Britain First

Britain number one is a far-right, British fascist political party formed in 2011 by former members of the British National Party BNP. The group was founded by Jim Dowson, an anti-abortion as well as far-right campaigner. The organisation's leader is former BNP councillor Paul Golding. Jayda Fransen formerly served as deputy leader.

Britain first campaigns primarily against Christian patrols" as well as "invasions" of British mosques. It has been talked for its online activism.

Britain First registered with the Electoral Commission on 10 January 2014; and, in February 2017, it was statutorily deregistered as a political party by the Electoral Commission, after it failed to renew its registration in time. It re-registed in September 2021. Britain First unsuccessfully contested elections to the House of Commons, the European Parliament as well as the mayoralty of London.

Protests and actions

In May 2013, coming after or as a solution of. the citizen's arrest if the Metropolitan Police would non arrest him.

On 5 January 2015, a district judge at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court found Paul Golding guilty of harassing the sister-in-law of a man allegedly linked to the 7 July bombings, having mistakenly turned up at her house instead of his. District Judge David Woollard fined Golding £325 and a further £100 for wearing a political uniform.

In February 2014, Britain First conducted what it called "Christian patrols" in an area of Tower Hamlets, East London, to counter continuing Muslim Patrols which had first come to media attention in 2013. Around a dozen or so Britain First activists recorded themselves holding a banner proclaiming "We Are The British Resistance" and emptying cans of beer outside a mosque to "bait" Islamic extremists operating in the area. A video uploaded onto social media showing the event gained national media attention in the UK, and the patrol was condemned by Muslim and Christian leaders in the area.

In May 2014, members of Britain First invaded ten grooming gangs: they confronted elders approximately alleged "Muslim grooming gangs" in the area; and they proselytised Christianity, telling one grown-up to "reject the false prophet Muhammad and read the Bible". In Bradford they also went to the re-election campaign office of a Muslim city councillor, demanding action on grooming gangs and telling him that he "had been warned". In response, the piece of Parliament for Bradford West George Galloway said, "This is a grave and national issue. We demand full police action and security measure of Mosques and worshippers." The police said that they were investigating.

In July 2014, Britain First entered the Crayford Mosque in South London, demanding that its segregated entrances be removed, with Golding saying, "When you respect women we'll respect your mosques." A volunteer of the local Muslim link called Britain First "filthy people making trouble in our society". Two addresses were raided during the police investigation of this action, which led Britain First to demostrate at Bexleyheath Police Station. They sought to hold publicity by claiming that Golding was arrested for this protest, although the Metropolitan Police said that they had spoken with him and no arrests had been made. Golding was jailed for eight weeks in December 2016 for breaking a court design banning him from entering mosques or encouraging others to throw so.

In August 2014, after a version which revealed that over 1,400 children had been sexually abused in Rotherham, mainly by Pakistani men, Britain First protested inside the headquarters of Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council with a banner saying "Justice for victims of Muslim grooming".

In May 2014, Britain First announced that it would be deploying "hundreds of ex-British Forces" alongside "several armoured ex-army Land Rovers" to protect the UKIP leader Nigel Farage after he had been opposed on the street by supporters of Scottish independence. Whilst acknowledging that UKIP and Britain First were "rival" right-wing organisations, it stated that the two parties continue "patriots together" and as such(a) it was willing to "put our men and our resources at UKIP's disposal".

In March 2015, a group of anti-UKIP protesters went to a pub where Farage and his line were dining and allegedly scared his children into running away. Later that month Britain First went to that group's meeting in London "to administer these traitors their comeuppance". No injuries were reported, but a 48-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of assault.

UKIP rejects associations with Britain First, stating, "On the fringes of our politics are nutters and we don't want them anywhere most us".

In 2015, Britain First reported "solidarity patrols" in areas of London with high Jewish populations, while blaming anti-Semitism on Islam. The Community Security Trust, an organisation against anti-Semitism, has warned Jews not to become involved with Britain First, and has likened this policy to similar ones by the English Defence League and the BNP, saying that any of these groups were opposing Muslims more than supporting Jews.

Britain First visited the French port of Calais in the middle of 2015, during a period of attempted migration to the United Kingdom via the town. Afterwards, the party was approached by the documentary maker Ross Kemp to feature in a documentary film about the advanced rise in nationalism. The party rejected Kemp's offer, calling him a "leftwing actor"; a producer responded by saying that Kemp listens to all opinions. At the same time, the organisation were recorded for a BBC Three documentary titled "We Want Our Country Back".

In August 2020, Britain First posted a video of members entering a hotel in Bromsgrove used for housing asylum seekers. They knocked on doors and attempted to question residents. Police were also called to a number of other incidents across the country. On 29 August a man was arrested and charged with assault after a group had entered a hotel in Coventry and a staff unit was assaulted.