Far right, extreme right, hard right, radical right, and fascist right are terms used to discuss the position a group or person occupies within right-wing politics. The terms are often used to imply that someone is an extremist. The terms have been used by different scholars in somewhat conflicting ways.Betz & Immerfall 1998; Betz 1994; Durham 2000; Durham 2002; Hainsworth 2000; Mudde 2000; Berlet & Lyons, 2000.

Far right politics are usually supremacist; a belief that superiority and inferiority is an innate reality between individuals and groups, and a complete rejection of the concept of social equality as a norm.Merkl, Peter H. and Leonard Weinberg, Right-wing Extremism in the Twenty-first Century (London, England, UK; Portland, Oregon, USA: Frank Cass Publishers), p. 127 Far right politics often support segregation; the separation of groups deemed to be superior from groups deemed to be inferior.Merkl, Peter H. and Leonard Weinberg, Right-wing Extremism in the Twenty-first Century (London, England and Portland, Oregon, USA: Frank Cass Publishers), p. 127. Far right politics also commonly include authoritarianism, nativism, racism and xenophobia.Hilliard, Robert L. and Robert L and Michael C. Keith, Waves of Rancor: Tuning in the Radical Right New York: M. E. Sharpe Inc., 1999

Many of these parties stem from either the legacy of Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists, or the political views held by either John Tyndall, Andrew Fountaine, Eddy Morrison, Ian Anderson, Colin Jordan and A. K. Chesterton, along with those of their parties like the British National Party, National Front, National Socialist Movement and National Democrats over the last 40 years.

The ideologies usually associated with the far right include fascism, Nazism and other ultra-nationalist, religiously extreme or reactionary ideologies.Davies & Derek Lynch, The Routledge Companion to Fascism and the Far Right, Psychology Press, 2002Martin Durham, The Christian Right, the Far Right and the Boundaries of American Conservatism, Manchester University Press, 2000Peter H. Merkl & Leonard Weinberg, Right-wing Extremism in the Twenty-first Century, Psychology Press, 2003Roger Eatwell & Cas Mudde, Western Democracies and the New Extreme Right Challenge, Taylor & Francis, 2004

The term radical right refers to sections of the far right that promote views which are very conservative in traditional left-right terms, but which aim to break with prevailing institutions and practices.Plotkem, David and Daniel Bell,The Radical Right, 3rd ed. (Transaction Publishers, 2001) p. xiii The radical right does not have a clear structure, but rather consists of overlapping subcultures with diverse styles of rhetoric, dress, and symbolism whose cohesion comes from the use of alternative system of communications.Militias, Christian Identity and the Radical Right by Michael Barkun, accessed 11 April 2010

1940s

British League of Ex-Servicemen and Women

The British League of Ex-Servicemen and Women had its roots in a 1937 former soldiers' welfare group.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. 176 This was taken over by Jeffrey Hamm in 1944 and became a Mosleyite group. It was absorbed into the Union Movement in 1948.

British Peoples' Party The British People's Party (BPP) was formed in 1939 by BUF member and former Labour Party MP John Beckett. The party, which campaigned against the Second World War, continued to exist until 1954.D. Boothroyd, The History of British Political Parties, London: Politico's Publishing, 2001, p. 24

English National Association The English National Association (ENA) was a political group active in the United Kingdom during the Second World War, founded in 1942. The ENA, Seeking to regroup former members of the British Union of Fascists, the group was founded by John Webster and Edward Godfrey and was originally called the British National Party (BNP).Peter Barberis, John McHugh, Mike Tyldesley, Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organizations, 2002, p. 177 The group contested the 1943 Acton by-election with Godfrey officially running as independent, although he finished bottom of the poll with 258 votes. It did not survive the war.

Union Movement

The Union Movement was established by Oswald Mosley in 1948 as an amalgamation of a number of groups formed by ex-members of the British Union of Fascists. The party advocated a Pan-European nationalism policy that Mosley termed Europe a Nation and on this basis sought close links with parties in other European countries through initiatives such as the National Party of Europe and the European Social Movement. It also campaigned domestically against immigration at home and contested a number of elections, albeit without having any candidates elected. The party continued in existence until 1973 when it became the Action Party.

1950s

British Empire Party The British Empire Party was a minor right-wing party in the United Kingdom. It was founded in the early 1950s by P. J. Ridout, a former member of the Imperial Fascist League.Peter Barberis, John McHugh and Mike Tyldesley, Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organizations It had a single candidate in the 1951 general election.

League of Empire Loyalists The League of Empire Loyalists was a ginger group established in 1954, campaigning against the dissolution of the British Empire in the 1950s and 1960s. It was a small group of current or former members of the Conservative Party led by Arthur K. Chesterton, a former leading figure in the British Union of Fascists, who had served under Oswald Mosley. The League found support from a number of Conservative Party members, although they were disliked very much by the leadership.S. Taylor, The National Front in English Politics, London: Macmillan, 1982, p. 12 They were well known for various stunts at Conservative Party meetings and conferences (acting as a constant irritant to the party). As time progressed, the group became primarily concerned with opposing non-white immigration into Britain and were instrumental in the founding (with other right-wing and neo-Nazi groups) of the National Front in February 1967.

White Defence League The White Defence League was formed in 1958 as a splinter group from the League of Empire Loyalists, formed from those who resented the LEL's refusal to contest elections and its strong links to the Conservative Party. The WDL was vehemently against non-white immigration and used the provocative marching techniques popularised by Oswald Mosley, although with much less support than Mosley had in his heyday. In 1960 the party merged with the National Labour Party to form the old British National Party.S. Taylor, The National Front in English Politics, London: Macmillan, 1982M. Walker, The National Front, Glasgow: Fontana Collins, 1977 It was led by Colin Jordan and produced its own newspaper Black and White News sporadically between 1958 and 1959. John Tyndall had also been a member.

The National Labour Party The National Labour Party was another splinter group from the League of Empire Loyalists, founded by John Bean in 1957. The group was similar to the White Defence League, albeit along the lines of a political party rather than a pressure group, and the two merged to form the British National Party in 1960.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. 189

1960s

British National Party The British National Party was formed in 1960 by the merger of the National Labour Party and the White Defence League.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. 177 The party was led by John Bean, with Andrew Fountaine holding the position of Party President, and other leading members including John Tyndall, Colin Jordan (who served as Activities Organiser), Denis Pirie and Ted Budden. The widow of Arnold Leese served as vice-president of the party. The party's main policies were an end to immigration, repatriation of immigrants and belief in an international Jewish conspiracy.Barberis et al, Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organizations, p. 178 Elements within the party also expressed support for Nazism and a paramilitary arm, Spearhead, was set up by Tyndall. The BNP managed to secure an 8.1% share of the vote in Deptford in the 1960 London County Council (LCC) elections, a large result for a new party without name recognition. After some in-fighting Jordan and Tyndall left in 1962 to set up the National Socialist Movement, leaving the BNP in the hands of Bean. The group merged into the National Front in 1967.

The National Socialist Movement The National Socialist Movement was formed on 20 April 1962, Adolf Hitler's birthday, by Colin Jordan, with John Tyndall as his deputy.Roger Eatwell , The Independent, 21 July 2005 as a splinter group from the original British National Party. A strongly neo-Nazi group it campaigned against "race traitor" Patrick Gordon Walker, the Foreign Secretary. It collapsed in the late 1960s and was replaced by the British Movement.

The Greater Britain Movement The Greater Britain Movement was a political group formed by John Tyndall in 1964 after he split from Colin Jordan's National Socialist Movement. The group broke from open Nazism to follow what Tyndall called "Authoritarian Nationalism". It was absorbed into the National Front in 1967 with members admitted 'on probation', leading to the GBM ceasing to exist.N. Copsey, Contemporary British Fascism, Palgrave Macmillan, 2004, p. 15

The British Movement The British Movement (BM), later called the British National Socialist Movement (BNSM), was a neo-Nazi political party founded by Colin Jordan in 1968 as a continuation of the NSM. It contested the UK general elections in 1970 and in February 1974 on a neo-Nazi platform, attracting little support. Michael McLaughlin became the leader in 1975 and won the BM new support from the growing racist skinhead and football hooligan movements.N. Lowles & S. Silver, White Noise, London: Searchlight, 1998 The group disappeared in the mid-1980s following revelations from Ray Hill but returned in September 1983 and has continued to exist in some form to the present day.

The Racial Preservation Society The Racial Preservation Society (RPS) was a right-wing pressure group opposed to non-white immigration and in favour of white supremacy. It was established in 1965 by Robin Beauclaire and Jimmy Doyle as a propaganda organisation.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, pp. 192–193 Elements of the group were associated with the National Democratic Party and others with the National Front although it continued to exist at least until the 1970s.

The National Democratic Party The National Democratic Party was formed by Dr David Brown of the RPS in 1966. The group attracted local pockets of support but struggled to cope with the emergence of the National Front the following year and faded in the 1970s.

The National Front