Richard Edmonds

This article is about the far-right politician. For the scientist, see Richard Edmonds (scientist).

Richard Edmonds
Deputy chairman and national organiser of the British National Party
In office 1982–1999
Leader	John Tyndall
Succeeded by	Sharron Edwards (as deputy chair)
Acting chairman of the British National Party
In office 1986
Leader	John Tyndall
Personal details
Born	(1943-03-10) 10 March 1943 Hounslow, London, England
Died
Nationality	British
Political party	National Front (1972-1980, 2011-2020), New National Front (1980-1982), British National Party (1982-2011)

Richard Edmonds (10 March 1943 - 23 December 2020) was a British nationalist politician. He was deputy chairman and national organiser of the British National Party (BNP) and was also a prominent member of the National Front (NF) during two spells of membership.

Early activities

Edmonds began his political career in 1972 as a member of the National Front (NF), in which he held a number of positions during John Tyndall's chairmanship of the party. In the October 1974 general election he was NF candidate at Deptford, polling 1,731 votes (4.5%). At this time, he was a mathematics teacher at Tulse Hill Comprehensive. In his election address he said: "To young immigrants, Richard Edmonds says that they should study to the best of their abilities, for their duty and future lie in helping their compatriots to build up their own countries". He followed Tyndall into the New National Front in 1980 and was appointed head of the youth section, editing Young Nationalist magazine.

From 1982, Edmonds held senior positions within the newly formed British National Party (BNP), eventually becoming deputy leader and also acting leader for a spell in 1986 while Tyndall was in prison for incitement to racial hatred. Edmonds took a role in funding the party, including partially funding the purchase of a new party headquarters and bookshop in Welling. Edmonds ran the party's Welling premises, living in the premises, for ten years, from 1989 to 1999. In the 1992 election he gained a 3.6% share of the vote in Bethnal Green and Stepney, the party's best showing in that election.

Persecution, Holocaust revisionism and media coverage

Edmonds was a Holocaust revisionist, and was convicted several times for his actions. In 1988, The Sunday Times revealed that Holocaust News, a publication that claimed the Holocaust was an "evil hoax", was being published by Edmonds, on behalf of a BNP front organisation, the Centre for Historical Review, and distributed by members. According to John Tyndall, after this interview took place Edmonds gave Jon Craig and Jo Revell, the two journalists covering the story, his business card telephone number in the strictest confidence. Subsequently the published article contained the name of the company Edmonds worked for. Tyndall says that the next day Edmonds was told he would have to leave. The theme was re-visited in Panorama on 8 April 1991, when Edmonds described the publication as "a wonderful statement of the truth".

In 1993, Edmonds and a group of BNP members were drinking outside a pub in Bethnal Green; when a black man and his white girlfriend tried to pass they were spat at by the BNP crowd who shouted "nigger lover" and "monkey" at them. Edmonds threw a beer glass at them and the others "glassed" the man's face and punched and kicked him. Edmonds was sentenced to three months in prison for his part in this racially-motivated assault. He had been convicted for damaging a statue of Nelson Mandela on the South Bank in London. There was further controversy in 1993 when he told The Guardian's Duncan Campbell that "we [the BNP] are 100% racist". Edmonds had previously clarified his position to Panorama as "racism means long live the white race, long live the British race".

In 2005, Edmonds gave support to his fellow British Holocaust revisionist David Irving when he was arrested under Holocaust denial laws in Austria. Edmonds shouted to Irving, "Stay strong, stay strong, good luck to you." Edmonds told reporters that he was defending free speech.

Nick Griffin's leadership of the BNP

Edmonds held the position of national organiser until 1999 when he was forced to resign following the victory of Nick Griffin in the leadership election that year. Edmonds remained Tyndall's closest ally but was not expelled from the party when Tyndall and another long-term ally, John Morse, were expelled in 2003, before being subsequently reinstated. Edmonds continued to write for Spearhead until it ceased publication on Tyndall's death in 2005. He was a long-term supporter of John Tyndall. Although he sometimes attended events sponsored by the Nationalist Alliance, Edmonds remained a member of the BNP, playing a leading role in its Croydon branch (which has been at times somewhat cool towards the national leadership).

Surprisingly to some, Edmonds was co-opted by Griffin onto the BNP's Advisory Council in September 2008, thereby returning to the upper echelon of the party and ending his period of apparent dissidence. However, in August 2010, following Eddy Butler's unsuccessful leadership challenge, Edmonds was sacked from the Advisory Council due to his open criticism of Griffin's fundraiser, Jim Dowson, and to his support for the leadership bid by Butler.

Following the party's poor showing in the 2011 English local elections, Welsh Assembly and Scottish Parliamentary elections, Edmonds announced his candidature for the leadership of the BNP. According to The Guardian Edmonds had little chance of success but the contest was expected to lead to a series of defections from the party. At the end of May 2011 Richard Edmonds stepped down from his challenge in favour of Andrew Brons.

The National Front, in a report on its 2011 AGM, claimed that Edmonds had decided to rejoin the NF. This was subsequently confirmed and he took up a role as an activist for the group. He was the party's candidate in the 2012 Croydon North by-election, finishing eighth out of twelve candidates with 161 votes (0.7% vote share). He was confirmed as the candidate for the party in Carshalton and Wallington for the United Kingdom general election, 2015. He was the NF's candidate in the Batley and Spen by-election, held on 20 October 2016, following the murder of the Labour MP Jo Cox. Edmonds gained 87 votes (0.43%).

Death

In December 2020, it was reported that Edmonds had died from heart failure. He was 77 years old.

Elections contested

UK Parliament elections

Date of election	Constituency	Party	Votes	%
October 1974	Deptford	NF	1,731	4.8
1983	Lewisham East	BNP	288	0.7
1992	Bethnal Green & Stepney	BNP	1,310	3.6
2012	Croydon North	NF	161	0.7
2015	Carshalton and Wallington	NF	49	0.1

Greater London Council elections

Date of election	Constituency	Party	Votes	%
1977	Deptford	NF	1,463	7.2
1981	Deptford	NNF	487	2.0

London Assembly elections

Date of election	Constituency	Party	Votes	%
2012	Havering and Redbridge	NF	1,936	1.4

Bibliography

• N. Copsey, Contemporary British Fascism: The British National Party and the Quest for Legitimacy, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004
• John Tyndall, The Eleventh Hour, Welling: Albion Press, 1998

External links

• YouTube playlist of Richard Edmonds' speeches