The “Irish question” and the National Front: the challenge of British loyalism during the early Troubles, 1969–75

The outbreak of the Troubles represented a crisis and opportunity for the fledgling National Front. Unlike other British parties, the “Irish Question” remained an important ideological preoccupation of the National Front. It conspiratorially saw the conflict as a deliberate attempt by international forces to undermine the British nation. This unscored the party’s advocacy of staunch British loyalism, which influenced its propaganda output and saw the party organise pro-loyalist demonstrations in English cities. But these activities failed to capture the same levels of support among the public as its anti-immigration campaigning had. Meanwhile, the National Front’s entanglement with Ulster loyalism in Northern Ireland proved unfruitful. Their respective visions of loyalism proved irreconcilable, illuminating the fundamentally different worldviews of the British far right and Ulster loyalists.