Liberty GB


Liberty Great Britain or Liberty GB was a minor far-right British nationalist political party founded and led by Paul Weston that described itself as counter-jihad.
Liberty GB was anti-immigration, anti-fundamentalist Islam and traditionalist. The group's Facebook page described it as "patriotic counter-jihad party for Christian civilisation, Western rights and freedoms, British culture, animal welfare and capitalism".

History

Foundation by Paul Weston

Paul Weston, the founder, was a former member of the UK Independence Party, and was that party's candidate in Cities of London and Westminster at the 2010 general election. He left UKIP over what he described as its failure to address issues related to Islam in Britain, and took over the British Freedom Party from Peter Mullins. That party formed an alliance with the far-right English Defence League. Weston left the BFP in 2013. He has predicted that within 20 years there will be a war in Britain between the white working class and immigrants. He is married to a Romanian, and claims to have been a deep sea diver, a pilot in Africa and a property developer in the Czech Republic.
It was registered with the Electoral Commission by Paul Weston and George Whale on 5 March 2013.

2014 European election

Liberty GB stood three candidates in the 2014 European Parliament election in the South East England constituency: Weston, Enza Ferreri and Jack Buckby. Buckby founded the "National Culturists" while at university in Liverpool in 2012. Its three candidates received 2,414 votes, placing it 14th of the 15 parties contesting the election.

2014 Paul Weston arrest

On 26 April 2014, Weston was arrested while addressing passers-by outside Winchester Guildhall. A member of the public complained to police and he was detained after failing to move on under a dispersal order. He was further arrested on suspicion of religious or racial harassment. Weston's speech quoted from Winston Churchill's 1899 book The River War, about Churchill's experiences as a British army officer in Sudan; the passage quoted was critical of Islam. Weston is a former UK Independence Party candidate who left that party over what he described as its failure to address issues related to Islam in Britain, and then joined the British Freedom Party.

2014 Tim Burton radio host trial

Tim Burton, a radio presenter who was a member of Liberty GB, was acquitted of charges of racially aggravated harassment on 4 May 2014 at Birmingham magistrates' court. He had tweeted comments about Fiyaz Mughal OBE, a Muslim campaigner of Tell MAMA UK.

2016 Batley and Spen by-election

Following the killing of the incumbent Labour MP Jo Cox, Liberty GB contested the Batley and Spen by-election. The party's candidate was Jack Buckby, who was a member of the youth division of the British National Party under Nick Griffin before leaving the party. He says he left because he believed that the BNP was too racist. Buckby polled just over 1% of the vote; he lost his deposit, as did all the candidates except the winner, the Labour candidate Tracy Brabin.

Dissolution by Paul Weston

Paul Weston dissolved the party in November 2017, choosing instead to back Anne Marie Waters' new party, For Britain.

Electoral performance

General election, 7 May 2015">2015 United Kingdom general election">General election, 7 May 2015

The party contested three constituencies, obtaining a total of 418 votes.
ConstituencyCandidateVotes%
Birmingham LadywoodTimothy Burton2160.6
Lewisham West and PengeGeorge Whale440.1
Luton SouthPaul Weston1580.4

[2016 Batley and Spen by-election]