Jim Dowson
Jim Dowson | |
---|---|
Born | James Dowson 1964 or 1965 (age 58–59) Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, Scotland |
Occupation(s) | Founder of Britain First, public relations for Knights Templar International |
Political party | British Freedom Party (since 2020) Britain First (2011–2013) |
Other political affiliations | Protestant Coalition (2013) BNP (before 2010) |
Children | 9 |
James Dowson (born 1964 or 1965)
Originally from Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, Scotland,[2] he has been active across the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States and has been described by The Times as "the invisible man of Britain's far right".[3]
After joining and falling out with the
Dowson presents Templar Report on Purged TV every Sunday to Friday which has Nick Griffin, the former BNP and National Front leader, as a regular guest.[4]
Activities
Anti-abortion activism
Dowson was a
He came to wider attention for his campaigning against abortion, establishing his own group, the UK Life League, in 1999 after meeting with the leaders of Youth Defence, a militant anti-abortion group active in the Republic of Ireland.[8] He courted controversy by setting up a website that published the personal details of sexual health workers, as well as encouraging supporters to bombard Paul Goggins with messages after the Northern Irish Health Secretary had mooted the possibility of relaxing Northern Ireland's tough anti-abortion laws.[6] When the Marie Stopes Clinic (a family planning clinic denounced by its critics as pro-abortion) opened in Belfast in 2012, Dowson took a leading role in the protests that followed.[7] Dowson has also stated that he worked as part of the United States anti-abortion movement and used much of what he learned there as part of his career in public relations.[9]
It has been reported that during his campaigns Dowson has picked up several criminal convictions, notably for breach of the peace in 1986, possession of a weapon and breach of the peace in 1991, and criminal damage in 1992.[8][10] Dowson has, however, denied all of these claims apart from the conviction for breach of the peace, which he insisted was for an incident in his youth.[9]
Matt Collins, a former member of the
Jim Dowson has raised money for extreme right-wing, anti-abortion or anti-gay groups, has protested outside abortion clinics, and made a living from heaping misery on people in desperate circumstances.[11]
British National Party
Dowson joined the British National Party at an unspecified date and became a leading figure within the group, rising to take charge of the BNP's financial affairs.[5] He has claimed that in this role he raised £4 million for the party.[9] Dowson's financial role with the party began in late 2007.[12]
Having relocated to Ballygowan from Glasgow, Dowson set up a BNP call centre at the Carrowreagh Business Centre in Dundonald on the outskirts of Belfast. Dowson ran the centre under the name of Adlorr-ies.com Ltd, a Leicestershire-based company he had established.[13]
Dowson announced his departure from the BNP in 2010 and stated that he intended to start an anti-Islamic Christian group.[14] According to a report in the Daily Record, Dowson had also faced an allegation that he had groped a female BNP worker.[2]
Britain First
Dowson's involvement in
Dowson announced his resignation from Britain First in July 2014 after the group, under a policy initiated by Golding, started launching "invasions" of mosques. Dowson described the initiative as "provocative and counterproductive" as well as "unacceptable and unchristian".[16] The story about the mosque attacks had been broken by Channel 4 on the same news programme that named Dowson as the group's leading figure.[9]
Northern Ireland
Dowson became a leading figure in the
Dowson joined Willie Frazer at the 2013 LaMon Hotel press conference at which the Protestant Coalition, a political party launched on the back of the flag protests, was officially established.[20] He subsequently claimed that he left the party to Frazer and Rab McKee after a few months and bemoaned the failure of the group to make any impact on local politics.[9]
Eastern Europe and Knights Templar International
Dowson relocated to Budapest, Hungary, and has been observed in several eastern European countries with his latest venture, Knights Templar International (KTI), along with the former BNP leader Nick Griffin and a Hungarian anti-abortion campaigner Imre Teglasy.[21] Dowson's last sighting, according to the Daily Mirror, was on the Turkey–Bulgaria border with the KTI supplying equipment to a vigilante paramilitary group, the Shipka Bulgarian National Movement, to hunt down asylum seekers.[22] Dowson was subsequently reported as having developed close links with the Russian extremist Aleksandr Dugin, with Dugin aiding Dowson in the establishment of a Belgrade office for his internet activity in support of the "alt-right".[23] The KTI has also been described as part of the counter-jihad movement.[24]
In May 2017, it was reported by Hope not Hate that Dowson had been stopped from entering Hungary after the Hungarian Immigration Authority declared him an "undesirable individual" and barred him from entering the country in future. The move came as part of a wider crackdown by the Ministry of Interior on far-right individuals from across Europe using the country as their base, after Horst Mahler had been arrested trying to escape charges of Holocaust denial in Germany by entering Hungary.[25]
In May 2018, BBC News reported that Dowson has been fronting the Knights Templar International company[26] with Dowson's sister-in-law Marion Thomas named as one of its directors.[27][28]
Donald Trump
In July 2016, Dowson established the "Patriot News Agency" to help
Scottish independence
Whilst attending a far-right conference in Budapest in March 2017, Dowson announced his support for Scottish independence, despite his earlier unionist stances. Dowson stated "England is stuffed, England is stuffed totally" and advanced his belief that an independent Scotland "would protect us from the excesses of Muslim domination".[31]
Kosovo military equipment
In May 2018 the BBC reported that Knights Templar International had claimed to have supplied ballistics vests and communications equipment to Kosovo. It also reported that Dowson had told Kosovan TV that he had personally taken such equipment there.[26]
Ireland
Jim Dowson has been heavily associated with the Irish Catholic nationalist group Siol na hÉireann (Seed of Ireland), especially the group's founder Niall McConnell. In 2019, Dowson appeared regularly alongside McConnell on his YouTube channel, the two travelling to the European Parliament together with the former BNP leader Nick Griffin. It has been noted that the Siol website is almost identical to sites that belong to Dowson, such as that of the British Freedom Movement and Knights Templar International, selling variations of the same merchandise.[32]
Operating from Donegal, Siol na hÉireann has been involved in a number of public activities across Ireland. In June 2020, it made headlines when it confronted a Mayo priest who allowed two members of the Muslim community to give a blessing at Mass. In July 2020, it led a "colour party" at the head of march in Dublin in protest of COVID lockdown restrictions.
Personal life
Dowson is the father of nine children.[16][30] He has been described as "a Christian Fundamentalist", a "fundamentalist preacher" and "driven by fundamental extremism".[35][9][36]
References
- ^ McDonald, Henry (20 March 2017). "Far-right millionaire: I'll use social media network to back Scottish independence". The Guardian.
- ^ a b c Stewart, Stephen (26 May 2014). "Exposed: Scottish BNP No.2 unmasked as man behind Britain First Defence Force's sickening invasion of mosques". Daily Record. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
- ^ Kennedy, Dominic (26 November 2016). "Pastor became extremists' marketing mastermind". The Times.(subscription required)
- ^ "Templar Report". Purged TV. 3 September 2023.
- ^ a b c Francis, Colin (20 June 2014). "Loyalist flag protest man Jim Dowson revealed as real leader of far-right organisation Britain First". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
- ^ a b McGuigan, Ciaran (6 May 2007). "Pro-life Zealot denies website intimidation of health workers". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
- ^ a b McDonald, Henry (18 October 2012). "Anti-abortion activists protest at Belfast clinic opening". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
- ^ a b c McLean, Marc (9 January 2013). "Scots ex-BNP chief seen fuelling Union flag riots in Belfast". Daily Record. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f g Clarke, Liam (21 June 2014). "Jim Dowson laughs off TV claims he is the 'evil genius' of British fascism". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
- ^ Campbell, Scott (15 May 2014). "Cumbernauld's shame; town's link with far-right extremist group". Cumbernauld Media. Archived from the original on 2 January 2015. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
- ^ Whelan, Brian (19 June 2014). "Britain First: inside the extremist group targeting mosques". Channel 4 News. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
- ^ a b Gable, Sonia (16 December 2012). "Britain First is money-making scam claims EDL". Searchlight. Archived from the original on 2 January 2015. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
- ^ O'Dornan, David (14 June 2009). "BNP's secret Belfast lair". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
- ^ Sommerlad, Nick (27 July 2014). "Britain First founder quits over mosque invasions which attract "racists and extremists"". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
- Hope Not Hate. 22 October 2012. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
- ^ a b Dearden, Lizzie (28 July 2014). "Britain First founder Jim Dowson quits over mosque invasions and 'racists and extremists'". The Independent. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
- ^ "Jim Dowson arrested in union flag protest probe". BBC News. 1 March 2013. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
- ^ "Scottish Union Flag protester Jim Dowson appears in Belfast court". The Herald. 2 March 2013. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
- ^ Erwin, Alan (20 April 2015). "Union flag protestor Jim Dowson handed suspended sentence for taking part in unlawful public processions". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 10 February 2022.
- ^ "Flag protesters launch new 'anti-politics' unionist party". Belfast Telegraph. 24 April 2013. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
- ^ "Knights Templar International: Christian Knights or Fascist Front?". International Report Bigotry and Fascism. 23 May 2016. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
- ^ McGivern, Mark (24 October 2016). "Britain First extremist filmed joining hate-filled vigilante group hunting down asylum seekers in Bulgaris". Daily Mirror. Archived from the original on 9 November 2016. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
- ^ Townsend, Mark (11 February 2017). "Britain's extremist bloggers helping the 'alt-right' go global, report finds". The Observer. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
- ^
- Herman, Lise Esther; Muldoon, James (2018). Trumping the Mainstream: The Conquest of Democratic Politics by the Populist Radical Right. Routledge. ISBN 9781351384018– via Google Books.
- "International counter-jihad organisations". Hope not hate. 11 January 2018.
- Herman, Lise Esther; Muldoon, James (2018). Trumping the Mainstream: The Conquest of Democratic Politics by the Populist Radical Right. Routledge.
- ^ Collins, Matthew (24 May 2017). "Exclusive: Jim Dowson Expelled From Hungary". Hope not Hate. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
- ^ a b Cox, Simon; Meisel, Anna (1 May 2018). "Is this Britain's most influential far-right activist?". BBC News. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
- ^ Andrews, Kieran (3 December 2017). "Revealed: Far-right Scot pioneered hate group's propaganda peddled by Donald Trump". The Sunday Post. Dundee, Scotland. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
- ^ "Knights Templar International Novus Ordo Militiae Ltd". Company Check. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
- ^ New York Times. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
- ^ The News Letter. Belfast. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
- ^ Collins, Matthew (20 March 2017). "Flag man drops Britain". Hope not Hate. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
- ^ "Siol na hÉireann: Jim Dowson's Irish Chicanery?". The Burkean. 14 September 2020. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
- ^ Conor Gallagher (19 September 2020). "The far right rises: Its growth as a political force in Ireland". The Irish Times. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
- ^ Brennan, Cianan; McConnell, Daniel (24 January 2022). "Far right exploits Ashling Murphy's death to ramp up anti-immigrant rhetoric". The Irish Examiner. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
- ^ Duffy, Judith (19 February 2017). "Militant Scottish anti-abortion campaigner Jim Dowson in spotlight as Britain's most influential far-right activist". The Herald. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
- ^ Collins, Matthew (23 June 2014). "Meet Britain First: the UK's fastest growing far right group". openDemocracy. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
External links