It would be remiss of us not to report the latest outing for one of the oldest Jew-haters in town, Martin Webster, who turned up as guest speaker at a British Democrats meeting in Kent last weekend.
Webster, who will be 82 in a few weeks’ time, began his hatemongering odyssey in A.K. Chesterton’s League of Empire Loyalists before deciding that Colin Jordan’s National Socialist Movement sounded more fun. He was part of the gang that ran the NSM’s paramilitary wing Spearhead. (His lifelong pal Denis Pirie, who was jailed for his role in Spearhead, died just a few weeks ago.)
He was part of the gang that ran the NSM’s paramilitary wing Spearhead
At that time he boasted that “We are building a well-oiled nazi machine in this country” – which provided the title of a famous pre-magazine publication by Searchlight in 1974.
Webster’s own time behind bars was for attacking the Kenyan prime minister Jomo Kenyatta. During the 1970s he formed a successful double-act with his fellow jackbooted NSM Hitler worshipper John Tyndall, turning the National Front into the most effective far right party the UK had ever seen until the BNP of the 2000s.
Tyndall was the party leader, Webster its National Activities Organiser.
Marching orders
In 1983 he was forced out of his paid positions in the NF and eventually expelled from the party by Nick Griffin and his gang of juvenile ‘political soldiers’. For a very short time Webster tried to create a splinter party, Our Nation, backed by Pirie and by the French heiress Françoise Dior.
He then worked for years with the veteran antisemite Lady Birdwood and was a beneficiary of her will, and occasionally turned up at cross-party events in London run by the likes of Troy Southgate, Jez Turner, and former BNP organiser Chris Roberts.
Webster’s most recent high-profile activity was as chairman and speaker at several meetings and rallies that attempted to exploit the 1940s conflict in what was then the British mandate of Palestine, aiming to stir up hatred against 21st century Jews. At these events he worked with a gang of fellow Jew-haters including Turner (jailed for inciting hatred against Jews).
Not ageing well
His appearance at a British Democrats event won’t do much to diminish the Brit Dems reputation as the most geriatric of the various far right parties and factions.
But he should fit in well with his old comrade Andrew Brons, the Brit Dems founder and president, if they can ignore their factional differences from more than forty years ago. It was after all Brons who wrote to Webster’s old friend Françoise Dior about a colleague who was enthusiastically advocating burning synagogues.
Never forget that their ideological and often personal roots are in the hate-fuelled politics of thuggery and arson
Brons said he had “a dual view” on this subject. He wrote of the aspirant synagogue arsonist that “although I realise he is well-intentioned, I feel that our public image may suffer considerable damage as a result of these activities. I am however open to correction on this point.”
When such parties talk in 2025 about community politics, litter picking and soup kitchens, we should never forget that their ideological and often personal roots are in the hate-fuelled politics of thuggery and arson.
