National Independence Party (UK)

The National Independence Party was a minor far-right party that appeared in British politics during the 1970s. The party was led by John Davis, and campaigned on a platform similar to that of the much bigger National Front (NF) on anti-immigration, anti-European Economic Community, anti-communism themes.

The party was found by John Davis who had been an ally of Andrew Fountaine before establishing his own group in the late 1960s. Davis was a well-established friend of John O'Brien. When the latter became NF chairman in 1970, co-operation between the two parties increased, as was evidenced by the role Davis played in convincing the National Democratic Party to drop its candidate for the St Marylebone by-election and instead to campaign on behalf of the NF's Malcolm Skeggs.

The close work between the NIP and NF came to an end when John Tyndall took charge of the latter. However, the struggle to gain the leadership had proven divisive and the NIP's ranks were swollen by the defection of O'Brien and his supporters away from the NF. The overall impact was not great, however, as Tyndall and Martin Webster were able to use Spearhead to portray O'Brien as merely a tool of an establishment determined to smash the NF whilst the NIP was little known in comparison to the NF, meaning that some NF members who sympathised with O'Brien were nevertheless not prepared to switch sides. Nonetheless, Air Vice Marshal Don Bennett, a leading opponent of the Common Market, was among the figures to at least temporarily make the NIP the focus of his patronage following O'Brien's defection.

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