John Bean

For other people named John Bean, see John Bean (disambiguation).

This article relies largely or entirely upon a single source. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please help improve this article by introducing citations to additional sources. (April 2009)

John Bean
Born	John Edward Bean (1927-06-27) 27 June 1927 (age 85) Carshalton, Surrey
Nationality	British
Citizenship	British
Known for	Activist
Political party	Union Movement Conservative Party League of Empire Loyalists National Labour Party British National Party National Front British National Party British Democratic Party

John Edward Bean (born 7 June 1927) is a long-standing participant in the British far right, who has been active within a number of movements during the course of his life.

Early life

Born in Carshalton, Surrey,^[1] at the age of 13 he suffered the trauma of being bombed out with his family living in Blackfen, Sidcup, February 1941. Bean briefly flirted with Communism whilst at school, calling for support of the Soviet Union.^[2] His initial fervour soon faded and by the time he began his National service in 1945, Bean was largely apolitical. Initially he was a trainee navigator in RAF Volunteer Reserve and later as a sailor in the Royal Navy. Bean became a radar mechanic and was placed on HMS Bulawayo a fleet supply ship which made several visits to Trinidad until the finish of his naval service in June 1948. He briefly lived in India during 1950 to work as a chemist in a paint factory, although he failed to settle and returned to Britain six months later.

↑Jump back a section

Politics

Union Movement

Upon his return, Bean began to attend meetings of the Union Movement, being attracted by the Europe a Nation policy and by the time Oswald Mosley had spent in prison for his beliefs.^[3] Bean initially served as a member of the Special Propaganda Service, the main duty of which was to sell copies of the party's newspaper Union.^[4] Soon however he became a leading figure active on behalf of the UM in the East End of London, before being appointed to head up a branch in Putney in 1952.^[5] Despite these advancements, Bean grew disillusioned of the UM's chances of making any real headway and he left them altogether in February 1953. A brief stop-over in the local Conservative Party in Barnes that followed lasted only two months.

National Labour Party and BNP

After a spell on the sidelines he then linked up with Andrew Fountaine, who had been attempting to form his own party, the National Front, and began to produce a journal, National Unity.^[6] His work attracted the attention of A. K. Chesterton and, with the National Front idea failing to get off the ground, he decided to join the League of Empire Loyalists, serving as Northern Organiser and then in the HQ in London. Continuing to produce his paper, now called The Loyalist, Bean soon became frustrated at both the lack of political activity and the links to the Conservative Party that were the hallmarks of the LEL and so left in 1957 to set up the National Labour Party with Fountaine.^[7]

The NLP gained a few minor results in elections, but was always destined to be a small fringe movement, and as a result Bean decided to merge his party with another LEL splinter group, the White Defence League in 1960 to form the British National Party. Initially gaining some support in London, the party soon ran into trouble when it became clear that Colin Jordan was emerging as its spokesman. A journalist commented in 1962 that Jordan was becoming the British Adolf Hitler, Bean jokingly responded to the Daily Mail reporter that that made him "the British Joseph Goebbels". Despite this, Bean, soon clashed with Jordan over his extremism and before long Jordan had left to form the National Socialist Movement, taking emerging figures John Tyndall and Denis Pirie with him. Bean had blamed the associations with Nazism that Jordan and Tyndall brought on the party's marginal position in British politics.^[8]

At the 1964 general election Bean stood as BNP candidate in Southall and obtained 3,410 votes (9.3%) which was the highest post-war vote for a minority party at that time.^[9] Another BNP candidate picked up nearly 2,000 votes in Deptford. In 1966 he again stood in Southall but his vote fell to 2,600. With BNP membership only marginally increasing, Bean felt the need to try and create a nationalist front with like groups and arranged, with the help of Ted Budden, a private meeting with his old mentor A.K. Chesterton and a spokesman of the Racial Preservation Society.^[10] The result of the meeting was the founding of the National Front in 1967.

NF and political retirement

Bean became something of a peripheral figure in the NF, as the BNP element was somewhat sidelined. He held the post of Deputy Chairman of the Executive Directorate, a body which was largely subordinate to the Policy Directorate, and stood as second candidate for the Ealing constituency in the 1967 Greater London Council elections until resigning in 1968. Still an NF member, he was recalled to positions of minor influence from time to time until 1972 when he largely ceased active involvement.^[11] Retreating into political retirement, his membership lapsed in 1977 and he emerged only briefly to lend some support to his old friend Andrew Fountaine's Constitutional Movement^[12] and to take part in the Countryside Alliance march of 1 March 1998.^[13] During this period he wrote two books. Ten Miles From AnywhereHedgerow Publishing 1995, looked at the changes in a Suffolk village from the beginning of the 20th century. Many Shades of Black, New Millennium 1999, was Bean's political memoires up to that date.

Bean in the BNP and BDP

Bean eventually ended his retirement after the political fall of John Tyndall and joined the British National Party under the leadership of Nick Griffin. He became an active official of the BNP (mostly in administration) and was a candidate for the party in the 2004 European elections, where he was seventh on a list of seven candidates for the Scotland constituency. He formerly ran his own website, but then wrote a regular column for the main BNP website, and served as editor of BNP magazine Identity until March 2010.

Due to dissatisfaction with his leadership, John Bean has demanded that Nick Griffin resign as National Chairman and focus more on the North West region.^[14]

In May 2011, he endorsed Andrew Brons (the BNP MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber) He made significant contributions to the Brons team web site, including articles on Genetics and Inheritance and Nationalism and a European Confederation.^[15] He subsequently became involved in Brons's party the British Democratic Party, established in February 2013.^[16]

↑Jump back a section

Elections contested

UK Parliament elections

Date of election	Constituency	Party	Votes	%
1964	Southall	BNP	3,410	9.1
1966	Southall	BNP	2,768	7.4

Greater London Council elections

Date of election	Constituency	Party	Votes	%
1967	Ealing	NF	2,164	1.9

European Parliament elections

Date of election	Region	Party	Votes	%	Results	Notes
2004	Scotland	BNP	19,427	1.7	Not elected	Multi-member constituencies; party list

↑Jump back a section

References

^ J. Bean, Many Shades of Black: Inside Britain's far-Right, London: New Millennium, 1999, p. 3
^ Bean, op cit, p. 21
^ Bean, op cit, pp. 62-3
^ Graham Macklin, Very Deeply Dyed in Black, IB Tauris, 2007, p. 63
^ Bean, op cit, p. 89
^ Bean, op cit, p. 96
^ Bean, op cit, p. 119
^ Macklin, Very Deeply Dyed in Black, p. 55
^ M. Walker, The National Front, Glasgow: Fontana Collins, 1977, p. 53
^ Bean, op cit, p. 185
^ Bean, op cit, pp. 209-214
^ Bean, op cit, pp. 221-222
^ Bean, op cit, p. 227
^ http://eddybutler.blogspot.com/2010/09/john-bean-calls-on-nick-griffin-to.html
^ http://bnpideas.com
^ Collins, Matthew (8 February 2013). "Neo-Nazi former BNP members launch new far-right party". New Statesman. Retrieved 8 February 2013.

↑Jump back a section

External links

"John Beans Nationalist Notebook". Archived from the original on 2006-01-11.
Archive (archive.org) of now-defunct "John Beanstalk" website, retrieved 9 March 2005

v t e Far right in the United Kingdom

Pre-1945 political parties and groups	British Brothers League British Fascists British People's Party British Union of Fascists The Britons Britons Publishing Society English National Association Imperial Fascist League The Link National Fascisti National Party National Socialist League Nordic League

Defunct post-1945 political parties and groups	British Democratic Party British Empire Party British Freedom Party British League of Ex-Servicemen and Women British League of Rights British Movement British National Party Column 88 Constitutional Movement Flag Group Freedom Party Greater Britain Movement League of Empire Loyalists National Democratic Party National Democrats National Fellowship National Independence Party National Labour Party National Party National Socialist Action Party National Socialist Movement New Britain Party New Nationalist Party Northern League Official National Front Our Nation Patriotic Party Racial Preservation Society Union Movement White Defence League White Nationalist Party

Active political parties and groups	Blood & Honour Britain First British Democratic Party British National Party British People's Party Candour Casuals United Christian Council of Britain Combat 18 England First Party English Defence League International Third Position League of Saint George National Front National Socialist Movement Nationalist Alliance November 9th Society Racial Volunteer Force Redwatch Stop Islamisation of Europe Woden's Folk

Pre-1945 people	Mary Sophia Allen John Amery A.F.X. Baron Henry Hamilton Beamish John Beckett MP Hastings Russell, 12th Duke of Bedford Brigadier-General R.B.D. Blakeney A. K. Chesterton MC Dr John Henry Clarke Thomas Haller Cooper Roy Courlander Admiral Sir Barry Domville Josslyn Hay, 22nd Earl of Erroll Major Sir William Evans-Gordon MP Robert Forgan MP Sir Harold Elsdale Goad Sir Reginald Goodall Captain Robert Gordon-Canning MC Group Captain Sir Louis Leisler Greig Neil Francis Hawkins Major-General J.F.C. Fuller William Joyce Arnold Leese Rotha Lintorn-Orman Frank McLardy The Hon. Diana Mitford, Lady Mosley The Hon. Unity Mitford Lady Cynthia Mosley Sir Oswald Mosley Gerard Wallop, 9th Earl of Portsmouth David Bertram Ogilvy Freeman-Mitford, 2nd Baron Redesdale Sir Alliott Verdon Roe Alexander Raven Thomson Lieutenant-Colonel Graham Seton Hutchison Nesta H. Webster Arthur Wellesley, 5th Duke of Wellington Henry Williamson Brigadier-General Sir Ormaonde de L'Epee Winter

Post-1945 people	Ian Anderson Richard Barnbrook Derek Beackon John Bean Jane, Lady Birdwood Eddy Butler Jonathan Bowden Andrew Brons MEP A.K. Chesterton Mark Collett David Copeland Mark Cotterill Nicky Crane Simon Darby Sharon Ebanks Richard Edmonds Lieutenant Commander Andrew Fountaine Nick Griffin MEP Jeffrey Hamm Anthony Hancock Patrick Harrington Ray Hill Derek Holland Tom Holmes Colin Jordan Arthur Kemp John Kingsley Read Richard Lawson Tony Lecomber Michael McLaughlin Eddy Morrison John Morse David Myatt John O'Brien Roy Painter Denis Pirie Kevin Quinn Anthony Reed Herbert Robert Relf Simon Sheppard Ian Stuart Donaldson Keith Thompson John Tyndall Richard Verrall Martin Webster Martin Wingfield John Graeme Wood

Related articles	Anglo-German Fellowship Battle of Cable Street Candour (magazine) British National Party election results Europe a Nation List of British fascist parties National Democrats election results National Front election results Organisation for the Maintenance of Supplies Political Soldier Spearhead History of British fascism since 1945

Persondata
Name	Bean, John
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1927-06-27
Place of birth	Carshalton, Surrey
Date of death
Place of death

↑Jump back a section

Last modified on 11 March 2013, at 20:02