Patrick Harrington

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 (UK) and is currently General Secretary of the far right 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)
• University of North London - Philosophy (1982 - 1985)
• University of Greenwich (1997 - 1999)

Political trajectory

National Front 1979-1989

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'.

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

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.

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... Whe 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 wiht 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 profiles.

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 will 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."

Resources

• The BNP's Irish problem HOPE not hate / Searchlight by Matthew Collins | Wednesday, 2 March 2011