Paul Weston | |
|---|---|
 Weston in 2018 | |
| Leader ofLiberty GB | |
| In office March 2013 – December 2017 | |
| Preceded by | Party founded |
| Succeeded by | Party dissolved |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Paul Martin Laurence Weston 1965 (age 59–60) |
| Political party | UKIP(2010–11) British Freedom Party(2011–12) Liberty GB(2013–2017) For Britain(2017–2022) Advance UK(2025–)[citation needed] |
Paul Martin Laurence Weston (born 1965) is a Britishfar-right politician and blogger.
Weston joined theUK Independence Party (UKIP) in 2010 and stood as a parliamentary candidate forCities of London and Westminster. In 2011, Weston left UKIP and joined the now-defunctBritish Freedom Party with members of theEnglish Defence League (EDL) and former members of theBritish National Party (BNP).[1] From 2013, he was the chairman ofLiberty GB before the party was dissolved in December 2017, recommending its members to joinFor Britain.[2] He was the leader ofPegida UK in 2016.[3]
For Liberty GB, he was a candidate forSouth East England in the2014 European election[4] and forLuton South in the2015 general election. He obtained 158 votes (0.4%).[5]
Weston’s wife isRomanian; they met inRomania.[6][7] Weston is the former President of the English branch of theInternational Free Press Society, which was founded in 2009.[8] His writings have frequently been featured on the blogGates of Vienna.[3][9][10]
When interviewed in 2010 as a member of UKIP, Weston described himself as a "natural Conservative" and described immigration as the "ethnic cleansing of theEnglish".[7] At the time Weston was standing as the UKIP candidate forCities of London and Westminster in theUK general election of 2010. With a 1.8% share of the vote Weston finished in fifth place. The Conservative candidate,Mark Field, won the seat with 19,264 votes.[11]
Soon after leaving UKIP, in 2011 Weston became the chairman of theBritish Freedom Party (BFP) the same year after he had been asked to do so by the activists who had broken away from the BNP in October 2010 to found a new party.[12] Over the years, Weston has attended and addressed numerous gatherings and rallies for such groups asBloc Identitaire in France,Die Freiheit in Germany and theJewish Defence League in Canada.[8] As chairman of the BFP, Weston attended an internationalcounter-jihad conference in September 2011.[3] Yet in an interview, Weston cited a poll conducted bySearchlight, which had found that 48% of the British public would support ananti-immigrant party, so long as the party did not take on explicitlyfascist regalia and was non-violent, as evidence for an electoral basis for the BFP.[13] This was in the midst of a crisis within the BNP and Weston held meetings withAndrew Brons, anMEP, and longstanding figure on the far-right, who was vying for the leadership of the party. Ultimately, Weston left the BFP saying, "I joined the British Freedom Party in late 2011, but became disillusioned with the direction it was taking, over which I had little control."[4]
In November 2012, the BFP officially announced that it had agreed to enter into a formal political alliance with theEnglish Defence League. In October 2012, the party failed to hand-in its annual registration form and pay the fee of £25 and, in December of the same year, was deregistered by theElectoral Commission. The deregistration was statutory rather than voluntary.[14][15]Searchlight speculated that Weston let the party's registration lapse becauseJim Dowson ofBritain First had initiated legal action against the BFP fordefamation over claims made against Britain First's leadership on the BFP website.[14]
Early on, the group was criticised as "old fascist rubbish" in an article by Sonia Gable published inSearchlight.[16] Gable ranked the group alongside theBritish Democratic Party,Britain First and theNational Front.[16] Weston responded and accused his critics atSearchlight of being "acommunist front operation disguised as ananti-fascist organisation". Weston has characterized himself as an "Islamo-realist" and is against Muslim people being able to holdpublic office in the United Kingdom.[17] He has made a video in which he says "I am a racist".[17] In an interview, theBBC'sAndrew Neil brought up the subject of this video and asked him, "Do you regard yourself as a racist?" Weston responded, "No I don't, no." Weston explained that he was indignant about the gang rape thattook place in Rotherhamand Rochdale and the fact that people sometimes fear being labeled racist. He then said, "If you watch the entire video, it is actually making the point that you cannot be quiet about what's going on because you're afraid of one word. It is better to speak out and be honest."[17]
The other Liberty GB candidates in theSouth East England 2014 election were Enza Ferreri andJack Buckby. In 2012, Buckby founded the "National Culturists" while at university inLiverpool.[18] At the time, Buckby was a member of the BNP and received support fromNick Griffin after he and his group were prevented from advertising themselves at the freshers' fair byanti-fascist demonstrators.[19] Buckby was later invited to speak at theAlliance of European National Movements and introduced by Griffin.
At the2015 general election, Weston contestedLuton South for Liberty GB and polled 158 votes (0.4%).[5]
On 26 April 2014, Weston was arrested on the steps of theWinchester Guildhall for failing to comply with a dispersal notice issued under section 27 of theViolent Crime Reduction Act 2006 as he was reading out a passage fromWinston Churchill's 1899 bookThe River War that is critical of Islam. He had been reported to the police by a member of the public after they had asked him if he had permission to give the speech and he replied that he did not. At the police station Weston was then rearrested for a racially aggravated offence under section 4 of thePublic Order Act 1986, compounded with aCrime and Disorder Act 1998 section 31racially aggravated public order offence, and was bailed to return to Winchester Police on 24 May.[6]
In the days after, the story was picked up by news outlets. InThe Telegraph,Daniel Hannan, an MEP forSouth East England, whom Weston was running against at the time, asked: "Why should it fall to me to defend him? Where are the lion-hearted liberals who are so quick to denounce political arrests in distant dictatorships? I realise that 'political arrest' is a strong phrase, but it's hard to think of any other way to describe a candidate for public office being taken into police custody because of objections to the content of his pitch."[20]
Hampshire Police and Crime CommissionerSimon Hayes responded to the media coverage on the Hampshire Police and Crime Commission website:
It has been wrongly suggested that Mr Weston was arrested for reciting passages written by Winston Churchill. I understand he was not welcome outside the Winchester Guildhall, the Police were called and he was asked to move on. I also understand that he was not prepared to move on and was arrested for this reason.
Members of the public are of course at liberty to debate issues of importance to them in private or public spaces. However, there must be a level of decorum and decency.
Hampshire Constabulary has an obligation to ensure action is taken if decency or safety is put at risk and, if there is any reason to suspect they have intervened unnecessary [sic], this will be investigated.
As far as I am aware, this is not so in this case. With the local and European elections coming up, it is important to register that there is a great deal of politically motivated spin going on at the moment which it [sic] is having a significant impact on local policing – both in terms of vital frontline rescourse [sic] and reputation.[21]
In 2016, Weston participated in a "counterjihad" panel at the annualConservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in the United States, sponsored byFrank Gaffney and theCenter for Security Policy.[22]
| Date | Constituency | Party | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Cities of London and Westminster | UKIP | 664 | 1.8 | |
| 2015 | Luton South | Liberty GB | 158 | 0.4[5] | |
| Date | Constituency | Party | Votes | % | Note | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | South East England | Liberty GB | 2,494 | 0.1 | Multi-member constituency. Other candidates: Enza Ferreri,Jack Buckby | |
Weston promotes thewhite genocide conspiracy theory.[23] He claimed that white genocide is occurring in Britain.[24]
