Abbreviation | TBG |
---|---|
Formation | 2001 |
Purpose | Traditionalist conservatism |
Location |
|
President | Vacant |
Website | https://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]
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]
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]