John Tyndall (politician)

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John Tyndall

John Hutchyns Tyndall (July 14, 1934 – July 19, 2005) was a far-right British nationalist politician best known for leading the National Front in the 1970s and for founding the British National Party in the 1980s.

1 Early politics
2 Spearhead
3 Ideology
4 National Front
5 Forms the BNP
6 Deposed as leader
7 External links

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Early politics

Tyndall was first politically active in the League of Empire Loyalists (a right-wing pressure group) headed by A.K. Chesterton. In 1957, feeling that the League was not sufficiently active, he and John Bean left to form the National Labour Party. The Labour Party prevented the use of this name, and in 1960 it merged with the White Defence League of Colin Jordan to form the old British National Party (BNP) which was led by John Bean.

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Spearhead

Tyndall became deputy national organiser of this party and deputy commander of a private army set up by Colin Jordan called Spearhead, based on the SA of Nazi Germany. The police prosecuted Jordan, Tyndall and two others for paramilitary organising. Tyndall said that he deeply regretted his involvement with this organisation. Until his death Spearhead lived on as Tyndall's magazine through which his political thoughts and comments as well as those of others on the right of the BNP were communicated.

Tyndall left the old British National Party with Colin Jordan in 1962 when he set up the National Socialist Movement, but fell out with him over a rivalry for the affections of French heiress Françoise Dior. He formed the Greater Britain Movement in 1964, taking most of the members of the National Socialist Movement.

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Ideology

Tyndall spent much of the 1960s developing his ideological programme. He published the book The Authoritarian State in 1962, in which he claimed that liberal democracy was a Jewish tool of world domination that needed to be replaced by authoritarianism. Later Tyndall continued to develop his ideological programme and produced in 1966 his "Six Principles of Nationalism" which appeared to break with the neo-Nazi NSM and instead looked to electoral paths to government, which would be characterized by leadership, corporatism and racial purity and would be regularly ratified by referenda, bringing to mind the earlier calls of Sir Oswald Mosley. Tyndall’s new work impressed A. K. Chesterton, who at the same time was helping to reorganise the demoralised far-right.

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National Front

When the National Front was formed in 1967 Tyndall pressed for the inclusion of the Greater Britain Movement. Eventually a compromise was reached to allow individual members to join the NF, and Tyndall disbanded the Greater Britain Movement when they all had. Tyndall swiftly rose to the rank of Chairman when A.K. Chesterton resigned, in which his principal responsibility was theory and political thinking.

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Forms the BNP

Under Tyndall's guidance the Front grew in membership and gained many votes. For the 1979 general election, the Front put up 303 candidates but the results were disappointing: it lost its deposit everywhere. Internal recriminations saw Tyndall removed from all his positions and he opted to depart, setting up first the New National Front, then changing its name to the British National Party in 1982.

During his tenure as leader of the new BNP, Tyndall did little to dispel the perception among some that the BNP was a neo-Nazi organisation, and strongly resisted any attempts to soften the party's policies or image. Tyndall was convicted of incitement to racial hatred in 1986 and was jailed three times. During his time in prison he completed the part-autobiographical part-political book The Eleventh Hour (ISBN 0951368621), which he subsequently revised several times.

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Deposed as leader

In 1999 Tyndall lost the leadership of the BNP to Nick Griffin. Afterwards he threatened, at times, to run against Griffin to regain the leadership, although he did not act on his threats. Griffin briefly expelled Tyndall from the BNP in 2002 for being a disruptive influence although Tyndall was reinstated after a court case. In 2004, Tyndall joined in signing the New Orleans Protocol. The New Orleans Protocol seeks to "mainstream our cause" by reducing violence and internecine warfare, and was written by David Duke. When he signed, Tyndall made it clear that he was not acting on behalf of the BNP.

On December 12, 2004 Tyndall was arrested on suspicion of incitement to racial hatred following a BBC documentary aired in July 2004. On April 6, 2005, he was charged by police with two offences of using words or behaviour intended or likely to stir up racial hatred.

Tyndall was found dead at his home in Hove, Sussex, on July 19, 2005, less than a week after his 71st birthday. He was due to stand on charges of incitement to racial hatred at Leeds Magistrates just two days later (July 21, 2005).

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