SLOWLY BUT SURELY the National Liberal Party is growing.  Our growth is not wildly spectacular by any means, but at this stage of our development we’re more than happy with small gains here and there.  The NLPs future growth and direction depends on what we do now – so we’re patiently planning, training and building.

(4)   http://nationalliberal.org/a-qa-to-graham-williamson

ALL NATIONAL LIBERAL PARTY members and supporters will know that we pulled out all the stops to contest the recent European Elections.  To stand eight candidates in the London Region was a massive task for us.  We’re a very small and relatively new political group.  However, we managed to raise enough funds to pay for the deposit (which was £5000 alone!) and print one million leaflets.  We also canvassed some areas and attended several demonstrations and meetings.  This was a massive logistical exercise for us – but we managed to do it!

• Send a cheque or PO to NLP, PO Box 4217, Hornchurch, Essex, RM12 4PX, England.

Graham Williamson is a member of the National Council and was one of the eight candidates that stood for the National Liberal Party in the London Region in the recent European Parliamentary elections. At some point he was accused by a partisan journalist of being a ‘far-right’ activist. Following the election we interviewed him on the campaign.

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What do think of the results of the election and the campaign in general?

Last year a number of us in the pressure group Nations without States discussed whether the cause of Self-determination (SD) could benefit by fighting an election campaign. We knew that we could use the campaign to profile individual causes and the principle of SD. We were able to raise the deposit (£5k) and pay for 1m leaflets which were delivered ‘free’ by the Royal Mail. We believe we achieved that goal and SD has become a political issue in the UK (albeit small). We also knew that whilst most people were unlikely to actually vote on the issue, members of the SD communities may do so? In the end 6,736 did. It wasn’t a record breaking figure but in time with growing awareness of the party and credibility plus greater resources/materials and experience it shall be!

In the campaign you were personally attacked as being ‘far-right’?

I was in the National Front some 25 years ago. I had originally joined as a student. In the 1980’s it had split into factions. The one I was in was largely composed of young people who attempted to break out of that party’s negative image by making their (the faction’s) objection to racism explicit. However, it became clear that the negativity was simply to strong and the image unsalvageable. The group decided to close itself down in 1989.

My political journey had already begun in the 1980’s and continued from 1990 when I helped form a ‘Think-Tank’ called Third Way which largely focused on economic issues. In 2005 I co-authored a book entitled ‘Progressive Nationalism’ which criticised far-right parties such as UKIP and the BNP for pursuing reactionary or racist policies whilst still claiming to be ‘patriotic’. My belief that the personal liberty of a nation’s citizens is paramount and that this liberty is best preserved by a democratic nation state, led to the formation of the National Liberal Party in 2006. This was reformed in 2013, under a new multi-ethnic National Council, as the National Liberal Party-True Liberalism. It has been a long journey.

Unfortunately, it seems that some are not prepared to accept that people can change/develop their political opinions. It is sloppy journalism often motivated by their own political prejudice.

Why do they ignore your present views?

By and large the individuals who ‘researched’ and wrote a C4 article and forwarded anonymous ones to whoever they could, were motivated by political malice. They are not neutral observers. Such people believe in the primacy of ‘class struggle’ and do not believe in national identity, which at best they see as an obstacle to their Marxist utopia or at worst as racist or xenophobic (I’m not sure whether they actually believe it or feel it is a convenient slur i.e. Ends justifying the means etc.). Such critics never discuss our views/policies because it would undermine their narrative.

Ironically, the far-left have tried to hijack national liberation movements for their own class-war ends but have failed miserably because the latter are motivated by love of nation/people rather than class. Perhaps they were motivated by jealousy of our success, compared to them, in promoting self-determination?

They are not averse to invention too. The refer to an Italian (Fiore) who I barely knew, as being my mentor in promoting national liberation movements, in inspiring the name of the Third Way and even the National Liberal party’s election campaign! None of this is true and no evidence was presented.

They criticised the Third Way for a leaflet it allegedly produced last year yet ignored the fact that it had split from the NLP when Patrick Harrington parted from us as far back as 2009?

They criticise me for working for a Trade Union they say the BNP is favourable to? They ignore that fact that it has many ethnic minority members, fights cases of racial discrimination and takes a progressive political view.

They even criticised my facebook friends. I must confess of those thousand, only a few are known personally to me, but I do know they chose to ignore that the majority are from the ethnic minority community. Clutching at straws springs to mind.

In other words the articles are written to attack me and thus the party rather than find out the truth, especially if it doesn’t fit with their own prejudice and beliefs. I felt sorry for my fellow candidates for I was only one of eight and one of four/five members of the National Council yet chose to concentrate on me. It was touching however to find all of them rallying in my support and dismissing the attack as political muck-raking.

What’s next?

Since the campaign, more and more nations and their representatives have come forward to support the party and the pressure group. We now hope to contest seats in the next General Election, some of them on the issue of self-determination. In general, the future of the movement lies in the hands of the young and we hope to launch a youth wing very soon. In terms of leadership I very much buy into the belief that a member of the self-determinist community will one-day emerge as one of a number of charismatic ‘leaders’ of the party. (See the article ‘Where is Britain’s Obama?’ http://nationalliberal.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/NH3.pdf).