The British National Party

          A.K.A The BNP; The British Nationals

  The British National Party was founded in 1982 by John Tyndall in a merger between a number of far-right political organisations. Criticised by many as being racist and even fascist, membership of the BNP was restricted to 'indigenous British' people until 2010. 

  BNP economic policy is very protectionist, calling for British ownership of British industry and tariffs restricting foreign imports. It promotes autarky in terms of food production and is anti-globalist, calling for higher corporation tax for multinationals and spending cuts for foreign aid. It does not, however, espouse corporatism, a favoured policy of most nationalist parties.

  BNP social policy is highly conservative, indeed in many cases openly oppressive. Although no longer an officially white supremacist party, the BNP is still highly racist and opposes equal rights for non-white, foreign-born or non-Christian citizens. The party is strongly opposed to both abortion and homosexuality, calling the latter 'unnatural', and opposes both same-sex and interracial marriages. The party supports the institutions of the monarchy, the House of Lords, the nuclear family and traditional gender roles - i.e. women as housewives. The BNP sees Christianity as 'the benchmark for decent civilised society' and is opposed to Judaism, Sikhism, Hinduism and - most especially - Islam. Its anti-Semitism has grown less pronounced in recent years, and it now supports Israel's existence. BNP criminal justice policy is very harsh, advocating the return of the death penalty and the establishment of a penal colony on South Georgia. The party also wishes to withdraw from the ECHR and scrap the Human Rights Act. They support the criminalisation of drugs.

  The BNP wishes to restrict NHS use to British nationals only and to do the same to education. The party supports strict educational discipline, including the return of corporal punishment and Christian indoctrination in schools, and a centrally controlled National Curriculum. It also wishes to reform the social security system so as to prevent welfare dependency and restrict social housing to British citizens.

  BNP foreign policy is built around serving the UK's interests. They desire a federal union with the Republic of Ireland but to withdraw from the EU. The party instead advocates stronger ties with the Commonwealth in order to maintain the balance of trade payments. The BNP would cut all foreign aid. They want to reintroduce conscription, mandate the keeping of a gun and ammunition for all adult men and maintain the nuclear deterrent, though are non-interventionist in their military policy.

  The BNP do not believe climate change is occurring and oppose all moves towards renewable energy on the grounds of cost. They are, however, not in favour of fracking which they regard as potentially unsafe.

  The party leader is Nick Griffin. Other notable BNP members include ethnically Jewish 2010 election candidate Patricia Richardson. The party won 1.9% of the vote but none of the seats in the House of Commons at the last General Election and has around 4,900 members.

WEBSITE: http://www.bnp.org.uk/