Greater Britain Movement - Formation

Formation

While the roots of the split between Tyndall and Jordan was considerd to be the marriage of Jordan to Françoise Dior - who had previously been romantically involved with Tyndall - Tyndall himself stated that the rift between the two men was a consequence of an ideological clash resuting from his rejection of Jordan's endorsement of straight Nazism and his own preference for a more 'British' solution. Before the split, and during their spell as members of the British National Party, Jordan had faced the same criticism from John Bean with Tyndall increasingly echoing Bean's view. This division led to a showdown at the April 1964 NSM conference when Tyndall demanded that Jordan give control of the movement to him. On 11 May 1964, Jordan moved to expel Tyndall from the NSM, although the following day Tyndall claimed that, having taken control of the group, he had expelled Jordan. However, soon afterwards Tyndall gave up his NSM membership and, along with most of the staff from the party's London headquarters, left the group. In August 1964, he announced the formation of the Greater Britain Movement and began publishing its magazine, Spearhead, a name taken from the NSM's largely failed attempt to set up a paramilitary wing. The GBM also gained the support of James McIntyre's National Student Front which until that time had been loyal to the NSM. Tyndall would later claim that he had formed the GBM merely as a stopgap to keep his supporters united, stating that he felt, even in 1964, that their future lay in working more closely with other similar groups.