Richard Edmonds

Richard Edmonds is a veteran on the British far right and was a long-term supporter of John Tyndall.

Edmonds began his political career as a member of the National Front, where he held a number of positions during Tyndall's leadership. In the October 1974 general election he was NF candidate at Deptford, polling 1731 votes (4.5%). At this time, he was employed as a maths teacher at Tulse Hill, a school which contained many black pupils. His election address 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.

Edmonds continued to hold influential positions within the newly-formed British National Party, rising to deputy leader and effective caretaker leader for a spell in 1986 whilst Tyndall was serving a prison sentence for incitement to racial hatred. He also took a role in funding the party, notably in 1989 when he provided some of the money for the purchase of a new party headquarters in Welling [N. Copsey, "Contemporary British Fascism: The British National Party and the Quest for Legitimacy", Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004, p. 46] . Edmonds leading role in the party was further strengthened by his success in the 1992 election when his 3.6% share of the vote in Bethnal Green and Stepney represented the party's best showing of that election.

Edmonds has frequently proven a controversial figure and has amassed a number of criminal convictions. 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. The theme was returned to on 8th April 1991 edition of "Panorama" where Edmonds described the publication as 'a wonderful statement of the truth' [N. Copsey, "Contemporary British Fascism: The British National Party and the Quest for Legitimacy", Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004, pp. 43-44] . Edmonds also spent time in custody over a racial attack in 1993 [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/programmes/2001/bnp_special/roots/1994.stm BNP: Under the Skin] ] and had previously been convicted for smashing a statue of Nelson Mandela on London's South Bank. Further controversy came in 1993 when he told The Guardian's Duncan Campbell that 'we [the BNP] are 100% racist'.

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. Edmonds remained Tyndall's closest ally and was expelled from the party along with him and another long-term ally John Morse in 2002 before they were reinstated. Edmonds continued to write for "Spearhead" until it ceased publication following Tyndall's death in 2005. Although he has appeared at events sponsored by the Nationalist Alliance, Edmonds remains a member of the BNP, playing a leading role in its Croydon branch (which is somewhat aloof from the national leadership) ["Searchlight", February 2007] .

Elections contested

References

Bibliography

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