Traditional Britain Group
AbbreviationTBG
Formation2001
PurposeTraditionalist conservatism
Location
  • United Kingdom
President
Vacant
Websitehttps://traditionalbritain.org

The Traditional Britain Group (TBG) is a British far-right pressure group that describes itself as traditionalist conservative and "home to the disillusioned patriot".[1][2] It was founded in 2001 by Gregory Lauder-Frost, with Merlin Hanbury-Tracy, 7th Baron Sudeley as its president.[3] Sudeley was still in office when he died in 2022.[4]

Advocacy group Hope not Hate claims TBG is part of a UK-wide network linked to the European alt-right.[5] Private Eye has described TBG as far-right and a successor to the WGI.[6]

History and ideology

TBG was founded in 2001. It opposes non-white immigration to the UK and, prior to Brexit, it opposed the UK's European Union membership.[7][8][9] The organisation's stated principles include opposition to egalitarianism; the centrality of the heterosexual family as the primary social unit; traditional Christian values and maintaining the Church of England as England's established church; rolling back of the welfare state; and opposition to immigration, multiculturalism, political correctness and Marxism.[10]

TBG is in favour of state-sponsored repatriation. Their Facebook page carried a post calling for the deportation of anti-racist campaigner Doreen Lawrence and "millions of others ... to their natural homelands".[11] Gregory Lauder-Frost, the founder of TBG, called Lawrence a spiv.[7] Lauder-Frost was formerly the officer of the Conservative pressure group Monday Club and Vice-President of the Western Goals Institute (WGI).[12][13]

Speakers

Image of Jacob Rees-Mogg, in a black suit and bow-tie, stood up to debate at the Cambridge Union
The group came to prominence after it was announced that Jacob Rees-Mogg (pictured here at the Cambridge Union, a debating society) spoke as guest of honour in 2013. He later called his attendance 'a mistake'.

TBG has been addressed by speakers such as Simon Heffer[14] and Sir Roger Scruton.[15] In 2011, Gerard Batten, former leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) spoke at the group's annual dinner; upon his election as leader, UKIP said Batten "does not share the views of TBG. He is invited by many organisations to speak and TBG had a list of reputable speakers such as Simon Heffer previous to his invitation. Since he attended things have come to light. He would not consider a further invitation."[15][16]

TBG came to national prominence when Liberal Conspiracy said Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg spoke as a guest of honour at the TBG's 2013 annual dinner. Three months later, this led to criticism of Rees-Mogg, who then said he had not properly checked the organisation before speaking, despite being warned by Searchlight about TBG's far-right associations prior to attendance; Rees-Mogg disassociated himself from the group and apologised for his attendance, calling it "a mistake".[6][7][11] It was also attended by former Ulster Unionist Party MP John Taylor, Baron Kilclooney.[17] Two months later, American white nationalist Richard Spencer was invited to address the group.[18]

Hope not Hate noted the 2017 annual conference was addressed by Anne Marie Waters, former UKIP candidate and founder of the For Britain party; Martin Sellner, leader of the Austrian Identitarian Movement (German: Identitäre Bewegung Österreich) and attended by Mark Collett, former leader of the youth wing of the British National Party.[19] In March of that year, the Bow Group granted TBG a special concession to its 65th anniversary celebrations.[20]

In October 2018, James Thompson, a former senior lecturer at UCL, pulled out of his speaking slot at the group's annual conference at the last minute following pressure from the media.[6] Thompson lost his honorary professorship at UCL after Private Eye "revealed he had been organising secretive conferences on racial eugenics – and inviting notorious white supremacists" (see London Conference on Intelligence controversy).[6] The columnist Katie Hopkins spoke at TBG's 2018 annual conference.[21]

Estonian Finance Minister Martin Helme addressed the 2019 conference,[22] as did the vice-chairman of the Polish National Movement Krzysztof Bosak.[23]

Katie Fanning, a former director of UKIP,[24] spoke at the 2021 conference on the subject of "anti-white messaging and critical race theory-based teachings"[25] in Britain's universities, and that she was suing her former university for discrimination.[25] Gunnar Beck, a German politician, academic and lawyer, spoke to the group on the "Strange Death of Europe".[26]

See also

References

  1. Pitel, Laura (9 August 2013). "Right wingers urge Doreen Lawrence to return 'home'". The Times. p. 4. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  2. Legal Challenges to the Far-Right: Lessons from England and Wales, Natalie Alkiviadou, Routledge, ISBN 036740706X, chapter 1
  3. Holehouse, Matthew (8 August 2013). "Jacob Rees-Mogg's shock at dinner with group that want to repatriate black Britons". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  4. "Obituary, the Lord Sudeley, 1939-2022, Traditional Britain President | Traditional Britain Group".
  5. Batchelor, Tom (20 September 2017). "Anti-fascist activist goes undercover with 'alt right' to expose movement's rapid European expansion". The Independent. p. 10. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "Far-right & wrong". Private Eye (1481): 9. October–November 2018.
  7. 1 2 3 McSmith, Andy (9 August 2013). "Gregory Lauder-Frost exposed: The Tory fringe group leader with Nazi sympathies". The Independent. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  8. Hayek: A Collaborative Biography: Part XIII: 'Fascism' and Liberalism in the (Austrian) Classical Tradition, Robert Leeson, Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN 9783319913575, page 36
  9. Ukip is finished after electing Gerard Batten, but Nigel Farage is set to make a comeback, The Independent, 19 February 2018
  10. About, Traditional Britain Group website, accessed 18 October 2018.
  11. 1 2 "Rees-Mogg's dinner speech 'mistake'". BBC News. 9 August 2013. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  12. Briggs, Billy (18 November 2019). "Race hate Scots 'go home' threat targeted female student". Daily Record. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  13. Hannan, Martin (27 July 2019). "Scots community council chairman and far-right group VP fined for racist abuse". The National. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  14. "STATEMENT: Traditional Britain Group on race row". ITV News. 8 August 2013. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
  15. 1 2 Bloom, Dan (18 February 2018). "UKIP's new leader shared black-tie dinner table with right winger filmed calling Vanessa Feltz a 'fat Jewish s**g'". The Mirror. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  16. Lowles, Nick (19 February 2018). "Ukip is finished after electing Gerard Batten, but Nigel Farage is set to make a comeback". The Independent. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  17. Traditional Britain Group (17 May 2013). "Traditional Britain Dinner with Jacob Rees-Mogg MP". TraditionalBritain.org.
  18. Renton, David (16 August 2021). Labour's Antisemitism Crisis: What the Left Got Wrong and How to Learn From It. Routledge. p. 10. ISBN 978-1-000-42348-8.
  19. Mulhall, Joe (22 October 2017). "Waters and Sellner speak at Traditional Britain Group conference". Hope not Hate. Retrieved 24 October 2018.
  20. Briggs, Billy (5 October 2018). "Far-right group with Tory links invites speakers from groups linked to neo-Nazis". Daily Record. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
  21. Townsend, Mark (23 September 2018). "Katie Hopkins to speak at far-right rally with Holocaust denier". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  22. "EKRE deputy chair attends far-right conference in London". news.postimees.ee. 29 October 2019.
  23. Traditional Britain Group (28 October 2019). "Krzysztof Bosak _ Traditional Britain Conference 2019". YouTube. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
  24. Halliday, Josh (27 May 2019). "Humiliated Tommy Robinson sneaks out of election count early". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
  25. 1 2 "Katie Fanning – University Discrimination – TGB 2021 Conference Speeches". Traditional Britain Group. November 2021. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  26. Traditional Britain Group (31 October 2021). "Gunnar Beck, MEP, Alternative for Germany (AfD)". YouTube. Retrieved 1 March 2022.


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