Michael McLaughlin (activist)

Michael McLaughlin was, for a time, a leading figure on the British far right.

Born in Liverpool, he was the son of an Irish republican and socialist who was a veteran of the International Brigades. For a time McLaughlin worked as a milkman, and as a result he was known as "The Milkman" in right wing circles, where he was seen as a largely unassuming figure. His first involvement with politics came when he joined the British Movement in 1968.

McLaughlin abruptly became leader of the British Movement in 1975 when Colin Jordan was forced into a quick resignation after stealing women's underwear from a department store (a quirk unpopular with the violently anti-gay Movement). Although initially seen as not being leadership material he soon gained publicity for the BM by leading the campaign to free Robert Relf, who at the time had considerable sympathy in sections of the press. Moving the BM headquarters away from Jordan's base in Coventry to Shotton, Flintshire, he repositioned the BM as a party geared towards the young working classes and by 1979 had raised membership to around 3,000. He was imprisoned for race relations crimes in 1979 and later complained that he was forced to share his cell with a Rasta , although the jail term did not affect his position as leader.

McLaughlin's leadership did come under fire from deputy leader Ray Hill, who commanded the respect of the BM's large racist skinhead following and who was also working in secret for Searchlight magazine. Hill accused McLaughlin of spending all his time in Wales and using the BM for his personal enrichment, causing splits to develop in the group. McLaughlin eventually expelled Hill but was served with a writ by the deputy leader. McLaughlin was forced to use BM funds to fight the case whilst Hill was able to call upon the expertise of his close associate Anthony Reed Herbert. McLaughlin attempted to change the name of the group to the British Nationalist & Socialist Movement in order to convince the courts that the BM no longer existed, but the move failed and the case continued until finally Hill left to join the British National Party in 1982, taking more than half of the membership with him. Devoid of much of its support and left in a precarious financial state, McLaughlin was forced to wind up the BM in 1983.

After he left politics he ran a series of army surplus, notably Rucksack n'Rifle in North Wales, which specialised in survivalism, during the late 1980s. Although no longer associated with any group he produced an occasional broadsheet newspaper Comment on political themes, although this has not appeared since the mid-1980s.

Bibliography

• R. Hill & A. Bell, The Other Face of Terror- Inside Europe’s Neo-Nazi Network, London: Collins, 1988