Mark Cotterill
Mark Adrian Cotterill (born 3 October 1960) is a British nationalist who has been involved in several organisations throughout his political career. He publishes and edits an ethnic nationalist bi-monthly magazine entitled Heritage and Destiny.[1][2]
On 7 May 2019, Cotterill was interviewed for an article about the UK far right which was published in the Financial Times.[3]
Patriotic Forum
In 1992 Cotterill left the National Front and formed the Patriotic Forum.[4][5] The Patriotic Forum was largely composed of fellow ex-NF members, such as Darren Copeland (as Chairman),[6] Keith Jowsey (as secretary),[7] and Alan Harvey. The Patriotic Forum published a right-wing conservative magazine entitled British Patriot[8] which Cotterill edited, and which also featured articles by Steve Brady and Alan Harvey.[9]
Alan Harvey had formed the short-lived White Rhino Club, which supported European Government in South Africa; Harvey later accused Cotterill of sabotaging the Club's activities.[10] In turn Cotterill claimed to have expelled Harvey from the Patriotic Forum, although the organisation had no formal membership. Cotterill was, for a short time, a member of the Conservative Party in Torquay in 1993,[11] and was said to also have been a member of the Revolutionary Conservative Caucus.[12]
In 1994, he was attacked, receiving severe head injuries, by two members of Anti-Fascist Action who were subsequently "charged with unlawful wounding".[13] The following year he stood as an Independent Conservative in the local elections in 1995.[14]
Cotterill wound up the Patriotic Forum and ceased publication of British Patriot in 1995. He became a member of the British National Party (BNP) but moved to the United States.
USA
In 1998, while Cotterill was living just outside Washington, D.C., he formed and ran the American Friends of the British National Party, which raised funds for the BNP.
While living in the USA he campaigned for David Duke in his bid to be elected to the United States Congress in 1999, and worked for Pat Buchanan's bid to be elected President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election. However, (quote) "Buchanan's campaign threw out Cotterill and other racist volunteers after their presence was exposed by the Center for New Community and other groups". This involved Buchanan losing three-quarters of his Northern Virginia campaign staff.[15]
Cotterill became an associate of William Pierce, editing one issue of his Resistance magazine in 1999; he was also the USA distributor for Right Now! magazine.[16] Cotterill was by now defined by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a "key British neofascist".[17]
Due to pressure from the Jewish Far-Left Southern Poverty Law Centre, Cotterill was excluded from the U.S.A. for ten years in 2002.[18]
England First
Returning to England, Cotterill left the BNP, and in 2004 founded and became leader of the England First Party (EFP). He was elected councillor for Meadowhead on Blackburn with Darwen (Lancashire) Borough Council in the 2006 local elections for the England First Party, defeating the incumbent Labour councillor by more than 400 votes. However, Cotterill resigned the seat in May 2007 and also stood down from the party leadership.[19]
In the 2008, 2010, 2011, and 2012 Preston Council elections, Cotterill again stood as the EFP candidate.[20] In addition, in the 2009 Lancashire County Council election he was a candidate for the Preston East division.
As for the European Union, the England First Party worked with the English Democrats and attended and Cotterill addressed their conference in Darwen, Lancashire. Cotterill stated that the parties had differences on race, immigration and independence, but they had in common withdrawal from EU and putting England first.[21]
The England First Party was de-registered on 14 June 2012.
External links
Sources
- ↑ Heritage and Destiny website: Publications/reviews
- ↑ http://www.heritageanddestiny.com/on-the-campaign-trail-in-bradford/
- ↑ "UK far-right extremism: hate spreads from the fringe", The Financial Times, (subscription required)
- ↑ Mercer, Paul Directory of British Political Organisations Longmans (1994) p264
- ↑ Peter Rushton, Heritage and Destiny, issue 34 (2009) p4
- ↑ Vanguard magazine, issue 40 (1983) p.22
- ↑ Searchlight, issue 207, September 1992, p.12
- ↑ Mercer, 1994, p.264
- ↑ Searchlight, issue 219, September 1993, p12
- ↑ Speech given by Alan Harvey
- ↑ Paul Waugh, "BNP's strategy of prejudice was sinister but simple", The Independent, 1 September 2001
- ↑ Fascism and the Establishment Britain: For King and Country.
- ↑ Birchall, Sean, Beating The Fascists: The Untold Story of Anti-Fascist Action, Freedom Press (2010) p.361
- ↑ Template:Webarchive Archived from the original
- ↑ Hands Across the Water. Southern Poverty Law Center.
- ↑ "Right Now!", Searchlight, July 1998
- ↑ Dangerous Liaisons. Southern Poverty Law Center article (2002).
- ↑ Southern Poverty Law Center article.
- ↑ David Bartlett, "England First pair quit party", Lancashire Telegraph, 5 March 2007
- ↑ Preston City Council Electoral Services
- ↑ England First party speaks at English Democrats' conference in Darwen.
