From ITV News:
Following the decision by all major political parties to not contest the upcoming by-election for Jo Cox’s seat out of respect for her family, one smaller party has announced that it will.
Jack Buckby, who is part of ‘radical patriotic conservative’ party Liberty GB, took to social media to make the announcement that he was standing for election in Batley and Spen.
Liberty GB (var. LibertyGB) was founded in 2013 by Paul Weston, who formerly headed British Freedom; in 2011 Weston was part of a “counterjihad leadership summit” in London, after which his party made a formal association with the English Defence League. In 2014, Weston spoke at an EDL rally in London, at which he denounced David Cameron as a “traitor”.
In 2012, as I noted at the time, Weston met with allies in the USA, and he spoke at an event in New York co-hosted by Brigitte Gabriel of Act for America and Lawrence Auster. Auster, who died the following year, was a self-described “racialist” with pro-BNP views.
Buckby, as has been widely reported, is himself formerly with the BNP; in 2013, VICE described him as the “Boy Wonder of the Far-Right”, and Macleans followed up with a profile. Buckby describes himself as the founder of a student movement called “National Culturalism”, in association with John Press (or, as he prefers to style himself, “John K. Press, Ph.D”), past president of the Brooklyn Tea Party and now based in South Korea (where he teaches English at Namseoul University, although he prefers to emphasise that he gives a course on his “Culturalist” philosophy).
A recent Tweet from Liberty GB has announced that “1st interview after announcing candidacy for election will be with @Gavin_McInnes today. Turned down UK media. No respect 4 lying UK press.” Buckby and Weston have appeared on the Gavin McInnes Show previously; in 2014, Media Matters described the presenter as a “Hipster Racist”, and gave an overview:
McInnes currrently writes for Taki’s Magazine, a “paleoconservative” website that publishes overtly racist articles including ones by neo-confederates. At Taki’s, McInnes has referred to Asian-Americans as “slopes” and “riceballs,” suggested Muslims are “stupider” and “more violent” due to inbreeding, defended blackface because some minstrel shows were “just mimicking black people” and “fun,” backed the racist comments of Duck Dynasty’s Phil Robertson, and argued that to yell the n-word at someone is “not racist” but “just very rude.” He also owns his own website, StreetCarnage.com, where he defended Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy’s racist comments because Bundy was just “wonder[ing]” if African-Americans were better off under slavery. In 2013, 18 Milling Rising gave him a “Lifetime Achievement Award in Hipster Racism,” a brand of racism marked by making “ironically” racist “jokes.”
Buckby and Weston take the view that the Labour Party is to blame for Jo Cox’s death, and on Facebook Liberty GB quotes her pro-immigration views under the heading “Death of a Fool”. Buckby also argues that “The left and LGBT” were responsible for the Orlando shootings, for not being anti-Islam.
When it was announced that the main parties would not contest the Batley and Spen by-election, it seemed like a reasonable (although not unarguable) gesture: there would be little appetite for proper campaigning after the tragedy, and a low-key transition to a new Labour MP would send a signal that the country rejects the idea that an assassin can influence the political process. But it also now means that a far-right candidate will be campaigning against just one mainstream party opponent, with other potential alternative voices reluctant to enter the electoral process for reasons of respect and good taste.
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