National Democratic Party (UK, 1966)
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The National Democratic Party (NDP) was a right wing political party that operated in the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s.
In 1966, Dr. David Brown, the chairman of the Racial Preservation Society, proposed to form the NDP by merging the RPS with John Bean's British National Party. Talks between Brown and Bean came to nothing, and before long, the BNP had helped to form the new National Front along with most of the RPS membership. Brown launched the NDP anyway (having previously used the label National Democrat when running as an independent - notably in Ipswich in 1964) with the aim of establishing it as the leading right wing party. Critics, particularly from within the NF, argued that Brown only did so as he could not stand the prospect of serving under A. K. Chesterton.
In its early years, the Party expanded through mergers with a number of smaller movements, including the British Defence League, a small group based around ex-Tory John O'Brien. O'Brien later left the NDP to join the NF. The party also attracted a number of disaffected Conservatives who supported Enoch Powell and in the 1970 general election the NDP's highest election result occurred in Southampton Itchen, where it won of 21.8% of the votes. Southampton was the seat of the Speaker of the British House of Commons. Traditionally, re-election of the Speaker is not unopposed by other major parties. Dr. Brown, meanwhile, continued to contest Ipswich until his final election in February 1974.[1]
When O'Brien took over the leadership of the NF, the two parties began to work together to pursue common ends. The relationship was not always beneficial, however, such as when the important Manchester branch left en bloc to join the NF after a particularly rousing speech by O'Brien. A merger was briefly discussed, although the NF Directorate refused to endorse it. As part of these discussions the NDP withdrew its candidature from the St Marylebone by-election in 1970.[2]
The NDP was weakened when O'Brien left the NF and joined the National Independence Party rather than bringing his followers back to the NDP. O'Brien left the NF because of John Tyndall and Martin Webster's neo-Nazi links [3] The party tried to carry on but it became less and less significant. The emergence of other outlets for the populist tendency of the far right, such as the National Party, meant that support for the NDP disappeared. TOwards the end of its life the NDP attempted to forge links with rightist groups assocaited with the Conservative Party such as the Conservative Monday Cluband the Anglo-Rhodesia Society, although the party was gone by the late 1970s.[4]
The NDP was not connected to the National Democrats, which was an attempt by the NF to change its name. This resulted in a split in the NF.
[edit] References
- ^ David Boothroyd, Politico's Guide to the History of British Political Parties, 2001, p. 182
- ^ Boothroyd, op cit
- ^ Martin Walker, The National Front, Glasgow: Fontana Collins, 1977, pages 106-107.
- ^ Boothroyd, op cit
