Anthony Reed Herbert

Who is Anthony Reed Herbert?

Anthony Reed-Herbert was a leading member of the British National Front during the 1970s, organising the party in Leicester and serving as its chief legal adviser.

Having previously been chairman of his local Young Conservatives, Reed Herbert became disillusioned with the Tories in 1972 when a Party Conference motion sponsored by Enoch Powell, condemning the government for admitting Ugandan Asian refugees, was defeated. He subsequently joined the NF and swiftly rose to the leadership. To counter accusations from the 'populist' faction of the NF that the leadership was too right wing, in June 1974 he was co-opted onto the NF's Directorate; not being tainted with a fascist past like so many of the NF leaders, he was acceptable as a moderate in the populists' eyes. As a consequence, it was Reed Herbert who cast the deciding vote which unseated John Tyndall as leader and gave the leadership to John Kingsley Read in 1974. Although he thus became associated with the populist wing of the party, he stopped short of joining the National Party when Tyndall regained control and the populists left, instead remaining within the NF. This is not to say that his views are moderate in the wider sense. He is quoted as saying: