John Graeme Wood
John Graeme Wood (1933 - 22 November 2007) was a British nationalist political activist who was prominent on the scene from the late 1950s until his death.
Career
Wood was a member of Sir Oswald Mosley's Union Movement and became a Branch Leader. As well as being a member of UM he was also recognised as a personal friend and confidant of Mosley and remained in the UM until 1964, when he joined the British National Party. Remaining with the BNP, Wood became a founding member of the British National Front when it was formed in 1967.
Wood left British politics not long after this as work commitments took him to the Federal Republic of Germany. While there, he established links with the National Democratic Party.
After returning to Britain, Wood linked up with Eddy Morrison in Leeds and followed him into the New National Front. In April 1982 at the Charing Cross Hotel in London, Wood was present at the launch of the (third) British National Party. John Tyndall and a few others, including Charles Parker, Tyndall's father-in-Law, wanted the new party to be called the Nationalist Party but Wood, under pressure from a great majority of northern nationalists in Leeds and Manchester, persuaded Tyndall to adopt the name of the BNP.
Wood remained with the BNP until 1990, when he resigned from the party due to personality clashes with some moderate senior officers. He continued to appear as a guest speaker at party events, fulfilling a similar function for the NF and other groups, without formally participating in any group.
When the White Nationalist Party was formed in 2002, Wood was offered the position of propaganda and Training Officer, which he accepted. Later, in 2003, he led the party as National Organiser. He was still in that position when, on June 6, 2005, the WNP dissolved at a meeting of its National Council in Sheffield and the whole membership was merged into the Nationalist Alliance. Wood retained the position of National Organiser in the new merger and remained there until September 2005 when, due to irreparable differences with fellow members of the National Executive Council, he resigned along with other senior officers, Eddy Morrison, Kevin Watmough and Sid Williamson. Immediately following his resignation from the NA, the leading figures who had resigned with him created a new party, the British Peoples Party. Wood became Chairman of the BPP with Morrison as National Organiser.
After internal disagreements, Wood was expelled from the BPP and he decided to distance himself from fringe politics.
From then and until his death, Wood enjoyed a semi-retirement from nationalist politics.
In 2006 he applied to rejoin the BNP, but his application was turned down by the BNP's leadership. Despite this, Wood maintained good relations with his local BNP branch in Sheffield and provided the branch with both advice and financial support in the run up to the UK's 2007 local elections.
