BNP Dewsbury "Rights For Whites" Meeting 1989

Ok - put up with my ego trip for this post. I think it needs an airing. I was told Wikepedia had the written the following in my entry and I must admit to being a bit flattered....its a good read still I think I and I do not know of a bigger rally since. The week before I had organised one in Darlington that attracted around 200 people....anyway read on....

(From Wiki "Morrison was readmitted to the BNP in 1988 and became regional organizer for Yorkshire, revitalising the party right across the North of England, especially when he organised the now notorious Dewsbury open air mass rally which is credited by many observers with putting the BNP on the map.⁾

 

 

The "Rights For Whites Rally", Dewsbury, June 1989

A hot Saturday in the Summer of 1989 was the scene of the biggest White Nationalist event of the 1980's and one which gave the BNP local, national and even international prominence. The event was the scheduled open air public meeting in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire on June 24th 1989.

For a month or so before myself and Tony Lecomber (long since gone bad I am afraid), who spent a lot of time in those days as Unit Development Officer in Yorkshire, had been carefully planning the outdoor rally in Dewsbury.

We already had a groundswell of support in Dewsbury, and an active unit of about twenty mainly new recruits (Above: Myself, second from right, with fellow BNP members at a paper sale in Dewsbury town centre, Spring 1989). They were mostly youngsters and extremely enthusiastic. They told me that any White Nationalist rally in Dewsbury would attract hundreds. Dewsbury was, and still is, one of the racial hotspots of the North of England. The large Asian community in the town is segregated, by choice, it seems from the Whites of Dewsbury. There are areas such as Saville Town which are almost 100% Asian, and on the reverse side of the coin, areas such as the Thornhill estate which are almost 100% White. Multi-racialism is failing badly in the town as it seems no race, Asian or White is particularly keen on this doomed and ill thought out experiment.

The local Labour MP, Anne Taylor was so anti-White Nationalist as to border on the ridiculous. Her frantic posturing and press releases about the presence of the BNP in the town were farcical and continually gave us publicity. Thanks Ms. Taylor! At one point it got so that we almost didn't need to put out propaganda in the area. The Dewsbury Reporter did it all for us. The weekly newspapers letter's page was full of both pro and anti BNP stuff and anything we did or even said we might do was reported in full, usually on the front page.

Dewsbury looked like an ideal spot for a high profile outdoor meeting. A few weeks before the scheduled date, I applied to the local police for a meeting site and permission to hold the meeting. To my great relief, this was granted and we were offered a site outside Dewsbury Post Office, smack in
the town centre. A local cop Superintendent even escorted me two weeks before to the rally site and we agreed kick off times and length of meeting. I told him, quite honestly that we expected 100 or so to turn out. We both agreed it was probably going to be a quite little meeting. Did I have my fingers crossed behind my back? I can't quite remember...

The Dewsbury rally followed hard on the heels of the successful Darlington public rally and the air was buzzing all that week with threats from the reds and militant Asian organisations from all over West Yorkshire, but especially from Bradford that we would be "smashed". John Tyndall agreed to be the main speaker and a coach full of BNP London members were scheduled to accompany him.

The day finally dawned. We had hired a land rover for the day which was also to act as a speakers platform. Some Wakefield members went with us and we set off for Dewsbury. On arrival at the towns outskirts we were stopped by the police. I identified myself and the local police told us "all hell" had broken out in the city. Long before the start of the rally, Whites, reds and Asians and been clashing in the town centre. Buses had stopped running and most shops had closed. I insisted we went ahead with the meeting and the police agreed but only if we shortened it. They were having trouble coping with the situation and were drafting in extra reinforcements from all over West Yorkshire.

We arrived at the rally site and were amazed at the vast crowd of Whites awaiting us. It is estimated that over 600 were there to support us, nearly all local White folk. Meanwhile, police had blocked off access to the meeting place and I could see scores of others being turned back from the event.

John Tyndall, the late Stanley Clayton-Garnett, and myself were the main speakers. I opened the rally and was greeted with a spontaneous mass roar of "White Power" from the crowd. Our speeches were short as the police were getting very nervous. We heard that an Asian mob had set fire to the
Scarborough Public House and I could see smoke in the distance. Above our heads both police and TV helicopters were circling and there was a mass of reporters from all the papers and the media, even CNN was represented!

The meeting lasted about three quarters of an hour and then the police unable to cope any longer shut us down. I was escorted out of the town in the land rover, flanked by police outriders to make sure the BNP main group left. Long after we had gone we knew that clashes and incidents were taking place.

Next day the Dewsbury "riot" hit national and international headlines. The BNP's name was spread far and wide and we had made a colossal break through. The small public meeting we had planned, and which the reds and Islamic militants had turned into a riot, brought in so many new members from all over the UK that it was certainly the basis of a turn around in the fortunes of the BNP, nobody could quibble that we were now the largest and most effective White Nationalist force in Britain.

(Left: Stanley Clayton-Garnett and myself on the rally platform. Below: Asian youths not too happy at the Rally's success.)

I could not believe the coverage myself and looking back over twelve years later still consider it one of the best propaganda stunts we ever pulled - and it cost us hardly anything.
For less than a couple of hundred pounds we received WORLD WIDE news coverage!
I sat down immediately to plan similar meetings and an application went straight in to hold a public meeting in the centre of Bradford - nothing ventured, nothing gained!