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UK: National Front name change

01 July 1995

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In July the fascist National Front (NF) announced that they had changed their name to the National Democratic Party. The decision follows a collapse in membership and support since the party split in 1986. Following the split the party, under the low-key leadership of Ian Anderson, saw a steady flow of defections to the British National Party and, more recently, Combat 18. Announcing the decision, press officer Martin Wingfield, said that the decision came about because people had been "put off because of our name...which has skinhead associations". In a postal vote 72% voted in favour of the change and 28% were against. There is believed to have been strong resistance to the change among NF supporters in the Midlands stronghold where members threatened to defect to the British National Party. Anti-fascists have pointed out that the nowadays the NF can hardly be considered a national party and expressed surprise that the word "democratic" was part of their vocabulary.

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