Third Way (UK)
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The Third Way is a British political party which was formed on March 17, 1990. It contains several former members of the right-wing National Front. Around fifty members of the party's Political Soldier wing joined Third Way at its foundation alongside others who had been involved with other political groups or none.
The leading members include David Kerr Chairman of the party (and editor of Ulster Nation magazine); Graham Williamson (lead candidate with approx 17% of the vote in local elections in Elm Park, part of Hornchurch, in the London Borough of Havering); Brent Cheetham (editor of the Cuffley Courier newsletter) and Patrick Harrington.
David Kerr is active in Northern Ireland where the group advocates Ulster independence from both Britain and Ireland and the creation of a non-Sectarian state. Kerr is frequently active in the West Belfast constituency where he lives, although electoral support has so far been minimal.
Policies include de-criminalization of prostitution and cannabis, reform of Britain's role in the European Union (the party began life by calling for complete withdrawal and supported Sir James Goldsmith's Referendum Party in the 1997 General Election). They have also run "support small trader" campaigns and claim to be the heirs to the Poujadist tradition. The group also advocates a form of social credit based on a universal citizens' income and advocates co-operative ownership and some nationalisation. It often describes its political views as distributist.
The group has disavowed neo-Nazi ideology and claims to actively recruit from all ethnic and religious communities. Critics, however, claim it is a neofascist movement, continue to regard the group with suspicion due to the past ties of its leadership to the National Front, and/or do not accept the party's public disavowal of neo-Nazism and Fascism as genuine.
It should not be confused with the Third Way ideology promoted by Tony Blair, Bill Clinton and Gerhard Schröder. In fact it vociferously condemns this as merely a revised form of social democracy.
David Kerr is active in the Ulster Nation / Ulster Independence Movement and recently stood under the Third Way banner in Belfast which proposed an independent Northern Ireland based on equality as the solution to "The Troubles" in Ireland as opposed to the existing tribal politics of Protestants vs Catholics.
External links
- Ulster Nation (http://www.ulsternation.org.uk)
- Third Way (http://www.thirdway.org)