (else Leader of BNF has to go too). |
Nonsense, there are categories for 'Former Muslims' (etc.). It is in obvious breach of WP:BLP to list someone as 'a Neo-Nazi' if there are not [WP:RS]] showing that they ARE one |
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[[Category:Members of the European Parliament for English constituencies]] |
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Revision as of 16:52, 22 March 2010
Andrew Brons | |
---|---|
Member of the European Parliament for Yorkshire and the Humber | |
Assumed office 14 July 2009 | |
Preceded by | Richard Corbett |
Chairman of the British National Front | |
In office 1980–1984 | |
Preceded by | John Tyndall |
Succeeded by | Martin Wingfield |
Personal details | |
Born | Hackney, London | 3 June 1947
Nationality | British |
Political party | British National Party |
Residence(s) | Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England.[1] |
Occupation | Retired further education lecturer[1] |
Andrew Henry William Brons (born 3 June 1947, London) is a British politician. Long active in far right politics in Britain, he was elected as a Member of the European Parliament for Yorkshire and the Humber for the British National Party at the 2009 European Parliament election. He was previously the leader of the National Front during the 1980s.
Family background and early activity
Brons is of German and British ancestry. His great-grandfather emigrated to London's East End from Germany in the 1890s.[2]
Brons was born in Hackney, East London, spending his early childhood in Sidcup, on the outskirts of London, before his family moved to Harrogate when he was 11. He attended at Harrogate Grammar School until the age of 16, when he left to join the civil service, where he remained for 16 months before following part-time A Levels in law and economics at Harrogate College. He studied politics at the University of York, graduating in 1970.[3]
Andrew Brons began his political career at seventeen, when in 1964 he joined the National Socialist Movement,[4] a Neo-Nazi organisation founded on Adolf Hitler's birthday by Colin Jordan. Searchlight in 1980 published two letters Brons had written in 1965 to Colin Jordan's wife, in which he firstly reported meeting an NSM member who "mentioned such activities as bombing synagogues", stating in response to this that: "On this subject I have a dual view, in that I realise that he is well intentioned, I feel that our public image may suffer considerable damage as a result of these activities. I am however open to correction on this point."[5][6]; the second letter requested materials such as a swastika, a copy of Horst-Wessel-Lied, and posters and stickers in furtherance of Brons' goal of forming a local NSM group.[7] Questioned about his membership of the NSM in 2009, Brons said "People do silly things when they are 17. Peter Mandelson was once a member of the Young Communist League but we don't continue to call him a communist."[8]
In 1965, Brons joined John Bean's British National Party (not the same as the current incarnation), which later merged with the League of Empire Loyalists to form the National Front (NF) in 1967.[9] Brons was voted onto the National Front's national directorate in 1974, and "as the NF's education officer, he hosted seminars on racial nationalism and tried to give its racism a more 'scientific' basis."[10]
After graduation, Brons started work as a lecturer at Harrogate College in 1970, continuing to work there until 2005, lecturing in A Level Law and Government and Politics.[11] He has two daughters.[3]
Brons contested Harrogate for the National Front in both 1974 general elections, polling 1,186 votes (2.3%) in February and 1,030 (2.3%) in October. As NF candidate in the Birmingham Stechford by-election of 31 March 1977[12] he polled 2955 votes (8.2%), forcing the Liberal candidate into fourth place, and helping his stature to grow within the NF.
National Front leadership
Following the poor showing by the National Front in the 1979 general election, and John Tyndall's subsequent departure, Brons became chair of the NF in 1979[10] and in doing so broke with his former mentor. Brons, though, led the NF in name only. Initially Martin Webster, who became National Activities Organiser, exerted the most influence before the Political Soldier wing of the party became more important. Brons tended to support the Flag Group although he lost influence to Ian Anderson and faded from his leading position. Nevertheless, Brons had links to the Political Soldier wing and is credited with having introduced the concept of distributism into the party, which formed a central part of the new ideology of the NF.[13] Brons co-edited the NF journal New Nation, with Richard Verrall, the author of a work of holocaust denial, Did Six Million Really Die?[10]
Brons edited the National Front's June 1983 general election manifesto, which "called for a global apartheid to prevent the 'extinction' of whites everywhere."[14] The manifesto declared that "The National Front rejects the whole concept of multiracialism. We recognise inherent racial differences in Man. The races of Man are profoundly unequal in their characteristics, potential and abilities."[14]
On at least two occasions in the early 1980s Brons' far-right activities caused difficulties for his employer: in 1981, more than 300 student and Anti-Nazi League campaigners marched through Harrogate, taking over the college building where Brons was teaching.[15] In 1982, a protest led by the Anti-Nazi League clashed with National Front supporters outside Brons' classroom in central Harrogate, and two students were stabbed and six people arrested.[16]
Subsequently in October 1983, Brons called upon the Principal of Harrogate College as a character witness,[11] when Brons was convicted by magistrates of using insulting words and behaviour likely to cause a breach of the peace and fined £50.[17] The incident in question involved Brons leading a march through Leeds city centre with a group of NF supporters who were handing out leaflets and chanting slogans including "white power" and "death to Jews".[18] When a police officer of Malaysian origin asked the group to disperse, Brons is alleged to have replied: "I am aware of my legal rights. Inferior beings like you probably do not appreciate the principle of free speech."[19] An allegation which Brons has always denied.[20] His appeal to Leeds Crown Court was unsuccessful.[18]
Although Brons continued as a leading member and even wrote a number of articles for the Political Soldier-supporting Nationalism Today, he was generally opposed to the positions of the Official National Front and resigned from the leadership in November 1984.[21][22] He resigned from the party altogether in 1986, along with Martin Webster and others but, unlike Webster, became involved in the Flag Group.[23] It was Brons who, in 1986, approached Tyndall with a view to a reconciliation between the Flag Group and the modern British National Party but the proposed deal came to nothing after it was repudiated by Martin Wingfield in The Flag newspaper.[24]
Retirement from teaching and subsequent British National Party career
After leaving the National Front in 1986, Brons dedicated himself to his lecturing position at Harrogate College, which he continued in until his retirement in 2005.[18] Upon retirement Brons joined the BNP in 2005/2006.[25][8] He subsequently wrote at least two articles for the BNP's official magazine Identity.[26]
Brons had a "tentative agreement" to return to work at Harrogate College in September 2009;[11] he had however been selected as BNP candidate for the European Elections 2009 in the Yorkshire and the Humber constituency,[25] and upon becoming the BNP's first ever MEP (a distinction he holds jointly with BNP chairman Nick Griffin) he declined the offer.
Elections contested
National
Election | Constituency | Party | Votes | % |
---|---|---|---|---|
Feb 1974 general election | Harrogate | NF | 1,186 | 2.3 |
Oct 1974 general election | Harrogate | NF | 1,030 | 2.3 |
1977 by-election | Birmingham Stechford | NF | 2,995 | 8.2 |
1979 general election | Bradford North | NF | 614 | 1.3 |
1983 general election | Leeds East | NF | 475 | 1.1 |
European Parliament
Year | Region | Party | Votes | % | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2009 | Yorkshire and the Humber | BNP | 120,139 | 9.8 | Elected |
See also
- British National Party
- British National Party (1960)
- British National Front
- National Socialist Movement
References
- ^ a b Daily Telegraph, 9 June 2009, European elections 2009: BNP Andrew Brons profile
- ^ Tozer, James. "Just how British are you, Mr Brons? BNP's second new MEP has family roots in Germany". Daily Mail. Retrieved 2009-08-18.
- ^ a b http://andrewbrons.eu/biography/
- ^ Lazenby, Peter (June 8, 2009). "BNP wins Yorkshire Euro seat". Yorkshire Post. Retrieved 2009-06-08.
- ^ http://www.searchlightmagazine.com/index.php?link=template&story=301
- ^ Duncan Campbell, "Andrew Brons: the genteel face of neo-fascism", The Guardian, 8 June 2009
- ^ Britten, Nick (2009-06-09). "European elections 2009: BNP Andrew Brons profile". Telegraph. Retrieved 2009-08-17.
- ^ a b Jerome Taylor, "Andrew Brons: The quiet academic with a 'silly' teenage Nazi past", The Independent, 9 June 2009. Retrieved 9 June 2009.
- ^ S. Taylor, The National Front in English Politics, London: Macmillan, 1982, p. 62.
- ^ a b c Duncan Campbell, 'Andrew Brons, the genteel face of neo-fascism', The Guardian 8 June 2009
- ^ a b c Fiona Hamilton, "Anti-BNP movement split over tactics after Nick Griffin egg protest", The Times 13 June 2009
- ^ "Profile on NF website". Natfront.com. Retrieved 2009-06-08.
- ^ N. Copsey, Contemporary British Fascism: The British National Party and the Quest for Legitimacy, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004, p.33
- ^ a b Jamie Doward, "Racist rants of elected BNP man, Andrew Brons, revealed", The Observer, 14 June 2009
- ^ http://www.searchlightmagazine.com/index.php?link=template&story=299
- ^ "EXPOSED: BNP man's past - Harrogate Today". Harrogateadvertiser.net. Retrieved 2009-08-17.
- ^ Duncan Campbell, "The genteel face of British neo-fascism", The Guardian, page 7, 9 June 2009
- ^ a b c Smithard, Tom (June 03, 2009). "Controversy over abuse conviction of BNP candidate". Yorkshire Post. Retrieved 2009-06-08.
{{cite news}}
: Check date values in:|date=
(help) - ^ Private Eye #1238, 12 June 2009
- ^ Andrew Brons denies making racist comment. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8JOtFuyIiw
- ^ N. Copsey, Contemporary British Fascism: The British National Party and the Quest for Legitimacy, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004, p. 35
- ^ http://www.searchlightmagazine.com/index.php?link=template&story=298
- ^ N. Copsey, Contemporary British Fascism: The British National Party and the Quest for Legitimacy, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004, p37
- ^ N. Copsey, Contemporary British Fascism: The British National Party and the Quest for Legitimacy, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004, pp36-8
- ^ a b "Andrew Brons". British National Party. March 4, 2009. Retrieved 2009-06-08.
- ^ See, for example, "Something New to Worry Liberals", Identity, November 2007 and "The Elusive Causes of Gun & Knife Crime", Identity, October 2008