Jonathan Bowden

Jonathan David Anthony Bowden (12 April 1962 – 29 March 2012)[1] was an English far-right writer and politician.

Early life and formal education

Bowden was born in Kent, England, and attended Presentation College in Reading, Berkshire. His mother died when he was 16 years old. In 1984, he completed one year of a Bachelor of Arts history degree course at Birkbeck College, London University, as a mature student, but left without graduating. He subsequently enrolled at Wolfson College, Cambridge University, in autumn 1988, but left after a few months.

Political career

Conservative Party

He began his political career as a member of the Conservative Party in the Bethnal Green and Stepney Constituency Association.. In 1990, he joined the Conservative Monday Club, and the following year made an unsuccessful bid to be elected onto its Executive Council. In 1991, he was appointed co-chairman with Stuart Millson of the club's media committee,[2] and was also active in the Western Goals Institute.[3] In 1992, Bowden was expelled from the Monday Club.[4]

Revolutionary Conservative Caucus

Bowden and Stuart Millson co-founded the Revolutionary Conservative Caucus in November 1992[5] with the aim of introducing "abstract thought into the nether reaches of the Conservative and Unionist party".[3] The group published a quarterly journal entitled The Revolutionary Conservative Review. By the end of 1994, Millson and Bowden parted company and the group dissolved.

In 1993, Bowden published the book Right through the European Books Society. He was also reported to be a prominent figure in the creative milieu responsible for the emergence of Right Now! magazine.[6]

Freedom Party

Bowden then joined the Freedom Party, for which he was treasurer for a short time,[7] and subsequently in company with Adrian Davies was a member of the Bloomsbury Forum.[8]

British National Party

In 2003, Bowden broke with attempts to influence Conservatism and moved into political activity by joining the British National Party (BNP), becoming a popular speaker. He was appointed Cultural Officer, a position its leader Nick Griffin created to give Bowden officer status within the organisation. However, in July 2007, Bowden resigned and left the BNP.

Although he resumed public speech-making at BNP organised meetings in the localities away from the party's national events, he never re-joined the party and cut all ties after the May 2010 general election.

London Forum

Bowden made speeches on many topics to The London Forum, a far-right discussion forum.[9]

Creative works

Bowden was an artist whose works are collected in three book volumes.

He appeared in two avant-garde films, Venus Flytrap (2005) and Grand Guignol (2009), both directed by the Italian film-maker Andrea Lioy.

Death

Bowden died of heart failure at his home in Berkshire on 29 March 2012, aged 49.

References

  1. ↑ Jonathan Bowden 1962-2012
  2. ↑ Monday Club News, July 1991 edition, p.2. – Monday Club Executive Council Minutes, 13 May 1991. This position did not, however, afford Bowden a seat on the Council
  3. 1 2 Interview with Bowden Archived 7 August 2009 at the Wayback Machine.
  4. ↑ Sonia Gable and Adam Carter, "New Right chairman dies" Archived 21 November 2015 at the Wayback Machine., Searchlight, 26 April 2012
  5. ↑ The Revolutionary Conservative, issue no.2, 1993, p.16.
  6. ↑ Right Now!
  7. ↑ Freedom Party website
  8. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 21 February 2009. Retrieved 2009-03-05.
  9. ↑ YouTube
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.