Patrick Harrington

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Patrick Harrington taken on Remembrance Sunday, November 10 1985, on one of the annual National Front marches to the Cenotaph
Image reproduced with permission: Copyright of David Hoffman http://www.hoffmanphotos.com

Patrick Harrington's Facebook page, circa August 2011. Screencapture taken 2 August 2011.

Patrick "Pat" Harrington (born 24 May 1964) is a former member of the National Front, one of the original founders of Third Way, is a close advisor to Nick Griffin, leader of the British National Party and is currently General Secretary of the far right, BNP linked trade union, Solidarity - The Union for British Workers.

Education

Patrick Harrington in an image from his party magazine, Third Way No 27, circa 1997, in which he notes 'we have decided to work with the Referendum Party'.

Harrington attended:

• Pimlico Comprehensive School
• Archbishop Tenison’s Grammar School (1978 - 1980)
• Polytechnic of North London (now the London Metropolitan University) - Philosophy (1982 - 1985)
• University of Greenwich (1997 - 1999)

Political trajectory

National Front 1979-1989

Patrick Harrington (centre) at 'Rights for Whites', a National Front march, Maidstone, Kent, July 14, 1984.
Image reproduced with permission: Copyright of David Hoffman http://www.hoffmanphotos.com

Polytechnic of North London protests

Patrick Harrington joined the National Front (NF) in 1979 and it was because of this that, in 1984, he was the target of protests whilst studying philosophy at the Polytechnic of North London. An article in The Guardian stated:

"The Polytechnic of North London students demonstrated against the presence of National Front activist Patrick Harrington, who insisted on his right to study there. A series of divisive court actions and a great deal of damaging publicity resulted. NUS president Phil Woollas, now a Labour MP, said the polytechnic was "simply not functioning any more," with students barred from certain buildings and refusing to attend lectures with Mr Harrington , and lecturers defying the courts by refusing to give names of students on demonstrations outside the college."

British Conservative philosopher Roger Scruton defended Harrington's right to education stating "One does not have to be a National Front sympathizer to wonder who, in this encounter, is the 'fascist'."

Split in the NF

In 1983 a coup within the National Front expelled the old guard, then dominated by Martin Webster, from the organisation. The coup was staged by a group of National Front members which included Patrick Harrington and Nick Griffin. They referred to themselves as 'revolutionaries' and 'political soldiers'.

In 1989 Harrington stood in the Vauxhall by-election as the Official National Front candidate gaining 127 votes while the National Front candidate Edward Budden got 83 votes. Kate Hoey won the seat for Labour with the Revolutionary Communist Party candidate gaining 177 votes.

Political soldier faction

The Poliical Soldier faction then split again over the question of anti-semitism. In 1989 Derek Holland broke with Patrick Harrington and joined Michael Fishwick in following Nick Griffin and Roberto Fiore into the International Third Position (ITP) after Harrington had contacted The Jewish Chronicle with regards to opening dialogue. According to Searchlight: 'Harrington had gone to the Jewish Chronicle and said the NF was no longer anti-Jewish and wanted to seek a rapprochement with the Jewish community.' This was enough to have him expelled from the NF - an action in which Nick Griffin is said to have been 'instrumental'. Harrington's faction, founded in 1990, was known as Third Way

Third Way 1990-present

An article by Nick Griffin, leader of the BNP, published on the Third Way website.

Patrick Harrington helped found Third Way in 1990. Third Way describes itself as:

"...a think-tank dedicated to creating a society based on Justice, Community and Individual freedom against one that is based on Greed, Globalisation and Tyranny.

Third Way stands against all forms of social injustice, racism and religious bigotry. Third Way is for everyone. We promote positive ideas and apart from this website also publish printed material. We advocate Direct Democracy along Swiss lines using referenda and citizens’ initiatives.

We support small business and co-operative ownership.

We also support organisations that promote these ideals in other areas."

Despite such assertions, critics of Third Way, such as George Monbiot and Andrew Gilligan, state it to be a far-right organisation. In an article for The Guardian, Monbiot himself states:

"Third Way, which was founded in 1990 by the front's former chairman and vice-chairman, claims to reject "racism and the politics of hate". But it believes that cultures should, for their own good, be kept apart, and defended from "mass immigration". Globalisation, the splinter group claims, "reduces us to a rootless, transient population disconnected from its history", precipitating ecological crisis and encouraging migration. According to Searchlight magazine, the party's chairman, Patrick Harrington, has stayed in touch with the far right Italian terrorists Massimo Morsello and Roberto Fiore. He has also made contact with the black separatist Nation of Islam and orthodox Jews pursuing "separate development". Third Way, like many far-right groups, has abandoned overt racist aggression in favour of cultural isolation."

A profile of Third Way, published in The Guardian in 2002, highlighted initial co-operation between Harrington and Nick Griffin in establishing the organisation. However a fallout over policy on Jewish people led to them parting company, with Harrington being in favour of allowing Jewish people to join Third Way.

Both Third Way and Solidarity - The Union for British Workers, for whom Patrick Harrington is General Secretary, share the same postal address: Room 407, 12 South Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1DD.

The National Liberal Party - The Third Way

The National Liberal Party (NLP) was formed at the end of 2006 by the political 'think-tank', Third Way, of whom Patrick Harrington is founder. The NLP contested its first ever election in the London Borough of Havering (St Andrews Ward) by-election on June 14th 2007. It received 184 votes or 5.9% of votes cast.

Before the NLP's registration as a political party, candidates stood under the party name of Third Way.

According to the NLP website the party would like to see "... a country run on national liberal principles either through the efforts of a National Liberal Government or through our influence in a coalition or via agitation and propaganda (in conjunction with the work of the Third Way ‘Think-Tank’). At worst, we would campaign to see the implementation of some of our more fundamental policies."

Expelled from the RMT - 2003

On 27 June 2003 Patrick Harrington was expelled from the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) for serious misconduct. General Secretary Bob Crow said: "It is quite clear that Mr Harrington never signed up to the aims and objectives of the union - an organisation which stands quite clearly against racism in any way, shape or form." Harrington was charged as having deceived the union by applying for membership under a false name.

Harrington insisted that he had applied for RMT membership using his married name and a complaint was made against The Guardian after an article it published repeated the claim that he had applied for RMT membership under a false name. An addition was made to the article stating "Mr Harrington states that he joined the RMT using his married name. He denies deceiving the union and will be challenging the expulsion."

In August 2006 Harrington's appeal against his expulsion was rejected. An RMT statement read:

The Assistant Certification Officer yesterday dismissed three complaints that the union had breached its rules as having been brought out of time.

The union's Annual General Meeting in June 2005 had unanimously upheld the June 2003 decision by an RMT disciplinary hearing that Mr Harrington had deceived the union by applying for membership under a false name.

"Mr Harrington was dealt with fairly and squarely under the union's rules and we are pleased that the Assistant Certification Officer has upheld our view that his complaints were inadmissible," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

BNP connections

Patrick Harrington has had close ties to the BNP leader Nick Griffin since their time in the National Front together. Both Harrington and Griffin travelled to Libya in an attempt to raise funds:

It is worth remembering that Harrington in an interview for a television exposé of the NF political soldiers refused to condemn IRA bombings and that Griffin, Harrington and Williamson went to Libya to seek funds from a regime that armed both sides in the Northern Ireland conflict.

However, after Harrington and Griffin split in 1990 and following the rise of Griffin in the BNP, there were a number of occasions where Harrington was critical of the BNP. In around 1997 Harrington was interviewed in the magazine of his 'think tanks' and political party Third Way and responded to the question 'what do you think of the BNP?' as follows:

Not a lot. They are mainly comprised of social inadequates who seek to blame their problems on others. They are sad losers embittered by personal circumstances and seeking the company of others who share their backward looking views. Their social attitudes are typical of the worst elements of the lumpen proletariat... When we reject their reactionary nonsense they revert to type and start mouthing physical threats. It's a kind of 'Mr Nice' and 'Mr Nasty' routine. They don't even do this well.

Of course part of the reason for the critique was to attempt to show that Harrington's Third Way was not a far right party like the BNP.

Working closely with the BNP

Although apparently not a BNP member, there are recent and current clear links between Patrick Harrington and the BNP and its leadership. As Searchlight, the anti-fascist magazine states:

But Griffin has gone out of his way to appoint unsuitable people to senior party positions. The moronic Clive Jefferson was in quick succession given the jobs of north west regional organiser, national elections officer, national organiser, national nominating officer and party treasurer, as well as retaining his job on Griffin’s constituency staff paid for by the European Parliament. Even the most capable person could not have done all those jobs properly.

Jefferson in effect controls the BNP together with Patrick Harrington, who is not a BNP member but a leader of a rival party. He appears to have performed little better than Jefferson. According to Paul Golding, who resigned as the BNP’s communications officer last autumn but remains a BNP councillor, six months after Harrington’s appointment as party manager, “we still have chronic wastage, staff chaos, inefficiency, no contracts (a legal requirement), no staff training and wages not paid and several new employment-related court cases looming. Several staff are even complaining that they are employed but haven’t got any work to do.”

Another Searchlight article claims that despite BNP staff not being paid for two months, the party did pay Patrick Harrington during that time:

The BNP is reported to have closed most of its offices and not paid party staff for two months, apart from Patrick Harrington, Griffin’s comrade from his National Front political soldier days, who now works for the party while still heading a rival group.

Harrington's apparent rapprochement with Griffin has caused tensions inside the BNP.:

As the BNP entered a steep decline following last year’s general election, out of the shadows stepped Harrington again, not quite as fresh-faced as when he last took centre stage in the 1980s, but still not as bloated as Griffin has become since taking over the BNP. Harrington had been running his own minor organisation, Third Way, and a political party, the National Liberal Party, which is supposedly a rival party to the BNP.

One of Harrington’s first acts was to stage a bitter fallout with the officers of the BNP’s fake trade union Solidarity, where with Griffin’s approval Harrington ousted its founder and installed himself as General Secretary.

His next major falling out was with – you guessed it – Dowson. It seems that Harrington has been representing the Belfast call centre staff against Dowson while simultaneously representing the party in negotiations with the same staff, some of whom have still not been paid monies owed since before Christmas.

General Secretary of 'Solidarity'

Patrick Harrington in a photo circa 2009 from his Myspace profile.

Patrick Harrington is General Secretary of Solidarity - The Union for British Workers whilst Adam Walker, a BNP member, is president of the union.. Solidarity states that its focus:

...is on the British Worker. This leads us to oppose the shallow internationalism of some Union leaders. We don't see off-shoring or mass migration of labour as being of benefit to workers in our country. It is certainly in the interest of big business to be able to move labour and capital without heed to national borders. That way they can keep wages down and set one set of workers against another. It certainly isn't in the interest of the ordinary worker here, however.

Wales on Sunday revealed in 2006 that workers who sign up to Solidarity would in effect be funding the BNP. The article stated:

The BNP's top man in Wales, national treasurer John Walker, last night said although Solidarity was not a front for the party, it would have a fundraising role.

"There probably will be a political levy at some stage to the BNP just as other unions raise money for Labour," said Mr Walker from Mancot, Flintshire. "It is quite possible and feasible that when Solidarity becomes fully functional some element of funds raised will be donated to the BNP, but that will have to be decided through consultation with the membership."

Working Closely with 'Civil Liberty'

Civil Liberty is a civil rights organisation set up by key BNP activists. Its head is senior BNP member Kevin Scott. Despite Civil Liberty' claiming to be "...independent of political parties, and has been set up solely in order to assist the thousands of British citizens who have been denied justice on the grounds of their race, skin colour, ethnicity or political opinion", all examples of the organisations work, shown on the official website, are in support of prominent of BNP members.

Patrick Harrington himself claims Solidarity and Civil Liberty work closely together. From the Third Way website:

Solidarity and Civil Liberty also work very closely together. Solidarity General Secretary, Pat Harrington said:

“We appreciate the support of Civil Liberty. It is helping us fight politically motivated discrimination in the workplace. I urge you to sign our online petition and contact Sita Suez with a polite complaint. If you can I would also like you to donate to Civil Liberty. They are in the frontline of helping those who are suffering these modern-day witch-hunts. Please help them so they can help others.”

Views and arguments

Free Speech and the LM network

Patrick Harrington, ex National Front member and close associate of Nick Griffin of the British National Party praises the LM event

In August 1997 as part of their campaign in defence of the racist psychologist Chris Brand, LM organised a 'free speech' event during the Edinburgh festival. Patrick Harrington (the former National Front member who went on to run the far-right Third Way and has been, according to the Guardian, the 'long-time lieutenant' of Nick Griffin of the British National Party) wrote of the event:

On August 20th 1997, during the Edinburgh Festival, I and other Third Way members attended a symposium organised by LM magazine; it was on the subject of censorship. LM was formerly known as Living Marxism, and published on behalf of the Revolutionary Communist Party. I have read LM for some years, and prior to that read the RCP paper The Next Step. The RCP were always refreshingly different… they took issue with the “no platform for fascists” policy most of the “Left” slavishly and unthinkingly sought to enforce. While no less opposed to fascism and racism than any other group, it seemed the RCP alone had sufficient faith in the merit of their own arguments, and in the British public, as to be unafraid of free and open debate. [...] The symposium was inspiring — so many people of diverse backgrounds united in their opposition to censorship and conformity…. LM supporters proved to be highly articulate, intelligent, presentable and professional — a very far cry from the sad psychological basket cases who form so many of the “leftist” and “extreme-right” groups.

Resources

• "The world is divided into those who have never met Patrick Harrington and those who hate his guts" Posted by Denise, Lancaster Unity, March 10, 2011
• The BNP's Irish problem HOPE not hate / Searchlight by Matthew Collins | Wednesday, 2 March 2011
• Dave Rich Political Soldiers and the New Man – part one Community Security Trust blog, April 26th, 2010
• Dave Rich Political Soldiers and the New Man – part two Community Security Trust blog, April 27th, 2010
• Dave rich Political Soldiers and the New Man – part three Community Security Trust blog, April 28th, 2010