The Brexit Party, the RCP and the American connection.
For any newcomers, this is another post on the political views (past and present) of Claire Fox who is the number one candidate for Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party in NW England in the forthcoming EU elections on 23 May 2019.
“We back Gadaffi” was on the front page of the next step (18 April 1986) — the newspaper of the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP). On page 12 of the same issue it states “The Revolutionary Communist Party unreservedly condemns the US/British assault on Libya and gives its full support to Libyan resistance whatever form it takes”.
Thirteen days before this issue came out, on 5 April 1986, Libyan intelligence planted a bomb in a disco in West Germany. As this report in the New York Times (14 Nov 2001) on the conviction of those responsible states — “The explosion killed Sgt. Kenneth T. Ford, 21; Sgt. James E. Goins, 25; and Nermin Hannay, 29. Of the 229 wounded, many lost limbs”.
A report in People Weekly (April 1986) said of Sgt. Ford that he was “a proud infantry squad leader, a deacon in his church and a devoted son. ‘I’ve always taken care of you,’ he wrote to his mother from Germany, ‘and I always will.’ She got the letter three days after he was killed in a West Berlin discotheque by a terrorist’s bomb. He was 21.’
As the RCP defended the right of the IRA to carry out their terrorist bombing campaign (eg Birmingham, Brighton, Enniskillen, Warrington) no matter the consequences, the question comes to my mind — what exactly did the RCP mean when they wrote that they gave “full support to Libyan resistance whatever form it takes”. Did they support the right of Gadaffi and his regime to plant bombs in discos?
Now, normally what was written by a rather obscure British Trotskyist grouping would only be of interest to leftist trainspotters and some historians. In this case, however, what makes this important to people in the UK and, I would say, in the USA is the lead candidate for Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party in North West England — Claire Fox.
Under her pen-name of “Claire Foster”, 26 year old Claire Fox featured in the “We back Gadaffi” issue of the next step (18 April 1986) as she was an RCP candidate in local council elections that year. As stated before, she joined the Party in the early 80’s and was to remain a member until the organisation was wound up in the late 1990’s. However the same core group of RCP leaders from the period now lead the Spiked Online network — four of them (three exRCP) are candidates for the Brexit Party*.
When I wrote about Claire Fox standing for the Brexit Party in NW England, there was media interest, particularly in Warrington, for this reason -
Colin Parry spoke to Claire Fox on the phone about her views then and now in regard to the IRA bomb which killed his son, Tim, and Johnathan Ball. He had this to say (Daily Mail, 3 May 2019) about that call -
Despite what Colin Parry said on 3 May, there were two Brexit Party rallies in NW England on Saturday 4 May and Monday 6 May where Nigel Farage campaigned for and shared a platform with Claire Fox.
The Brexit Party and Nigel Farage continue to give Claire Fox their full support despite her refusing to condemn the IRA bombing of 1993 which led to the deaths of two children. If elected on 23 May, she will represent Warrington in the EU Parliament.
Nigel Farage is a friend of President Donald Trump. If any American journalists read this post, maybe they could ask the President his view on the Brexit Party having a candidate who backed Gadaffi (“and gives its full support to Libyan resistance whatever form it takes”) and defended the right of the IRA to carry out a bombing campaign which led to the murders of 3 year old Johnathan Ball and 12 year old Tim Parry in Warrington. If they get the chance, they might also want to ask Claire Fox if she still agrees with the headline “We back Gadaffi” in the newspaper where she featured.
Perhaps, they could also ask Nigel Farage — Why was Claire Fox kept on the Brexit Party list for NW England when she did not renounce her defence of the IRA and its bombing campaign? Why did the Brexit Party not do a proper check on the RCP and Claire Fox’s political history before announcing her as a candidate?
*Claire Fox (ex RCP, NW England). Alka Sehgal Cuthbert (ex RCP, London). James Heartfield (ex RCP, Yorkshire and Humber). Stuart Waiton (Living Marxism/Spiked network since at least 2000, Scotland).
Related -
The Brexit Party, the RCP and the Brighton bomb.
The Brexit Party, the RCP and Enniskillen.
Brendan O’Neill’s emails, Claire Fox and Warrington.
