Support base of the National Front (UK)

[9] Branches were not held responsible for providing funds for the party's headquarters, but were expected to finance their own candidates in election campaigns.

[13] It also received funds from individuals in the Arab world to finance the publication of material espousing anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and Holocaust denial.

[21] While the party attracts significant numbers of working-class people the role they play in the branch is contingent on their political ability and zeal, and there is no doubt that it is those drawn from the upper ranks of the working class who predominate...

[27] He observed a greater number of men in their thirties or fifties rather than their forties, suggesting that the latter were typically too preoccupied with raising families to involve themselves heavily in NF matters.

[30] Fielding found that NF members were concerned about their image and sensitive to ideas that they were "fascistic" or "cranky", instead thinking of themselves as "patriots" or "nationalists".

[31] He noted that race was the main issue that led members to joining the Front,[32] and that they generally perceived their racial ideas to be "common sense".

[36] Members typically looked with pride on the UK's past military and colonial exploits,[37] and wanted the country to return to a preeminent position on the world stage.

[38] There was a widespread perception among NF members that Britain's political leaders were corrupt and cruel,[36] and a tendency toward believing and espousing conspiracy theories.

[41] In other cases, individuals may have left because they felt that the hardship they encountered—ostracisation by friends and colleagues, job losses, verbal abuses, and on rare occasion physical assault—became too much to endure, particularly as the party's fortunes declined in the latter 1970s.

[44] Ryan Shaffer stated that the party's shift away from traditional campaigning during the 1980s and its growing affiliation with neo-Nazi youth groups resulted in its appeal becoming restricted to "mostly young people".

[49] In 1978, the psephologist Michael Steed argued that comparing the voting data of the NF to older far-right parties suggested that "there has been a very constant level of potential N.F.

[51] A 1978 survey in the East End by New Society found that while most white residents thought the immigration rate too high, many related positive encounters and friendships with Afro-Caribbean and Asian migrants and opposed the NF.

A number mocked the Front—one called them "a load of ponces" who did not want to work, another satirised "all the blokes in their Action Man gear"—although were cautious about doing so publicly, fearing violent retaliation.

[52] A 1977 survey conducted by Essex University found that 8% of those polled were likely to vote for the Front, and that the party had "strong support amongst the working class, the young and the poorly educated".

[3] A report published in 1980 instead found that Greater London and the West Midlands were the NF's greatest areas of support, together making up 48% of its national vote share.

It was only when... some members of the 'dominant' group who perceived themselves to be under 'attack' felt that the Conservative Party had betrayed their interests, that the extreme right was able to emerge with widespread support.

In 1976, Webster claimed that his party did best "when an immigrant problem is in sight nearby", in white-dominated areas close to migrant communities.