James Goldsmith - Politics

Politics

Goldsmith, like his friends Lord Lucan and John Aspinall, believed Britain had been victim of a socialist conspiracy and that communists had infiltrated the Labour party and the media. In the mid-1990s, Goldsmith was a financial backer of a Euro-sceptic think tank, the European Foundation. In 1994 he became an elected member of the European Parliament representing France, as a member of the Majorité pour l'autre Europe and leader of the eurosceptic Europe of Nations group in the European Parliament. Goldsmith founded and funded the Referendum Party in the UK, on the lines as Majorité pour l'autre Europe, which stood candidates in the 1997 general election. Goldsmith mailed five million homes with a VHS tape expressing his ideas. It has been suggested he planned to broadcast during the election from his offshore pirate Referendum Radio station.

In the 1997 election, Goldsmith stood for his party in the London constituency of Putney, against former Conservative minister David Mellor. Goldsmith stood no chance of victory, but the declaration of the result was memorable—Mellor lost his seat to the Labour candidate and was taunted by Goldsmith who clapped his hands slowly and chanted "out, out, out!" along with others. Goldsmith's electoral performance was, however, feeble: the 1518 votes did not deny victory to Mellor, who lost by 2976 votes; moreover they amounted to under 5% of those voting and were not sufficient for Goldsmith to retain his candidate's deposit of £500. Mellor correctly predicted that the Referendum Party was "dead in the water", and it effectively died with Goldsmith who died two months after the election. The seat was regained by the Conservatives in the 2005 General Election.

Goldsmith's estate has provided finance for the JMG Foundation which supports a diverse range of non-governmental organisations campaigning against GMO foodstuffs.