Overview

Nick Griffin is the British former leader of the far-right British National Party (BNP) and a self-proclaimed defender of free speech against the “liberal establishment.”“Profile: Nick Griffin,” BBC News, March 13, 2010, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/election_2010/8560648.stm.  Griffin has been a vocal antisemite for more than three decades and the BNP has been tied to neo-Nazi personalities and symbols.“Profile: Nick Griffin,” BBC News, March 13, 2010, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/election_2010/8560648.stm. Despite a veteran of the movement, the BNP expelled Griffin in October 2014 due to attempts at destabilizing the party.“Nick Griffin expelled from British National party,” Guardian (London), October 1, 2014, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/oct/01/nick-griffin-expelled-from-bnp. As of October 2024, Griffin was reportedly formalizing ties with a leaderless nationalist party based in England’s West Midlands, suggesting plans for reentry into the political scene.“Nick Griffin in last ditch attempt to resurrect his political career,” Searchlight, April 18, 2024, https://www.searchlightmagazine.com/2024/04/nick-griffin-in-last-ditch-attempt-to-resurrect-his-political-career/.

Griffin’s extremist attitudes were in part influenced by his father Edgar, a former member of the British Conservative party who was later expelled for his extremist far-right views. Under Edgar’s tutelage, Griffin was active in right-wing politics since he was at least 15, when his father took him to his first National Front meeting. Formed in 1967, the National Front is a far right, anti-immigration group that was the product of a merger between three far-right groups and the neo-Nazi Greater Britian Movement. “The National Front and the anti-fascist response in the 1970s,” University of Warwick, accessed October 3, 2024, https://warwick.ac.uk/services/library/mrc/studying/docs/racism/1970s/. While studying law at Cambridge University in 1977, Griffin founded the Young National Front Students.“Profile: Nick Griffin,” BBC News, March 13, 2010, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/election_2010/8560648.stm. Griffin quickly made a name for himself within the National Party and was named national organizer in 1978. “Profile: Nick Griffin,” BBC News, March 13, 2010, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/election_2010/8560648.stm.

During the 1980s, Griffin reportedly hosted white power summer concerts at his father’s home in Suffolk, England.“Nick Griffin,” Telegraph (London), January 10, 2006, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1399674/Nick-Griffin.html. Griffin later left the National Front in 1989 to help found one of its more controversial factions, the International Third Position (ITP).“Nick Griffin,” Telegraph (London), January 10, 2006, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1399674/Nick-Griffin.html. With the ITP, Griffin met with former members of the Ku Klux Klan, supported Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and spread conspiracy theories of the imminence of a race war, in which his supporters would need to learn techniques in resisting police interrogation.“A right menace: Nick Griffin,” Independent (London), May 22, 2009, https://www.the-independent.com/news/people/profiles/a-right-menace-nick-griffin-1689784.html.

In 1990, Griffin lost his left eye after a shotgun cartridge exploded in a fire.Haroon Siddique, “Profile: Nick Griffin,” Guardian (London), November 19, 2008, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2008/nov/19/bnp-leader-nick-griffin; “A right menace: Nick Griffin,” Independent (London), May 22, 2009, https://www.the-independent.com/news/people/profiles/a-right-menace-nick-griffin-1689784.html. Griffin subsequently dropped out of the political scene until 1995, when he re-entered politics upon the invitation of BNP leader John Tyndall. Haroon Siddique, “Profile: Nick Griffin,” Guardian (London), November 19, 2008, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2008/nov/19/bnp-leader-nick-griffin. While at the BNP, Griffin became more vocal about his antisemitism. During his political revival in the mid-1990s, Griffin increased his public attacks on the Jewish people. From 1995 until 1997, Griffin edited antisemitic magazine The Rune, as well as Spearhead, a right-wing magazine owned by Tyndall.“A right menace: Nick Griffin,” Independent (London), May 22, 2009, https://www.the-independent.com/news/people/profiles/a-right-menace-nick-griffin-1689784.html; “Nick Griffin,” Telegraph (London), January 10, 2006, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1399674/Nick-Griffin.html. In 1997, Griffin published a booklet called Who are the Mind Benders?, which claimed that Jews controlled British media and were brainwashing the white public into accepting multiculturalism. “BNP: Under the Skin,” BBC News, accessed October 11, 2024, http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/programmes/2001/bnp_special/the_leader/beliefs.stm.

Griffin made headlines in 1998 when he was convicted of inciting racial hatred. At a trial held at Harrow Crown Court, jurors determined that Griffin was guilty of the charges due to the dissemination of content in The Rune that denied the Holocaust. Gavin Haynes, “The Rise and Fall of Britain’s Most Famous Racist Politician,” Vice, October 3, 2014, https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-rise-and-fall-of-nick-griffin-bnp-gav-haynes-104/. Griffin received a nine-month suspended sentence.“Nick Griffin,” Telegraph (London), January 10, 2006, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1399674/Nick-Griffin.html; Jill Sherman, “Nick Griffin’s suspended prison sentence for inciting racial hatred,” Times (London), June 9, 2009, https://www.thetimes.com/article/nick-griffins-suspended-prison-sentence-for-inciting-racial-hatred-000gpgj22hk. According to police interviews, Griffin prioritized building a nationalist movement through the ballot box. He embraced the white nationalist slogan known as the 14 Words: “We must secure the existence of our race and a future for white children.”Ian Cobain, “Nick Griffin's vision for BNP-led Britain shown in 1990s police interviews,” Guardian (London), May 6, 2015, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/may/06/nick-griffin-vision-bnp-britain-1990s-police-interviews. In interviews with the police, however, Griffin denied accusations that he did not want to see “any ethnic group other than British and European stock” in the United Kingdom, telling police that he had “no antipathy to Jews, as Jews.”Ian Cobain, “Nick Griffin’s vision for BNP-led Britain shown in 1990s police interviews,” Guardian (London), May 6, 2015, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/may/06/nick-griffin-vision-bnp-britain-1990s-police-interviews.

Griffin’s altercations with the law did not hamper his ambitions within the BNP ranks as he ousted John Tyndall and became party leader in 1999. “A right menace: Nick Griffin,” Independent (London), May 22, 2009, https://www.the-independent.com/news/people/profiles/a-right-menace-nick-griffin-1689784.html. Griffin reportedly disagreed with Tyndall’s increasing openness to the Muslim community, prompting Griffin to run against the BNP founder in a secret ballot where he ultimately received the majority of the vote.“Nick Griffin: High and lows of political career,” BBC News, October 1, 2014, https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-28408043; “Profile: Nick Griffin,” Times (London), June 14, 2009, https://www.thetimes.com/article/profile-nick-griffin-0t72mcssvdd. Under Griffin, the BNP shifted away from its neo-Nazi identity and instead endorsed populist rightwing policies, including withdrawal from the European Union and anti-immigration platforms. “Nick Griffin’s vision for BNP-led Britain shown in 1990s police interviews,” Guardian (London), May 6, 2014, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/may/06/nick-griffin-vision-bnp-britain-1990s-police-interviews.

On December 15, 2004, West Yorkshire Police arrested Griffin on suspicion of incitement to commit racial hatred in relation to remarks he made to BNP supporters at a pub in West Yorkshire in January of that year.Wesley Johnson, “BNP leader arrested over incitement to racial hatred,” Independent (London), December 15, 2004, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/bnp-leader-arrested-over-incitement-to-racial-hatred-688498.html. In those remarks, Griffin spewed Islamophobic diatribes claiming Islam was a “wicked, vicious faith” that was turning Britian into a “multiracial hellhole.”“BNP leader cleared of race hate charges,” Guardian (London), November 10, 2006, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2006/nov/10/thefarright.uk. On November 10, 2006, Leeds Crown Court cleared Griffin of all charges, despite widespread criticism from civil rights groups. According to Griffin, his statements targeted Islam as a religion rather than South Asians specifically.“BNP leader cleared of race hate charges,” Guardian (London), November 10, 2006, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2006/nov/10/thefarright.uk.

In 2009, the BNP won two seats in the European Parliament, with Griffin representing England’s North West region.“Profile: Nick Griffin,” BBC News, March 13, 2010, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/election_2010/8560648.stm. However, by the 2014 European elections, Griffin failed to retain his seat. “Nick Griffin: High and lows of political career,” BBC News, October 1, 2014, https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-28408043. In July 2014, Griffin stepped down from his position as BNP leader. Although he received the honorary title of president, Griffin reportedly grew frustrated with the lack of authority granted to the position. On October 1, 2014, the BNP expelled Griffin for reportedly seeking to destabilize the party. According to party members, Griffin was “trying to cause disunity” by fabricating reports of BNP personnel and party finances, which were later leaked online.“Nick Griffin expelled from British National party,” Guardian (London), October 1, 2014, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/oct/01/nick-griffin-expelled-from-bnp. By 2015, the BNP suffered a significant decline in popularity. With only 500 members, the group had less than an eighth of the membership numbers it had in 2013.Gordon Rayner, “How Farage took on ‘the skinheads and geezers’ of the far-Right and won,” Telegraph (London), June 27, 2024, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/06/27/how-nigel-farage-took-on-skinheads-and-geezers-far-right/.

Since leaving the BNP in 2014, Griffin kept out of the political scene but remained active on social media where he has continued to spread conspiracy theories. On April 17, 2024, Griffin claimed Israel would strike Iran on the Jewish holiday of Purim, despite the holiday having occurred a month earlier.Nick Griffin, Twitter post, April 17, 2024, 2:40 a.m., https://x.com/NickGriffinBU/status/1780486589757391067.In April 2024, Griffin reportedly began formalizing ties to the Independent Nationalist Network (INN), a leaderless nationalist party based in the West Midlands in England. Though the extent of Griffin’s involvement was not immediately clear, the news signaled that Griffin may be considering a return to politics. “Nick Griffin in last ditch attempt to resurrect his political career,” Searchlight, April 18, 2024, https://www.searchlightmagazine.com/2024/04/nick-griffin-in-last-ditch-attempt-to-resurrect-his-political-career/.