National Liberal Party (UK, 1999)

The National Liberal Party is a far right[1] political party formed in the United Kingdom in 1999 with several former National Front activists as its most prominent members.[2] Graham Williamson is listed as Nominating Officer and Upkar Singh Rai is listed as Leader and Treasurer. It has a number of ballot paper descriptions authorised by the Electoral Commission including: 'National Liberal Party – The Radical Centre' and 'National Liberal Party – Liberty, Independence, Democracy'.[3] The group sporadically contested elections until emerging more prominently in the run-up to the 2014 European Parliament election, where it fielded eight candidates for the London constituency, but failed to meet the threshold of votes for its first list-candidate to be elected.[4]

For unrelated parties formed in 1922 and 1931, see National Liberal Party (UK, 1922) and National Liberal Party (UK, 1931).
National Liberal Party
FoundedMarch 1999
Ideology
Political positionFar-right[1]
Colours 
Website
http://nationalliberal.org/

Background

The National Liberal Party was founded by Graham Williamson and Patrick Harrington.[2] It appeals for ethnic minority votes by focusing on national struggles abroad, with particular emphasis on injustices in Sri Lanka and India.

The party ran in the 2010 general election, contesting the Eastleigh seat. Its candidate, Keith Lowe, ran a campaign criticising the sitting MP Chris Huhne for his failure to support a referendum for the public to ratify the Treaty of Lisbon. During the election, the presence of several former National Front (NF) members in prominent positions was raised in the local press, although the general secretary, David Durant – himself a former NF member – said that the party belonged to the "patriotic centre".[5]

Despite the far-right and fascist backgrounds of its leaders,[2] the party fielded eight candidates for the 2014 European Parliament election in London, on a multicultural election list including Tamil, Sikh and Kurdish candidates. The party manifesto gave no indication of its far-right origins. It said, "The National Liberal Party is putting forward a team of 8 ethnically and racially diverse candidates – Tamil, Sikh, Azerbaijan, Kurdish, English, north Borneo (Sabah-Sarawak), to represent the real grassroots London."[2] One of the group's candidates, Yussuf Anwar, appeared on BBC's Daily Politics and declared himself proud of Graham Williamson, arguing that his NF membership was a youthful mistake.[6]

Criticism from the extreme right

Following revelations about the party's origins by Channel 4, the NLP was pilloried in Heritage and Destiny, a longstanding periodical closely linked to several groups including the nationalist, frequently neo-fascist and anti-Semitic International Third Position. The article focused on the party's website which named its political progenitors as the Earl of Rosebery, Joseph Chamberlain and Leslie Hore-Belisha and criticised the establishment Jewish links of all except Chamberlain as well as the perceived lack of ideological connection between the three and even the poor spelling of their names.[7]

Elections contested

Parliamentary elections

General election, 6 May 2010

ConstituencyCandidateVotes %
EastleighKeith Low930.2[8]

General election, 7 May 2015

ConstituencyCandidateVotes %
Ealing, SouthallJagdeesh Singh4611.1[9]
Ruislip, Northwood & PinnerSockalingam Yogalingam1660.3[10]

European Parliament elections

2014 European elections

Regional listsCandidatesVotes %MEPs
LondonGraham Williamson
Jagdeesh Singh
Sockalingam Yogalingam
Doris Jones
Upkar Singh Rai
Yussef Anwar
Araz Yurdseven
Bernard Dube		6,7360.30[11]

London Assembly elections

2021 London Assembly election

ListCandidatesVotes %AMs
London-wide listUpkar Rai
Arunasalam Rajalingam
Faisal Maramazi
Araz Yurdseven
Ponniah Yogaraja		2,8600.10[12]

References
  1. Jessica Elgot, "British National Party Decline Show Far Right Is In A Very, Very Bad Way", Huffpost, 14 January 2015. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
  2. Brian Whelan, "Exposed: far-right veteran seeking London multicultural vote", Channel 4 News, 3 May 2014. Retrieved 21 December 2019. Also posted in Searchlight, 3 May 2014
  3. "Registration summary: National Liberal Party - True Liberalism". The Electoral Commission.
  4. "Statement of parties and individual candidates nominated and Notice of Poll" (PDF). Regional Returning Officer for London. 28 April 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 May 2014.
  5. "Ex National Front men 'target' Chris Huhne". Eastleigh News. 6 May 2010. Archived from the original on 5 November 2013.
  6. "Dr Yussuf Anwar on National Liberal Party policies". BBC News. 21 May 2014.
  7. "Media smear merchants find new target". Heritage and Destiny. 4 May 2014. Archived from the original on 8 May 2014. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  8. "Election 2010 - Eastleigh". BBC News.
  9. "Election 2015 - Ealing Southall". BBC News. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
  10. "Election 2015 - Ruislip, Northwood & Pinner". BBC News. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
  11. "Vote 2014 - London". BBC News.
  12. "Results 2021". London Elects. 9 May 2021. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
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