Our Nation

Our Nation was a minor movement on the far right of British politics, briefly led by Martin Webster.

The genesis of the movement came in December 1983, when the National Directorate of the National Front voted to expel Webster, along with Michael Salt, ostensibly because the two were involved in a homosexual relationship in what was an avowedly homophobic party. Politically, however, the move had as much to do with Webster's past as a supporter of the since departed (to lead the British National Party) John Tyndall, as well as his closeness to the increasingly marginalised Andrew Brons. With the Political Soldier wing in the ascendancy, Webster was seen as unwelcome in the NF and so, following his expulsion, he began to organise Our Nation.^[1]

Webster viewed his new movement as being along the lines of the NF before the resignation of Tyndall (although the two had clashed before the expulsion and so he was not invited to join the BNP) and sought out Françoise Dior, who had by then split from Colin Jordan and returned to France, as a source of funding. Despite managing to secure a small sum from Dior, he soon found that his low reputation across the far right made it very difficult for him to attract members to his movement. Although long-standing activist Denis Pirie played a role in organising the group, his input was cut short by newspaper articles revealing his involvement whilst employed at a high level in the civil service.^[2] As a result Our Nation never really got off the ground and before long Webster was forced to abandon his plans (nor did he gain admittance to the Flag Group after Ian Anderson had supported his initial expulsion from the NF, despite being otherwise an opponent of Griffin, Harrington and co). As a result, with his Our Nation project abandoned before it had got off the ground, Webster was forced to spend the rest of his political career in relative obscurity as a freelance, where he remains today.

References

1. ^ Peter Barberis, John McHugh, Mike Tyldesley, Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organizations: Parties, Groups and Movements of the 20th Century, Continuum International Publishing Group, 2000, p. 192
2. ^ R. Hill & A. Bell, The Other Face of Terror, London: Grafton, 1988, p. 206.