Richard Edmonds
| Richard Edmonds | |
|---|---|
| Deputy Chairman and National Organiser of the British National Party | |
|
In office 1982–1999 |
|
| Leader | John Tyndall |
| Succeeded by | Sharron Edwards (as Deputy Chairman) |
| Chairman of the British National Party Acting |
|
|
In office 1986 |
|
| Leader | John Tyndall |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
10 March 1943 Hounslow, Middlesex, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party |
National Front British National Party |
Richard Charles Edmonds (born 10 March 1943) is an English far-right political activist. He was the deputy chairman and national organiser of the British National Party (BNP) and has also been prominent in the National Front during two spells of membership.
Edmonds began his political career as a member of the National Front (NF), in which he held a number of positions during John Tyndall's chairmanship of the party. In the October 1974 general election he was NF candidate at Deptford, polling 1,731 votes (4.5%). At this time, he was a mathematics teacher at Tulse Hill Comprehensive. In his election address he said: "To young immigrants, Richard Edmonds says that they should study to the best of their abilities, for their duty and future lie in helping their compatriots to build up their own countries". He followed Tyndall into the New National Front in 1980 and was appointed head of the youth section, editing Young Nationalist magazine.
From 1982, Edmonds held senior positions within the newly formed British National Party (BNP), eventually becoming deputy leader and also acting leader for a spell in 1986 while Tyndall was in prison for incitement to racial hatred. Edmonds took a role in funding the party, including partially funding the purchase of a new party headquarters and bookshop in Welling. Edmonds ran the party's Welling premises, living in the premises, for ten years, from 1989 to 1999. In the 1992 election he gained a 3.6% share of the vote in Bethnal Green and Stepney, the party's best showing in that election.
Edmonds has a number of criminal convictions. In 1988, The Sunday Times revealed that Holocaust News, a publication that claimed the Holocaust was an "evil hoax", was being published by Edmonds, on behalf of a BNP front organisation, the Centre for Historical Review, and distributed by members. According to John Tyndall, after this interview took place Edmonds gave Jon Craig and Jo Revell, the two journalists covering the story, his business card telephone number in the strictest confidence. Subsequently the published article contained the name of the company Edmonds worked for. Tyndall wrote that the next day Edmonds was told he would have to leave. The theme was re-visited in Panorama on 8 April 1991, when Edmonds described the publication as "a wonderful statement of the truth".
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