One
of my personal favourite figures in contemporary fringe politics is
Lee Ingram of the English People's Party. He's just so loveable. He reminds me of a bumbling sitcom
dad, like Homer Simpson or that bloke from Two Point Four Children, who
means well and tries to do the right thing but whose antics always end
in hilarious failure.
Based
in Leicester, Lee has set himself up as the representative of the
city's Anglo-Saxon population. The city's Anglo-Saxon population never
actually asked him to take on this role, of course (he ran in a council election in 2007, and the voters hardly rushed out in his support) but that didn't stop
him.
Unlike some of his detractors, I'm not sure if Ingram is a racist. Part of me thinks that
he's a basically well-meaning soul who just happens to be a bit
thick, and who can't see when he's aligned himself with a seriously
unsavoury side of modern politics.
For
example, he was once an active member of the Anglo-Saxon Foundation, a
forum that is roughly on a par with Stormfront in terms of racial
sensitivity. Here's a fairly typical post from one of the ASF's longtime
members (click to enlarge):
Lee
was later banned from the forum, but as far as I can tell, this is
because he objected to its stance on the army rather than its views on
racial matters. He's always going on about how offended he is by what
he perceives as anti-English prejudice, but he doesn't appear to have
had any significant objections to the rampant racism surrounding him at
the ASF forum.
We can also see him coming up with stuff like this post, which he made at around the time the film Twelve Years a Slave was getting attention:
They Were White and They Were Slaves was written by Michael A Hoffman II, a man who has penned numerous books denying the Holocaust, ranting about the evils of Judaism and yelling about a "Masonic cryptocracy". The research in his book on white slavery may be sound, but really Lee, would it have killed you to find a book on the subject that wasn't written by a massive anti-semite?
Also consider this post, in which Lee argues that football teams should have the freedom to bar homosexual and non-white players if they so choose:
Lee
is the spokesman of the English Community Group. Or, to use its full
name, the "English Community Group (Leicester)" - just to distinguish it
from all of the other English Community Groups that it clearly hoped
would sprout up around the country but which, er, didn't.
The ECGL's biggest hobbyhorse is the fact that various politicians, including the mayor of Leicester Peter Soulsby, have turned down meetings with it. Lee argues that this is nothing more than anti-English bigotry.
It should be noted that at the time the ECGL asked for a meeting with Soulsby it was chaired by Clive Potter, a complete flaming nutcase who thinks that aliens are trying to warn us about the effects of interracial marriage. For some reason, Lee tends to sweep this salient fact under the carpet when he expresses outrage that his organisation isn't taken seriously.
Contrary
to appearances, Lee is not the only member of the ECGL. He is joined by
Gary Thompson and Paul Brant; all three can be seen in action in this video, from which the image at the top of this post comes. Together, the three amigos have many stimulating discussions on
Facebook that remind me of those old Smith and Jones sketches. I'm
indebted to the Still Laughing at the EDL Facebook group for digging up
some of these gems:
Of
course, like all of us Englanders, these chums enjoy talking about the
weather. Only in their case, they see the weather as being part of a
conspiracy:
And chemtrails aren't the only conspiracy theory that Lee has latched onto:
As a conspiracy theorist, it goes without saying that Lee is contemptuous of mainstream media. But there is some television that he likes, however. Such as... Minipops:
The
ECGL has its own Facebook page, which is also good for a laugh. It's
always amusing to see how Lee, who is always complaining about English
people being ignored, is quite willing to ignore English people who express concerns about his political stance:
We also get an idea of the ECGL's inner workings. Just look at this:
This
wouldn't be an attempt to get a bunch of people who already support the
group and try to make them look like ordinary Leicester
residents picked at random, would it? Goodness me, no,
perish the thought.
Still, the video can't be as bad as one of their earlier publicity stunts, in which the group's members dressed up as "Labour zombies" for Halloween:
Sadly, it seems that the English Community Group (Leicester) may not be with us for much longer...
Still, the video can't be as bad as one of their earlier publicity stunts, in which the group's members dressed up as "Labour zombies" for Halloween:
Sadly, it seems that the English Community Group (Leicester) may not be with us for much longer...
A cynic may suggest that this decision was made because the group had no luck picking up supporters in Leicester, and so must now look further afield.
Rock on, Lee. Rock on. Long may your political career continue. I just hope that we never run out of popcorn...
