As with all democracies the United Kingdom has a bewildering variety of extremist political parties on the extreme left and right. The largest far-right party, the British National Party has no representation in the UK parliament, it does, however have two Members of the European Parliament (MEPS) including the party’s leader, Nick Griffin.

As with many parties of the extreme right the BNP has attempted to throw off it’s image as a racist and anti-semitic organisation. The party’s policy of the forceable repatriation of non-white immigrants to what the BNP terms their “homelands” has been abandoned as official party policy, however scratch below the surface of respectability and the organisation remains the same racist and Nazi organisation (witness for example the clips on the internet of prominent party members making racist and anti-semitic comments).

In “New British Fascism: The Rise of the British National Party” Mathew J Goodwin examines the party in detail including in-depth interviews with BNP members and supporters. The book offers a fascinating insight into what makes extremists tick and I’d recommend it to anyone who wishes to understand the disturbing growth of political extremism. For Goodwin’s book please visit http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0053D73WC?ie=UTF8&ref=oce_digital