Bracknell candidate with far right past replies to exposure

Andrew McBride is standing as a candidate for the Priestwood ward on Bracknell Town Council in this year’s elections.

Mr McBride has previously served as a regional organiser for the British National Party (BNP) and as a deputy leader of Britain First.

His candidacy was exposed by the Bracknell Labour Party.

While Mr McBride has since been suspended from the Conservative party, he remains on the ballot for the Bracknell Town Council election.

The case has been covered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), which has found posts that can be construed as racist and violent on his verified Twitter profile @Lordmcbride8.

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Now, Mr McBride has made some points of clarity in a long comment underneath an LDRS article, in which he clarified his association with the BNP and Britain First.

Mr McBride said: “I was up until 2011 a very senior BNP official tasked with modernisation, I resigned when two unworthy characters were placed into a position at head office.

“My resignation and that of my colleague collapsed the BNP as sad as it was.

“I never was a deputy leader of the Britain First party. I was a Founder of this movement along with, again, my colleague and was set up as a pressure group to ensure Britons are represented, the pictures shown are very old but taken at training meetings for future or potential associates.

“It was never to be a political party, although for a trial we applied to the electoral commission for such aims if needed. It was accepted by the said commission.

“As anyone who deals with these officials knows, NO party can be allowed if it was deemed Racist etc etc! Which it was NOT!

“I resigned from the build-up team, as did my long standing colleague when a certain individual entered a Mosque to demonstrate!

“I found this unacceptable as both myself an colleague do not take issue with any places of worship or those attending such places of worship.”

Although Mr McBride states he was never a deputy leader of Britain First, a post on its website from July 28, 2014 clearly declares him as a deputy leader.

Britain First registered with the Electoral Commission on January 10, 2014.

A post by Andre McBride, stating that he is Deputy Leader on the Britain First website. Credit: Britain First / The Way Back Machine

The party’s registry lapsed in 2017, but was reinstated in September 2021.

The LDRS apologises to Mr McBride for an editorial error which incorrectly stated he stood for election in Wokingham in 2008, which has since been rectified.

Mr McBride stood as a BNP candidate for Priestwood & Garth in the Bracknell Forest Council elections of 2007.

Fellow BNP member Mark Burke stood for the Wescott ward in the Wokingham Borough Council elections of 2008.

Mr McBride said: “I personally like the present MP [Sir John Redwood MP for Wokingham], a conservative of old.

“However to clarify a BNP member did stand as a resident in the local elections as was his right, It was a local resident election ergo I couldn’t have stood unless I had a tax-paying business within the Borough which I did not have.”

Mr McBride also called the Bracknell Conservatives ‘good’.

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Additionally, he addressed the LDRS mention of Mark Collett a former chairman of the Young BNP. In 2019, Mr Collett founded Patriotic Alternative, which pressure group Hope Not Hate called  “the largest and most active fascist movement operating in the UK today.”

Mr McBride said he has never heard of or dealt with Patriotic Alternative.

He said: “I do know of a Mr Collett of the past as he was a member of the BNP and was in charge of printing material approved by the standing committee.

“That is as far as my dealing went in that context.”

Mr McBride then stated that he has had good relationships with the press, including the BBC, ITV and Channel 4, and older Labour and Conservative party members.

The LDRS is investigating a claim that he was a member of Bracknell Labour in the early 2000s.

He added: “I have never been arrested! I have never been accused of racism or homophobia, and furthermore Nor did the BNP, whilst I was controlling the management, ever had plans for mass deportations, banning of homosexuals or anyone because of colour or religious beliefs. NEVER!!

“Yes the radicals of the past may well have, but as an active Christian and well known generally fair minded person I have always stated and I maintain today in my later years I believe in openness and free speech!”

During the BNPs chairmanship under Nick Griffin from 1999-2014, an earlier harder stance on the repatriation of non-European immigrants was softened to ‘voluntary repatriation’ through incentives.

This was the first contact the LDRS has had with Mr McBride. The only contact details for Mr McBride it possesses is his Twitter account, @Lordmcbride8.

The LDRS has reached out to Mr McBride on Twitter.

He finished by stating he is “retired and disabled (severely as it happens)” and a  “resident of Priestwood since 1957.”

The LDRS extends sympathy to Mr McBride for his disability.