Paul Golding

Political career

Although Golding had been expelled from the British National Party after attacking its only ethnic minority councillor, Golding was a BNP Sevenoaks District councillor for Swanley's St. Mary's Ward from 2009 to 2011. He was also a communications officer for the party.

In 2016, he stood as a candidate in the London mayoral election, where he finished in eighth place.

He stood as British National Party candidate for Sevenoaks in the 2010 general election, and received 2.8% of the vote. He stood in the 2014 local elections and as a Britain First lead candidate in the 2014 European Parliamentary election for Wales; the party received 0.9% of the vote. Golding had been a member of the neo-Nazi National Front and once attended a Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday wearing women's underwear on his head.

In May 2015, Golding threatened to bury a pig at the site of proposed mosque in Dudley, mistakenly believing this would contaminate the site and render it unsuitable. At the Britain First Annual Conference in November 2015, Golding and his deputy Jayda Fransen led the meeting which agreed a number of policies including banning the media from using the word 'racism' and abolishing the BBC.

He stood as a candidate in the London mayoral election in 2016. He came eighth with 31,372 votes (1.2% of those cast) while Labour's Sadiq Khan was elected as Mayor.

Legal issues

In May 2014, Golding was arrested for criminal damage and breach of the peace during a protest outside the Indian Embassy in London. In July 2014, he tried to have himself arrested at Bexleyheath police station over an incident at Crayford Mosque, but failed, an act widely considered to be a fund-raising publicity stunt.

In August 2014, the Advertising Standards Agency accused Britain First of illegally using an image of the royal crown in its logo, ordering all images of the crown to be removed from Britain First's official website, marketing materials and merchandise "with immediate effect". Golding responded by calling the ASA a "toothless quango with no power which no one takes any notice of" and refused to change Britain First's logo.

In March 2015, he was arrested on suspicion of assault during a Britain First march in Derby, as was an opponent who Golding had claimed assaulted him. Also in 2015, Golding was convicted of harassing a woman, after mistakenly arriving at her home instead of that of a man allegedly linked to the 2005 London bombings. He was also found guilty of wearing a political uniform, an offence under the Public Order Act 1936. A restraining order was issued against Golding and he was fined for both offences.

In September 2017, Golding and acting leader Jayda Fransen were arrested and charged with religious harassment. They were both bailed and are due to appear before Medway magistrates in October 2017. Their arrests followed an investigation by Kent Police into the distribution of leaflets in the Thanet and Canterbury areas, and the posting of online videos during a trial at Canterbury Crown Court in May 2017.

Golding's Twitter account is withheld in Germany.

December 2016 arrest and resignation

In December 2016, Golding was sentenced to eight weeks in prison for breaching a court order banning him from entering a mosque or encouraging others to do so in England and Wales. Nine days after the imposition of the court injunction, Golding drove others to a mosque in Cardiff; they entered and mosque members found their behaviour provocative and unnerving. They feared the situation could have escalated if prayers had still been going on.

Leadership of Britain First was passed onto former Deputy Leader Jayda Fransen in November 2016. Fransen claimed that Golding was taking 6 months leave as leader of the organisation "to address some important, personal family issues".

Elections contested

UK general elections

European Parliament elections

London mayoral election