Civil Liberty was a fundraising organisation for British nationalists, that was run by members of the far-right

British National Party The British National Party (BNP) is a Far-right politics, far-right, British fascism, fascist list of political parties in the United Kingdom, political party in the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in Wigton, Cumbria, and is led by Adam ...

(BNP) and British Democratic Party (BDP). It had been described as a

front organisation A front organization is any entity set up by and controlled by another organization, such as intelligence agencies, organized crime groups, terrorist organizations, secret societies, banned organizations, religious or political groups, advocacy gr ...

Organisation

Civil Liberty was set up by Kevin Scott, who was a regional organiser for the BNP until 2006. Scott has continued to run the organisation. An investigation by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' established that the group's address was registered to Tyneside BNP, and its website domain was registered at the address of the BNP's website editor. Its national treasurer was the BNP's head of administration. The group raises money to support nationalists, and was set up to "monitor anti-white racism". The anti-fascist group

Hope not Hate Hope not Hate (stylised as HOPE not hate) is an advocacy group based in the United Kingdom which campaigns against racism and fascism. It has also mounted campaigns against Islamic extremism and antisemitism. It is self-described as a "non-pa ...

described the group as a "fake 'civil rights' organisation" and argued that its claim to support individuals "who have fallen victim to the tyranny of government" to only apply to white people. Scott has since joined the British Democratic Party, a BNP breakaway group founded by former

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

(MEP) and National Front chairman

Andrew Brons Andrew Henry William Brons (born 3 June 1947) is a British politician and former MEP. Long active in far-right politics in Britain, he was elected as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Yorkshire and the Humber for the fascist British ...

. The organisation's website had not been updated since January 2020. The domain expired in December 2023.

Fundraising in the United States

Nick Griffin Nicholas John Griffin (born 1 March 1959) is a British far-right politician who was chairman of the British National Party (BNP) from 1999 to 2014, and a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for North West England from 2009 to 2014. Follow ...

, the then leader of the BNP, was recorded at a conference organised by a former member of the

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to KKK or Klan, is an American Protestant-led Christian terrorism, Christian extremist, white supremacist, Right-wing terrorism, far-right hate group. It was founded in 1865 during Reconstruction era, ...

in the United States calling for American supporters of the party to give money to Civil Liberty rather than the BNP because of laws against international donations. He said the group "helps members of the BNP and that is within the law". Following publication of ''The Guardian'''s investigation, the Metropolitan Police's Domestic Extremism Unit started an inquiry into the link between Civil Liberty and the BNP.

References

External links

* {{cite web , url=http://www.civilliberty.org.uk/ , title=CivilLiberty.org.uk , access-date=25 December 2024 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230411010212/http://www.civilliberty.org.uk/ , archive-date=11 April 2023, url-status=dead British National Party breakaway groups