ABSTRACT
The extreme right in Britain is typically considered a failure. In contrast to the performance of similar parties in several other European states, extreme-right parties in Britain have seldom appeared as more than a minor irritant in the party system. The failure of parties like the National Front (NF) in the 1970s and more recent British National Party (BNP) have been traced to several factors: a national tradition of tolerance, deference to authority and anti-fascism; an electoral system that hinders minor parties; the positioning of the centre-right Conservatives who have offered a more credible brand to citizens anxious over immigration; and an agency-based approach that emphasizes the nature of the extreme right itself. Seen from this latter perspective, one explanation for the historic failure of this movement in Britain has been the nature of extreme-right parties themselves and their overt allegiance to neo-Nazi ideology, namely radical xenophobia, biological racism and an outright rejection of democracy, parliamentarism and pluralism (Carter 2005). These features have arguably been especially pronounced in the absence of strong and charismatic leadership, which might otherwise have minimized electoral losses.
