National Independence Party (UK) - Haringey

Haringey

Despite being a minor party the NIP registered one of the few occurrences of a far-right party securing electoral office in Britain before the 1990s. In 1974 Michael Coney, a local sub-post office manager, stood as NIP candidate for the South Tottenham ward of Haringey London Borough Council and as part of his campaign he appealed to the areas Jewish population not to vote on religious lines due to the Labour Party candidate, Aaron Weichselbaum, being Jewish. Leaders in the local Jewish community interpreted this as an attempt by Coney to whip up anti-Semitic feelings against Weichselbaum and, whilst another Labour candidate was elected in what was a safe seat, Weichselbaum missed out with Coney taking the seat. Coney was independent by the 1978 elections (the NIP having been wound up in the interim) and later served the Conservative Party but his example of building a strong local base in a single area, which included a 20.3% vote share in the 1973 Greater London Council election, was later lauded by elements within the British National Party who supported Nick Griffin against John Tyndall due to their support for a similar localist strategy.