English National Party

English National Party has been the name of various political parties of England, which have commonly called for a separate parliament for England.

For a later party which went by the same name, see English Democrats.

English National Party
LeaderFrank Hansford-Miller
Founded1966
Dissolved1981
IdeologyEnglish devolution
Political positionCentre-right

The original ENP

History

The English National Party (ENP) was founded as the John Hampden New Freedom Party in 1966 by Frank Hansford-Miller. "John Hampden" was a reference to a leading parliamentarian from the English Civil War. In 1974, it was renamed the "English Nationalist Party".[1] It was defunct by 1981;[2] by this time, Hansford-Miller had left,[3] and he campaigned for the "Abolition of Rates Coalition" in the 1981 Greater London Council elections.[4]

The party's best known policy was advocating a devolved English parliament. Other policies included calling for the abolition of income tax, and an end to local authority housing. It was considered to be centre-right, and not racist.[4]

Performance

The party contested the first 1974 general election as the John Hampden New Freedom Party;[5] it contested the second 1974 and the 1979 general elections as the ENP.[6] Its best performance was at the second 1974 general election, where it fielded two candidates and secured 1,115 votes.[7] It achieved its greatest notability in April 1976, when it was joined by the Member of Parliament John Stonehouse, who had formerly represented the Labour Party and at the time was awaiting trial for fraud.[8] However, Stonehouse was convicted and left Parliament in August of that year,[9] and the party did not stand a candidate in the subsequent by-election.[10]

Other parties by the name

According to the far-right magazine Spearhead,[11] a group called the English National Party was one of the small far-right organisations that joined the National Front shortly after it was formed in 1967.[11][12]

There have been several parties which have adopted the "English National Party" name. These include a far right organisation formed by Raymond Shenton which contested the 1984 Enfield Southgate by-election;[13] a party founded in around 1995 by Christopher Nickerson,[14] which aimed for England to secede from the United Kingdom to support a sense of English national identity;[15] and a party founded by Robin Tilbrook and James Alden in 1999, with the aim of securing a devolved English Parliament,[16] which was later renamed the English Democrats Party in 2002, and then just the English Democrats in 2004.[17]

In April 1999, a group calling itself the "English National Party" was one of several different organisations which claimed responsibility for a nail-bomb attack in Brixton.[18] David Copeland, who admitted to carrying out the bombing, said that the claims of responsibility were made by others to "try to steal his glory."[19]

References
  1. David Boothroyd (2001). Politico's guide to the history of British political parties. Politico's. p. 87.
  2. Nick Inman (2007). Politipedia. Harriman House Limited. p. 82. ISBN 9781905641338.
  3. "Dr Frank Hansford-Miller MSc PhD FRGS FSS" (PDF). The Patriot. Summer 2008. Archived from the original on 27 July 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  4. David Boothroyd (2001). Politico's guide to the history of British political parties. Politico's. p. 88.
  5. "General Election Results 1885-1979". election.demon.co.uk. General Election of 28 February 1974 (JHNFP). Archived from the original on 30 January 2012. Retrieved 6 July 2017.
  6. "General Election Results 1885-1979". election.demon.co.uk. General Election of 10 October 1974 & General Election of 3 May 1979 (ENP). Archived from the original on 30 January 2012. Retrieved 6 July 2017.
  7. "General Election Results 1885-1979". election.demon.co.uk. General Election of 10 October (ENP). Archived from the original on 30 January 2012. Retrieved 6 July 2017.
  8. Matthew Parris; Kevin Maguire (22 July 2004). Great Parliamentary Scandals. Robson Bookes. p. 197. ISBN 9781861057365.
  9. "Criminal MPs: the five expelled from the Commons in the past 100 years". The Guardian. 11 January 2011.
  10. "1976 By Election Results". by-elections.co.uk. Walsall North. Archived from the original on 14 March 2012.
  11. Nigel Copsey; John E. Richardson, eds. (10 April 2015). Cultures of Post-War British Fascism. Routledge. p. 69. ISBN 9781317539360.
  12. Chris Cook; John Stevenson (2014). A History of British Elections Since 1689. Routledge. p. 189. ISBN 9781317693017.
  13. "RESULTS OF BYELECTIONS IN THE 1983-87 PARLIAMENT". United Kingdom Election Results. ENFIELD, ENFIELD SOUTHGATE [30]. Archived from the original on 5 April 2018. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
  14. "Teatime and Robin Hood: English Identity Crisis". The Christian Science Monitor. 2 November 1998.
  15. "How English are you?". BBC News. 22 April 1999.
  16. "Party History: The History of the English Democrats by Robin Tilbrook". English Democrats. 2 September 2015.
  17. "Searchlight, Issues 367-378". Searchlight. 2006.
  18. "Police chiefs reject Combat 18 threat unlikely". The Independent. 29 April 1999.
  19. Hopkins, Nick; Hall, Sarah (1 July 2000). "Festering hate that turned quiet son into a murderer". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077.
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