This afternoon a group of English Defence League leaders gathered at a venue in the West Midlands for an organizational meeting. Gaia was in attendance, and sends the following report:
The main topic of his talk was a future relationship between the EDL and the British Freedom Party, which recently elected Paul Weston as its chairman.
The atmosphere was definitely upbeat, and Tommy had the full attention of the assembled group during his talk. The crowd of 250-300 listened attentively and applauded from time to time. He explained that the EDL need to move up a notch — they cannot go on forever staging street demos.
They are still widely perceived as a rabble, and as such cannot possibly obtain funding or be taken seriously by the political class.
He said that it has become imperative that the EDL gather political clout.
With that end in mind, he proposed an association between the EDL and BF. He had nothing but praise for Paul Weston, “who has charisma, can speak well, and is a jolly good bloke!” He said they got on well with each other and could work together.
Tommy also mentioned Paul’s courage in putting his life on the line to front this party. He reminded the audience that the UK, unlike many other countries in Europe, do not have any party that takes a stance against Islamisation. He emphasised that Paul alone cannot galvanise the support of the large numbers of working-class people, and this is where the EDL can lend their weight.
By the end of the meeting there was general agreement among those assembled that this was the way to go.
Tommy’s idea was that there should be no more EDL demos this year. In the new year, however, there will be a series of small demos in several towns. These will be followed by a massive demo in Luton sometime in March to commemorate the third anniversary of the insulting by radical Muslims of the returning Royal Anglian Regiment. This is a significant date for the movement, as it was the causative event which inspired the founding of the English Defence League.
Sometime after that, Tommy may elect to join British Freedom, but this is an opportunity for EDL members to move over to BF and for the first time provide input and promote the views of the British working class within a British political party. The EDL will utilise their divisional structure to support British Freedom. This is important, because the working class have been betrayed by the Labour Party.
There followed a lengthy question and answer session, which Tommy fielded with great aplomb. Some members expressed concern about the different issues facing EDL divisions in widely separated regions of the country. Tommy replied that he does not consider himself the leader. If the Regional Officer in, say Newcastle, wants to speak out in the media for his division, he should go ahead. Tommy added that some of his best colleagues were from the North.
After the meeting I spoke to a fellow from a mining village in Durham who had travelled for four hours to get there, and he said as far as he is concerned there is no north/south divide, and that Tommy is his hero.
Great stuff and thank you to Paul Weston and the team for their hard work in making this possible, as well as a huge thank you to Tommy and his team for the support.
this is terrific news…….big thumbs up
I totally agree with the above…….Check Mate, Game and match to come.
Right, boys and girls, let’s roll our sleeves up and get on with the job of saving our poor, shafted and demoralised country.
Well done to Tommy and Paul for showing us the bulldog spirit.
We’re all behind you, Paul!
I personally think this is a very good move.
The EDL does very much need to ‘move up a notch’. Credibility and clout is what counts.
this is a great opportunity , i’m sure the EDL and british freedom will make a great team, together they can make a difference for our sovereign land which i love and die for , i’m well behind you all.
It sounds like an interesting combination straddling class divides. Also good to see 2 people who are not tarnished by association with the BNP taking leadership roles in a new party. I don’t see how people who were integral senior members of the BNP and a load of ex members can ever create a party which does not attract the same toxicity that the old party had. The nationalist movement needs new faces and new ideas if it is to make an electoral impact and these 2 people seem to have a good track record in that respect. Nonetheless. The large support base which UKIP and to a far smaller extent the English Democrats have established cannot be ignored. Any nationalist party which intends to be a serious player can’t bury its head in the sand and pretend that these parties don’t exist and don’t now represent the bulk of the anti immigration/ anti EU vote.
@Manxman
We recognised that and that’s precisely why we stood down. We want what is best for the party and what is best for what we all wish to achieve. We stood down for the good of the party as we knew we could be a stumbling block for growth. We did our best and we did the right thing.
British Freedom is now in very good and very capable hands.
I thought that was probably the reason and if so then its a well thought out move. I’ve nothing personal against Britain First, but I don’t reckon a load of ex BNP can start anything on their own which doesn’t smell like the BNP because in many ways, it will still be the BNP and will attract the good the bad and the ugly in the same way. Nationalism needs new faces and a new approach and the focus should be on immigration, the economy, crime and the EU rather than race. I might join now and make it a hat trick along with UKIP and the EDs!
This is wonderful news !
Manxman just to make a small note that you say about ex-members of the bnp, i must point out that not all of bnp members were bad and that many ex bnp members have an untarnished reputation and tremendous activists who would be a credit to any organisation be it political or otherwise. I know this because i personally know many of these people. You cannot make a judgement on something which is of ill information or bad press. If it was that simple labour and the conservatives would be in jail at the drop of a hat, research or best say nothing.
I asked a question, which seems not to have got past the mods.
I’ve supported EDL since day one and been on a number of demos and I’m also an internet activist and spend several hours each day plugging and defending EDL.
Now it’s been decided that we are to back a political party and I have questions and one of them is how much input will EDL have into the BFP.
There are aspects of the constitution that worry me, like for example the death penalty, are these things up for discussion or are they fixed.
Connections to the BNP, are these truly broken or are we going to have the left finding things that are embarrassing, because you can bet that they will try their damnedest to find stuff.
I post on many forums spreading the EDL word and one of those forums is the British democracy forum, EDL section and there is a thread on there, talking about Mr Mullins,
[Link deleted - forum is libellous]
Is this true? If not, why has this person posted it.
It may be true that some EDL are a bit rough around the edges but we are after all a boots on the street movement and not a political party.
Many of us are nervous about being affiliated to a political party, especially after all the talk of parties like the BNP ripping people off, 30 quid is a lot of money to many EDLers, also people are nervous about going onto a membership list as we have been hacked quite a few times and supporters names and addresses being all over the net, so how safe would/will our details be? How can we be sure that, as in the case of the BNP, that details won’t end up all over the net.
What’s the plan, are BFP going to target local councils, how many candidates will be fielded, how will this be paid for? What criteria will be used to select where we/ BFP will stand.
A suggestion, perhaps a BFP member can join the EDL forum and act as a liaison between the BFP and EDL and answer any questions, because there’s a lot we would like to know.
If what I have posted is too much for an open forum then perhaps you could email me a reply.
You can ask EDL mods or admin on the EDL forum if I’m a safe person or Hel Gower in the Kent division.
Arthur.
Arthur,
As a democratic party all our policies are open to debate by the party membership and leadership and these can be amended at a party conference following debates and a vote.
You will probably never agree 100% with any party, it is key you find one with the best suit to you.
There are no members of the party’s Executive Council with BNP links – we will however not discriminate against ordinary people who at one time joined the BNP because that’s all there was. However, any former leadership of the BNP will be closely scrutinised and if we feel they are tarnished we will reject their application.
That thread on BDF is lies – Peter Mullins has nothing but respect for the EDL. On that forum you have lots of leftists and BNP members as well as others who are out to try and prevent our party from being a success as they have their own agendas. You shouldn’t listen to them. That forum is a nasty place and nothing will be achieved on there at all.
All membership details will be kept in the strictest confidence, only the bare minimum of people who need to see the members’ details will have access, and that should be no more than 2 or 3 of our most trusted people.
How many people we will stand depends on the local groups; how they fund that campaign will be through donations as well as assistance where possible from the central party with leaflets etc…
As for your liaison suggestion it has been taken on board for consideration.
Peter, thanks for your quick reply, glad you could see where I was coming from and not put me down as a troll.
I have read what you have to say on, which I steer clear of as much as poss to be honest and it would be good to have some one on the forum (EDL) as I know many there and trust them.
Arthur.
Arthur we have our own forum on this website, which you are more than welcome to use to promote EDL stuff we have a section for that stuff.
Thanks Peter, how do I get onto the forum?
Thanks,
Arthur.
Arthur, go to the main menu at the top of the page, click on RESOURCES then Forum.