Jim Dowson   “One thing I agree with Anjem Choudary on, is a just war, a holy war, he calls it jihad, I call it the crusade.”             Interviewer     “Your rhetoric is identical to theirs in that respect, isn’t it?”
Jim Dowson   “Maybe is but we’re right they’re wrong.”
Interviewer     “Do you think Jesus would agree to what you’re doing?”
Jim Dowson    “Absolutely.”

Jim Dowson; associate of BNP, helping them raise £4ml in start up capital, affiliate of far right groups and founder of Britain First. Jim is a little camera shy, and rarely does public appearances, so Paul Golding does his public bidding. Paul Golding, along with many of Britain First’s members is a former BNP member and now is chairman of BF.

Now, as Paul Golding is the chairman and public speaker for a public organisation in Britain, he must therefore be scrutinised as such. The anti-abortion campaigner has led the group through years of stagnation but now, 4 years later, has been able to steam up a little clout. Paul leads his vigilante twenty to forty odd-so across streets in the UK within armoured army vehicles and army clothing; the question of why would a UK nationalist group need armoured vehicles in the UK itself brings itself forth, but at the end of this article you’ll probably have many more questions, and might even find the prior pedantic.

Paul insists his patrols; are ‘christian patrols’, however I do see a slight contradiction with the term ‘patrol’ being placed in the same scenario as ‘mosque invasions’ as he puts it. Paul jots down spots that he believes to be dangerous and heads to them. Paul enters mosques without knowledge of any respectful customs, and pompously flounders about as if its his own home, well, it is his own country, doesn’t he have the right? To go enter anywhere he pleases? Spewing anything he believes? To anybody he finds? After antagonising the local community who have come to offer prayer, he then vacates and heads to somewhere else and repeats.

You see, there’s no problem, issue or burden with expressing one’s beliefs. It is a liberty we share within a liberal and forward democracy. However, it does become a problem when the expression is executed with venomous arrogance and disrespect. I don’t see an issue with Paul’s ideological thinking, one shared by many actually, and expressing is something I and many others who disagree with Paul would fight for.

The difference with Paul’s thinking and other nationalists such as BNP, UKIP, EDL is that they would have their limits, these ignorant prone cronies would have their line in the sand wherein they wouldn’t cross themselves. Britain First however, I believe, do not. Knocking on people’s houses in their numbers, invading holy sanctuaries, driving around streets with menacing attitudes and appearance cannot constitute freedom of expression, instead it leads to an oppressive, terrorising scene.

I welcome the day a serious far right group, nationalist or not, are able to bring their opinions forward into the political arena, because there are issues that need to be addressed; immigration, culture clashes within society, tackling tolerance amongst communities, etc, etc. Paul Golding’s, Nick Griffin’s and Tommy Robinson’s views are all those shared amongst some of the UK public, but unless there’s a spokesman or group formal enough to be taken seriously, it’ll remain to be another whacko-racist pack of wolves.

We almost saw it emerge from UKIP a while back, their clout, their buzz and followers, until more recently however we see again, another wolf in sheep’s clothing. From Nigel Farage himself caught out with saying he wouldn’t feel comfortable with Romanian neighbours, or finds distaste in foreign speakers in public places, to members of his party blaming homosexuals for floods. Yep, we almost had it, but UKIP, alike their forefathers, blew it.