Mark Cotterill
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Mark Cotterill is the founder and former chairman of the England First Party, a minor political party operating in Lancashire, England. A prior supporter of the British National Party, Cotterill had formed and ran the far right American Friends of the British National Party aka "AF(O)BNP" when he lived just outside Washington DC.
As well as previously supporting the BNP, whilst living in America he campaigned for David Duke in his bid to be elected to the United States Congress in 1999 as well as having worked for Pat Buchanan's bid to be elected President of the United States in 2000.
Previously a member of the National Front, Cotterill's activities for the party in the early 1990s in Torquay had attracted early media attention:
| “ | We board at 1am at Dover, after several hours drinking. Mark Cotterill, NF leader in Torquay, is in expansive mood. 'Oi! Abdul!' he shouts to an Asian man as we take our seats. Other passengers stare...[In a queue for the return journey to Dover] a dozen Bengalis are in front of us. Mark shepherds [his NF compatriot] Simon forward. He says loudly: 'Do you think these foreign gentlemen from thousands of miles away will move?'. Simon's face reddens above his blue Rangers shirt. An hour before, piling out of the pub, Mark is less polite: 'NIGG-AHHH!' he yells at a black youth down the road. There is just time for the chip shop, but the chips run out. Mark has to go to Stavros' kebab take-away. The others mock him. 'Stavros is OK. He likes the NF. We've promised not to deport him,' says Mark.[1] | ” |
On returning to England from the United States Cotterill, who had by then broken from the BNP, joined the White Nationalist Party, before forming the EFP [2].
He was elected councillor for Meadowhead on Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council in the 2006 local elections as a member of the England First Party, which he then led. However Cotterill resigned the seat in May 2007 and also stood down from the party leadership [3].
In 2008, Mark Cotterill stood as the EFP candidate at Preston's council elections in 2008 and came third. [4]
[edit] References
- ^ Real Lives: Fascism's Field of Dreams - The name may have changed but bigotry's still their game. Robert Crampton on a racist's weekend away, Robert Crampton, The Guardian, 21 September 1991
- ^ Article on Redwatch from Searchlight
- ^ England First pair quit party Lancashire Telegraph
- ^ Preston City Council Electoral Services
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