Martin Webster

Martin Webster
National Activities Organiser of the National Front
In office 1969–1983
Personal details
Born	14 May 1943(1943-05-14)
Political party	League of Empire Loyalists, National Socialist Movement 1962–1964, Greater Britain Movement 1964–1967, National Front 1967–1983, Our Nation 1983,

Martin Guy Alan Webster (born 14 May 1943) is a former leading figure on the far-right in British politics.^[1]

Early political activism

An early member of the Young Conservatives, from which he claimed to have been expelled, Webster was associated loosely with the League of Empire Loyalists until he joined the National Socialist Movement in 1962.^[2] He became John Tyndall's closest ally within the NSM and followed him in joining the Greater Britain Movement.^[3] Webster also spent time in prison for knocking Jomo Kenyatta to the ground outside the London Hilton hotel, for helping to organise the paramilitary organisation Spearhead,^[4] and was convicted under the 1936 Public Order Act.^[5] He attracted further notoriety in 1972 when he was recorded as saying: "We are busy setting up a well-oiled Nazi machine in this country."^[6]

National Front

With Tyndall

Webster continued to be a lieutenant to Tyndall and followed him into the National Front. Webster proved an early success in the NF, being appointed National Activities Organiser in 1969.^[7] and, in this position, effectively shared the leadership of the party with Tyndall until 1974. Webster clashed with Tyndall's replacement John Kingsley Read and the clash set in motion Kingsley Read's downfall, allowing Tyndall to return to the leadership.^[7] However, Webster later broke with Tyndall, while remaining a most prominent figure in the NF during the subsequent chairmanship of Andrew Brons.^[8]

In October 1977 after the police decided to ban a National Front march through Hyde town centre on the grounds that it was likely to be a focus of "serious disturbances", Webster undertook one of the most famous acts in post war British nationalist politics. He announced that there would be two NF marches, the second being conducted by him alone. Then, watched by a crowd of members of the public and surrounded by an estimated 2,500 police, he marched down the main street of Hyde carrying a Union Flag and a sign reading "Defend British Free Speech from Red Terrorism". Webster was allowed to march as 'one man' did not constitute a breaking of the ban. The tactic split the Anti-Nazi League in two and made a farce of the ban whilst attracting more media publicity for the Front.^{[9] [10] [11] [12]}

In 1982, Webster - after making claims about the activities of the Anti-Nazi League - was sued for libel by Peter Hain, then one of the leading members of the Anti-Nazi League. However, Webster's claims came to nothing since, in court, he admitted that ANL activity had severely damaged the NF.^[13][14]

Later NF activity and expulsion

Rumours of Webster's homosexuality led to him becoming vilified within right wing nationalist circles and he also fell foul of the Political Soldier wing of the NF. In 1983, they ensured that he lost his position as National Activities Organiser, then deprived him of his place on the National Directorate, before expelling him from the party altogether.^[15] Many activists also reproached Webster for being too friendly with the police. He briefly attempted to lead his own group, Our Nation, although this proved unsuccessful despite the financial support he received from Françoise Dior and the organisational involvement of Denis Pirie.^[16]

Current activity

Webster has been semi-retired from politics for some time (although he was associated with Lady Birdwood before her death^[17]). He re-emerged in 1999 to claim that he had a four-year homosexual affair with newly-elected British National Party leader Nick Griffin beginning in the mid-1970s, when Griffin was a teenager.^[18] Webster composes occasional e-bulletins,^[19] and "Electronic Loose Cannon".^[20] In 2010, Webster spoke at the 29th meeting of the New Right, giving a lecture on the Middle East conflict in favour of the Palestinian cause. In August 2011, he spoke at the 37th New Right meeting in the New Crown Public House in Oxford Circus, London, on Zionism and the EDL.^[21]

Elections contested

Date of election	Constituency	Party	Votes	%
24 May 1973 by	West Bromwich	NF	4789	16.0
February 1974	West Bromwich East	NF	2907	7.0
1979	Bethnal Green and Bow	NF	1740	6.1
28 October 1982 by	Peckham	NF	874	3.9

References

1. ^ Copsey, Nigel (2004). Contemporary British Fascism: The British National Party and the Quest for Legitimacy. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. inter alia. ISBN 1-4039-0214-3. 
2. ^ Martin Walker, The National Front, Glasgow: Fontana Collins, 1977, p. 45
3. ^ Copsey, pp 8–9
4. ^ Gerry Gable "A Century of British Fascism1958-1968 Rivers of blood - Fascists begin to unite", Searchlight website, [c.2000].
5. ^ Copsey, pp. 13–14
6. ^ "The Listener". BBC. December 1972. 
7. ^ ^{a b} Copsey, p. 16.
8. ^ Copsey, pp. 23–24.
9. ^ http://www.theoccidentalobserver.net/2010/03/mossad%25E2%2580%2599s-one-million-helpers-world-wide/
10. ^ http://www.theoccidentalobserver.net/authors/Webster-Mossad_files/OneManMarch08-10-1977.jpg
11. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTNfWM-IRzA
12. ^ http://www.dkrenton.co.uk/anl/northw.htm
13. ^ D Renton, The Anti-Nazi League as social movement
14. ^ Ed Vulliamy, Ed Vulliamy, "Blood and glory", The Observer, 4 March 2007
15. ^ Copsey, p. 34.
16. ^ G. Gable, 'The Far Right in the United Kingdom', L. Cheles, R. Ferguson & M. Vaughan (eds.), Neo-Fascism in Europe, London: Longman, 1991, p. 252
17. ^ Nick Lowles, 'A very English extremist', Searchlight
18. ^ Copsey, p. 111.
19. ^ "Electronic Watch on Zion" http://www.nwn-forum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=208 Martin Webster-CURRICULUM VITAE
20. ^ Martin Webster has another go at the BNP's Nick Griffin
21. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzQvshNc4-c

See also

• British National Front
• White supremacy

Persondata
Name	Webster, Martin
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	14 May 1943
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death