Editing British Movement (section)

==Post-Jordan==
After Jordan stood down as leader of the BM, [[Michael McLaughlin (activist)|Michael McLaughlin]], a former milkman from [[Liverpool]], became the leader.<ref>R. Hill & A. Bell, ''The Other Face of Terror'', p. 124.</ref> McLaughlin, who was seen as a talented organiser but weak leader, was largely believed to have been chosen as little more than a "front" leader who could be controlled by Jordan from behind the scenes.<ref name="Hill120">R. Hill & A. Bell, ''The Other Face of Terror'', p. 120.</ref> McLaughlin quickly rejected this notion and made it clear that Jordan's time was over, resulting in the former leader retiring to [[Yorkshire]] from where he still published his own journal ''Gothic Ripples'' from time to time, the pages of which were regularly filled with criticism of McLaughlin.<ref name="Hill120"/>

McLaughlin, in contrast to Jordan, was under no delusions that the BM might gain a broad following and instead he felt that its best area of possible support was amongst young, working-class males. The BM journals, ''The Phoenix'' and ''British Patriot'', thus changed to become much more simplistic and aggressive publications largely shorn of Jordan's pseudoscientific racialism in favour of more basic notions.<ref>R. Hill & A. Bell, ''The Other Face of Terror'', p. 121.</ref> The BM had also gained some publicity in 1976 when "race martyr" and sometime party activist [[Robert Relf]] went on hunger strike in protest at the [[Race Relations Act 1976|Race Relations Bill]] but this proved short-lived as Tyndall quickly signed Relf up to the NF.<ref>Walker, ''The National Front'', p. 195.</ref> Relf had gained national attention after he advertised his house as being "For Sale - to a white family only".<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.revolutionary-history.co.uk/otherdox/SMP/Smp3.html |title=Facing the Crisis |access-date=2007-10-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928095326/http://www.revolutionary-history.co.uk/otherdox/SMP/Smp3.html |archive-date=2007-09-28 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Meanwhile, McLaughlin's baser ideas struck a chord with the growing [[White power skinhead]] movement and large numbers of these youths, many of whom were involved in regular acts of violence against non-Whites, flocked to the BM.<ref>R. Hill & A. Bell, ''The Other Face of Terror'', pp. 121–122.</ref> By 1980 it claimed to have 4,000 members and 25 branches.<ref name="Barb"/>

The notion of recruiting violent youths to form a street army appealed to [[Martin Webster]] who attempted to coax members away from the BM to the NF but the BM only lost a handful of members in this manner before NF leader [[John Tyndall (politician)|John Tyndall]], mindful of the desire to present a respectable NF image, called a halt to the scheme.<ref>Richard Thurlow, ''Fascism in Britain A History, 1918-1985'', Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1987, p. 282.</ref> A key strategy for gaining publicity and members was by encouraging violence at [[Football (soccer)|football]] matches and concerts. [[Nicky Crane]], one of the leading figures of the neo-Nazi skinhead movement, joined the BM and became an organiser in [[Kent]].<ref>N. Lowles & S. Silver, ''White Noise'', London: Searchlight, 1998.</ref> By this time the BM had effectively given up mainstream politics in favour of provocative marches and violence, changes that appealed to the younger element who were disillusioned with the disintegrating NF.<ref name="Hill p. 125">Hill & Bell, ''The Other Face of Terror'', p. 125.</ref>