Editing Britain First (section)

== History ==
Former BNP member [[Jim Dowson]] founded the group in 2011 after being expelled from the BNP for allegedly groping a female activist. The group is structured similarly to the [[Ulster Defence Association]], possibly due to Dowson's links to the group, as it has a political wing backed up with a paramilitary wing, the Britain First Defence Force. 

In November 2011, Britain First attempted to register a political party, the National People's Party, with Britain First's current leader [[Paul Golding]] at the helm. However, the Electoral Commission found that Britain First were already listed as a political party and rejected the application. 

Dowson left the party in 2014, stating that "mosque invasions" performed by the group were "unacceptable and unchristian" and "just as bad as [[Anjem Choudary]]". 

On 16th June 2016, anti-Brexit MP Jo Cox was assassinated by [[English Defence League|EDL]] member [[Thomas Mair]]. Several witnesses later claimed that Mair had shouted "Britain First!" before murdering Cox, although several went on the record as stating that they were unsure whether he shouted "Britain First!" or "Put Britain First!", and Golding pointed out that the group had not openly called for the killing and the phrase could have been a slogan. Soon after, the Far-Right group [[National Action (UK)|National Action ]] was outlawed as a potential terrorist threat, and MP Louise Haigh proposed the outlawing of Britain First soon after, although this went nowhere. 

In July 2019, the Electoral Commission accused Britain First of committing a series of offences breaking the electoral regulations and fined them £44, 000 before removing them from the electoral register.