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National Democrats (UK)
Abbreviation	ND
Founded	1995
Dissolved	2011
Ideology	British nationalism Right-wing populism Third Position Euroscepticism National conservatism
Political position	Far-right
Politics of the United Kingdom Political parties Elections

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TheNational Democrats (ND) was aBritish nationalist party in theUnited Kingdom (UK). The former party chairman,Ian Anderson, died on 2 February 2011,^[1] and the party was de-registered with theElectoral Commission on 10 March 2011.

The party evolved out of theFlag Group wing of theBritish National Front (NF), which gained control of the NF during the early 1990s. Party leader Ian Anderson sought to change the name of the NF to the National Democrats. 72% of the membership voted for the change in a postal ballot; by changing the name it was hoped to avoid the connotations associated with the NF name.^[2] However, the move was resisted by other NF members and so the National Democrats came into existence as a new party.

The party contested two parliamentary by-elections in 1996. InHemsworth, Mike Cooper received 111 votes (0.5%) and, inSouth East Staffordshire, Sharron Edwards received 358 votes (0.8%).^[3] Although the NDs never took part in regularly scheduled European elections, it did contest theMerseyside West by-election in whichSimon Darby stood but only gained 718 votes (1.2%).^[4]

In the1997 general election, the party contested 21 seats and received a total of 10,829 votes, compared to 35,832 for its rivals in theBritish National Party (BNP), and 2,719 votes for the NF. The party's best result was inWest Bromwich West, where Steven Edwards received 11.4% of the vote. However, this was not a normal constituency, since this was the constituency of then House SpeakerBetty Boothroyd, which major parties by convention do not contest. The party was severely damaged immediately before the 1997 election when it was revealed byThe Sunday Times and theDaily Mail that leading member Andy Carmichael was working forMI5.^[5] Where the West Midlands had been a stronghold, it now began to fall apart, and in 1998, the local branch, which included leading ND activist Simon Darby, defected to the BNP, leaving only a small number of party loyalists behind. The party did not nominate candidates in the2001 general election.

In the early 1990s, the National Front was left a legacy of almost one hundred thousandpounds by a party supporter. Following the 1995 name change to the National Democrats the legacy remained with the National Democrats under the control of Ian Anderson. The money was spent on the purchase of Britannia House – the building doubled as party HQ and the site of Anderson's printing business.^[6]

The National Democrats attempted to give the impression of attracting a mass membership. It never did; most people who left the NF joined the BNP instead, resulting in the legacy being used for election work and costly deposits, all of which were lost. The party printed a glossy monthly magazine calledVanguard that was edited by Blackburn-based Stephen Ebbs which lost money on every print and was subsidised by legacy cash.^[6][7] Publication of the former NF paper,The Flag, continued, now in support of the new party.^[8]

In January 1998, Ian Anderson accompanied members of the anti-paedophile campaign People Power when they delivered a letter to Downing Street demanding tougher action against child abusers.^[9] Also in attendance were other extreme right wingers, including Paul Ballard of the BNP and Bill Binding, exposed bySearchlight as a leader of the British branch of theKu Klux Klan and a former BNP parliamentary candidate. A plan to hand out extreme right-wing literature was abandoned whenCurtis Sliwa, leader of theGuardian Angels vigilante group, turned up with members, some of whom were non-white. People Power's literature was produced by Ian Anderson, from his printing business inDagenham.^[10]

Following this, the National Democrats set up a website called Paedophile Watch to "out" suspected child abusers with leaflets and demonstrations. The site also listed newspaper reports containing the names and addresses of convicted sex offenders.^[11] Reporters from theNews of the World sought information from Ian Anderson for their "name and shame" stunt.^[9]

Campaign for National Democracy

Formation	?
President	Ian Anderson
Website	[12]

By 2000, the National Democrats had ceased to exist with only theFlag newspaper being published as an independent publication, without reference to the National Democrats or the Campaign for National Democracy.^[6][13]

By the beginning of 2002, the party continued as a pressure group under the nameCampaign for National Democracy;^[14] until 2008.^[15] The party officially ceased to exist after the death of its leader at the beginning of 2011.

• Simon Darby, parliamentary candidate, left the party in 1998 for the BNP and became its press officer and deputy leader.^[16]
• Martin Wingfield, co-editor ofThe Flag, left the party in 2001 and joined the BNP and became editor of itsVoice of Freedom paper.^[17]
• Sharron Edwards, parliamentary candidate, left the party in 1999, stood as first candidate on the West Midlands list for the BNP in the 1999 European elections and later became deputy chairwoman of the BNP^[18] before helping to form the Freedom Party.

The party contested 21 seats, receiving a total of 10,829 votes (less than 0.1% of the total). No candidates were elected, and the party lost all but one of its deposits.^[19]

*West Bromwich West was the Speaker's seat and was not contested by the major parties. The candidates wereBetty Boothroyd (Speaker, 54.8%), Richard Silvester (Independent, 23.3) and Steven Edwards (ND, 11.4%)

Source:^[20]

Source:^[21]

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