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British Democrats leader Andrew Brons poses as the respectable face of British fascism – but he has never apologised for supporting “well intentioned” synagogue bombing…

Across the UK far right talk of unity following the May local election debacle is, predictably, gave way to acrimony and backbiting. It was ever thus. Mark Collett, Patriotic Alternative (PA) leader, held unity talks with Independent Nationalist Network (INN) and British Democratic Party (BDP). This might have drawn others in, had it shown promise, but then Collett pissed everyone off by instructing his members not to support cross party demos in Leeds and Elgin.

That has not entirely upset the BDP. They look upon themselves as a cut above some of the rabble which inhabits the far right, so while they might entertain a tryst with Collett and PA, the fact that INN and Alek Yerbury probably won’t be involved is not a serious cause for regret.

Andrew Brons (r) on the stump with BDP leader Jim Lewthwaite. The two were previously together in the British National Party

The British Democrats are, in truth, nothing of the sort. Party leader Jim Lewthwaite is a fanatical Orangeman and former BNP luminary. And its President is Andrew Brons who, if unity goes ahead, will eschew a fulltime post – he is getting on a bit – but will almost certainly demand some kind of titular position as befits his standing in the far right.

Brons is a veteran Nazi, a former Chairman of the NF and a former BNP Member of the European Parliament (MEP) after all. He was also, for 35 years, a lecturer at a College of Further Education which, in their books, marks him out as one of the movement’s outstanding intellectual figures.

Searchlight profiles Brons in 1980, when he became Chairman of the National Front

Brons joined the original BNP of John Bean in 1965 and was a founder member of the NF when the BNP merged into it in 1967. He was elected to the National Directorate in 1974 and put in charge of membership education, with special reference to racial matters.

But before the BNP, Brons had been a fully-fledged member of Colin Jordans’ swastika flaunting National Socialist Movement whose members, as we all know, were involved in the campaign of arson attacks against synagogues and Jewish property in the mid-1960s for which several of them were jailed.

Colin Jordan with his wife Francoise Dior.

But one thing his potential allies will have to bear in mind is the PR elephant trap that awaits them. For, in the event that a unified group emerges with Brons anywhere near the helm, he and they will be plagued by one simple question:

“What’s your view on synagogue bombing?”

Synagogue bombing was an issue that exercised Andrew Brons in 1965, in a letter he wrote to Colin Jordan’s wife, Francoise Dior, the French perfume heiress and virulent nazi and Jew hater.

Brons had been dispatched to Leeds to make contact with someone who had a small group of nazis gathered around him and who might be recruited into the NSM. Brons wrote to Dior:

“I have contacted the gentleman from Leeds whose address you included. The impression I got was that he was an enthusiastic nationalist and that he had ample manual support…

“…Also, however, he mentioned such activities as bombing synagogues. On this subject I have a dual view, in that although I realise he is well-intentioned, I feel that our public image may suffer considerable damage as a result of these activities. I am however, open to correction on this point….”

Searchlight first published the text of this letter in 1980, and Brons has since bemoaned the fact that when he wrote it he was young and naïve. He dismissed it as one of the “silly things” a young man might do.

At the very time he was writing, however, a wave of arson attacks was taking place on synagogues and Jewish properties across London, all carried out by his fellow members of the NSM. Brondesbury synagogue was burnt to the ground only three weeks before he wrote his letter. Sentiments such as his were having direct and serious consequences.

And the very woman he was writing to was the guiding hand behind many of the attacks, later charged and convicted for inciting other members of the NSM to go out and burn down synagogues. She was jailed for 18 months. Searchlight’s editor, Gerry Gable, was instrumental in bringing her, and other members of the NSM, to trial.

And yet, Brons has never once expressed a single word of remorse for his espousal of synagogue bombing as “well-intentioned” and he has certainly never offered the Jewish community the apology it deserves.

Historical footnote: The letter in question was liberated during a 62 Group operation against the NSM‘s London headquarters in late 1965.

The is an edited and slightly expanded version of an article appearing in the Summer 2023 issue of Searchlight