Pat Harrington - in his own words

Acknowledgements to the web site of the Third Way think tank for the following potted biography of Mr Griffin's closest lieutenant, non-member of the British National Party but employee of Nick Griffin MEP, Pat Harrington.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the web site of the tiny National Liberal Party, of which Mr Harrington is one of the four most senior leaders (it has almost as many leaders as it has members), boasts on its home page the prominent image of a Negro, proudly sporting the party's orange rosette on his blazer.

I could find no explicit reference to the party's policy on immigration on its web site, but the party's Wikipedia article implies that it is opposed neither to Britain's membership of the European Union, nor to 'asylum seekers' entering the country. The whole impression is one of faineant, pseudo-intellectual pretentiousness, of a cosy little mutual admiration society, presided over by conceited individuals who prefer to look at themselves in the mirror, rather than engage in constructive political work for the benefit of our people.

Having done some good work for the nationalist movement as a young student (conveniently making a name for himself in the process), it seems that Pat was subsequently shown the error of his ways by a rabbi who advocates "the embrace of the Other" (I kid you not) and 'turned': into quite what exactly it is not easy to say. But then, perhaps the poor mixed-up kid doesn't even know himself. Of course, a clue might be found in Pat's early membership of the Young Communist League. If one were looking for a clue, that is.

PATRICK HARRINGTON

Pat Harrington: nationalist manque

Patrick Harrington was born in Kennington, South London in 1964. He attended Pimlico Comprehensive and later Archbishop Tenison’s Grammar School. In 1979 he joined the National Front after a brief spell in the Young Communist League [Emphasis mine, AE], and was at the centre of student disputes at the Polytechnic of North London in the 80s as an infantile faction of the “left” sought to deny him access to classes on account of his then political views. The court cases he initiated and won at that time form precedents which continue to protect the rights of all individuals. He graduated with a degree in Philosophy, but since then has obtained qualifications in advertising & marketing and computing. Pat is also a qualified teacher, worked for many years on Britain’s (much undervalued) Railway and is now self-employed.

In 1990 he joined with others to found Third Way, having radically altered many of his views and widened his base of social and political contacts; he cites his discussions with Rabbi Mayer Schiller as having a particular influence on him. Pat’s outlook is nowadays pretty close to that of co-operative socialism [Emphasis mine, AE]. He established a collection on both the extreme right and left from his own extensive library of political material, and made it available at the Modern Records Centre of Warwick University. He has contributed to additional research (soon to be published) on politics during the 1980s, and currently serves on the National Executive of Third Way.

Patrick’s published works include:

The Third Way – An Answer to Blair,

The Third Way Manifesto (with Cliff Morrison),

Catholic Social Teaching (with Anthony Cooney and John Medaille) and

Tolkien and Politics (with Anthony Cooney and David Kerr).

Patrick is the General Secretary of the independent Nationalist Trades Union Solidarity.

Patrick is a life-long vegetarian with a strong interest in animal welfare. Outwith family, his main leisure activities are computing and martial arts; favourite authors are JRR Tolkein, Ursula LeGuin, CS Lewis and Isaac Asimov.