View source for Martin Wingfield

{{Short description|British far-right politician}}
{{distinguish|Martin Whitfield}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}}
{{Far-right politics in the United Kingdom sidebar |expanded=Politicians}}

'''Martin Wingfield''' (born 1951) is a British [[Far-right politics|far-right]] politician. Wingfield is long-standing figure in the British nationalist movement, he and his wife, [[Tina Wingfield]], having contested several elections since the 1980s.

==Biography==
===National Front===
Disillusioned with the [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://martinwingfield.blogspot.com/2009/02/taking-protest-vote-away-from-lib-dems.html|title = Taking the protest vote away from the Lib-Dems|date = 25 February 2009}}</ref> Wingfield joined the [[National Front (UK)|National Front]] in 1976 and quickly rose in the party, winning election to the National Directorate in 1980. He became editor of the ''National Front News'' for a time, from 1983. He was briefly expelled from the party by [[John Tyndall (politician)|John Tyndall]] after attempting to take control of the [[Sussex]] branch of the party from Tyndall's father-in-law [[Charles Parker (UK politician)|Charles Parker]] by publishing a dissident paper the ''Sussex Front''.<ref>N. Copsey, ''Contemporary British Fascism: The British National Party and the Quest for Legitimacy'', Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004, p. 38</ref>

With [[Ian Anderson (British politician)|Ian Anderson]], he was associated with the traditionalist [[Flag Group]] wing in opposition to the [[Political Soldier]] wing and became one of the leading members of this dissident group, editing their paper ''The Flag''. Around this time he was criticized by leading [[Official National Front]] member [[Nick Griffin]] as being more suited to the extreme [[right-wing]] of the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]].<ref>N. Griffin, ''Attempted Murder'', 1986</ref> In his role as editor of NF party organs Wingfield was charged under the [[Race Relations Act 1976|Race Relations Act]] in 1985 for saying "unless immigration is stopped, Crawley will end up one day like Brixton with all the problems and crime that that entails." After refusing to pay a fine, was imprisoned.<ref>''Daily Star Sunday'' "They're a gallery of rogues with criminal pasts; BNP the truth" 6 June 2004</ref><ref>[https://eppingforestbnp.blogspot.com/2008/09/are-fascist-councillors-holding-secret.html Epping Forest BNP website, 4 Oct 2008]</ref>

===National Democrats===
Wingfield was a member of the [[National Democrats (UK)|National Democrats]] (ND),<ref>BBC News, [https://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/programmes/2001/bnp_special/membership/other/martin_wingfield.stm BNP: Under the skin]</ref> continuing to edit ''The Flag'' for them and acting as the party's press officer.<ref>[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/new-name-just-a-front-for-national-democrats-1591795.html "New name just a Front for 'National Democrats'", ''The Independent'', 17 July 1997]</ref> In the [[1997 United Kingdom general election|1997 General Election]], he stood as the ND candidate for [[Wolverhampton North East (UK Parliament constituency)|Wolverhampton North East constituency]] gaining 356 votes (0.9%); his wife, Tina, stood as a ND candidate for the [[Blackburn (UK Parliament constituency)|Blackburn constituency]] gaining 671 votes (1.41%).

===British National Party===
In 2001, he joined the [[British National Party]],<ref>[http://bnp.org.uk/2009/03/martin-wingfield/ Martin Wingfield] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100501094144/http://bnp.org.uk/2009/03/martin-wingfield/ |date=1 May 2010 }} bnp.org.uk</ref><ref>BBC News, [https://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/programmes/2001/bnp_special/membership/other/martin_wingfield.stm BNP: Under the skin]</ref> and is currently{{When|date=November 2010}} the editor of the party's newspaper, ''Voice of Freedom''. He was on the BNP candidate list for the [[North West England (European Parliament constituency)|North-West England]] regional constituency in the [[2004 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom|2004 European Election]] and again in [[2009 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom|2009]], when party leader [[Nick Griffin]] was elected.<ref>[http://bnp.org.uk/2009/03/martin-wingfield/ Martin Wingfield] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100501094144/http://bnp.org.uk/2009/03/martin-wingfield/ |date=1 May 2010 }} bnp.org.uk</ref> He stood for [[Workington (UK Parliament constituency)|Workington]], as did his wife, Tina, for [[Salford and Eccles (UK Parliament constituency)|Salford and Eccles]] in the [[2010 United Kingdom general election|2010 general election]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bnp.org.uk/2010/01/general-election-planning-meeting-in-west-cumbria/ |title=The British National Party — Blog — General Election planning meeting in West Cumbria |access-date=2010-01-08 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100414194917/http://bnp.org.uk/2010/01/general-election-planning-meeting-in-west-cumbria/ |archive-date=14 April 2010 }}</ref> In August 2011, after the BNP had a leadership challenge, both Martin and his wife had shown support to [[Andrew Brons]] and now face being sacked by the party for 'breaching confidentiality'.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bnpideas.com/?p%3D1558 |title=British National Party Ideas » Griffin Starts Vindictive Purge of Andrew Brons's Supporters |access-date=2011-08-22 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110924062956/http://bnpideas.com/?p=1558 |archive-date=24 September 2011 }}</ref>

==Elections contested by Martin Wingfield==
'''UK Parliament'''
{| class="wikitable"
! Year !! Constituency !! Party !! Votes !! %
|-
| [[1983 United Kingdom general election|1983]] || [[Worthing (UK Parliament constituency)|Worthing]] || [[National Front (UK)|NF]] || 292 || 0.5
|-
| [[1997 United Kingdom general election|1997]] || [[Wolverhampton North East (UK Parliament constituency)|Wolverhampton North East]] || [[National Democrats (UK)|NDs]] || 356 || 0.9
|-
| [[2010 United Kingdom general election|2010]] || [[Workington (UK Parliament constituency)|Workington]] || [[British National Party|BNP]] || 1,496 || 3.8
|}
'''European Parliament'''
{| class="wikitable"
! Year !! Constituency !! Party !! Votes !! % !! Notes
|-
| [[1989 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom|1989]] || [[Birmingham East (European Parliament constituency)|Birmingham East]] || [[National Front (UK)|NF]] || 1,471 || 0.8 || Single member constituencies
|}

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year !! Region !! Party !! Votes !! % !! Result !! Notes
|-
| [[2004 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom|2004]] || [[North West England (European Parliament constituency)|North West England]] || [[British National Party|BNP]] || 134,959 || 6.4 || Not elected || Multi member constituencies; party list
|-
| [[2009 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom|2009]] || [[North West England (European Parliament constituency)|North West England]] || [[British National Party|BNP]] || 132,194 || 8.0 || Not elected || Multi member constituencies; party list
|}

==Elections contested by Tina Wingfield==
'''UK Parliament'''
{| class="wikitable"
! Date of election !! Constituency !! Party !! Votes !! %
|-
| [[1988 Epping Forest by-election|18 December 1988 by-election]] || [[Epping Forest (UK Parliament constituency)|Epping Forest]] || [[Independent (politician)|I]] [[National Front (UK)|NF]] || 286 || 0.6
|-
| [[1997 United Kingdom general election|1 May 1997]] || [[Blackburn (UK Parliament constituency)|Blackburn]] || [[National Democrats (UK)|NDs]] || 671 || 1.14
|-
| [[2010 United Kingdom general election|7 May 2010]] || [[Salford and Eccles (UK Parliament constituency)|Salford and Eccles]] || [[British National Party|BNP]] || 2,632 || 6.3
|}

==See also==
*[[British National Front]]
*[[British National Party]]
*[[National Democrats (UK)|National Democrats]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/programmes/2001/bnp_special/membership/other/martin_wingfield.stm Martin Wingfield] (BBC's ''BNP: Under the Skin'')
*[https://martinwingfield.blogspot.com/ Martin Wingfield (blog)]

{{National Front chairs}}
{{UK far right}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wingfield, Martin}}
[[Category:1951 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:National Front (UK) politicians]]
[[Category:British National Party politicians]]
[[Category:English far-right politicians]]