Jim Dowson

{{UKpolitics}}
'''Jim Dowson''' {{lived|1964}} is a [[right-wing]] [[British]] political campaigner and former [[Calvinist]] minister.<ref name=hopenot/> Based in Ballygowan, [[Northern Ireland]], he also led an [[Pro-life|anti-abortion]] campaign, the {{wpl|UK Life League}}.

Dowson has been involved with a number of right-wing groups, most notably the [[British National Party]] from 2007 to 2010; as an active fundraiser for the party he earned a reputation as "the person who owned the BNP".<ref name=hopenot/> Other groups that he has been affiliated with include an anti-[[abortion]] outfit called the UK LifeLeague.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20110604185046/http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/features/article/17/jim-dowson-a-place-in-the-sun</ref> Despite his connection to the racist BNP, Dowson seems to be less interested (though not entirely uninterested) in racial politics and more involved with the kind of right-wing religious campaigning associated more with the [[United States]] than with Britain.

In 2010 Shelley Rose, a former BNP candidate, publicly claimed that Dowson had lured her into a hotel room and groped her. Dowson denied this accusation and claimed that Rose was trying to smear him for being a party hardliner, as opposed to "people like Nick Griffin who want to open the party to Asians and other groups". Dowson left the BNP shortly afterwards.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20111107110743/http://hopenothate.org.uk/news/article/1701/bust-ed-sexy-ex-candidate-claims-that-sleazy</ref><ref>http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/bnp-money-man-quits-after-1074247</ref>

In May 2011 Dowson and his colleague Paul Golding announced the establishment of [[Britain First]]. The group focuses more on religion, being strongly pro-[[Christian]], anti-[[Islam]] and anti-abortion.<ref name=hopenot>https://hopenothate.org.uk/case-files-britain-first/</ref> Britain First has spawned a couple of appendages: its political wing the National People's Party<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20130420145923/http://www.britainfirst.org/britain-first/national-peoples-party-authorised-by-electoral-commission/</ref> and the English National Resistance (not to be confused with the openly [[white nationalist]] group of the [[English National Resistance|same name]]), a protest group co-founded by representatives of the [[English Defence League]], the [[English Democrats]] and the [[South East Alliance]].<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20130517135141/http://www.britainfirst.org/britain-first/introducing-the-english-national-resistance/</ref><ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20130206013923/http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/blog/article/2470/are-the-english-democrats-the-stupid-party</ref> However, in 2014, Dowson left [[Britain First]] as he was completely shocked to find that BF was full of "racists and extremists" (*gasp*), adding that "going into their mosques and stirring them up and provoking them is political madness [[Understatement|and a bit rude]]".<ref>[https://archive.ph/THULb Britain First founder Jim Dowson quits over mosque invasions and 'racists and extremists'] ''The Independent'', 28 July 2014 (archived)</ref> Well, you know what they say about a [[stopped clock]]...

Dowson is a [[homophobe]] and appears to believe that gays should be executed. When somebody quoted [[Leviticus]] 20:15 (the infamous verse prescribing the death penalty for homosexuality) on his Facebook page, his response was "Indeed so and Amen!"<ref>"Jim Dowson turns his hate towards gays", EDL News. 4 February 2013. [https://archive.ph/9iv2t Archived].</ref>

==References==
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[[Category:Alt-right]]
[[Category:Anti-abortion activists]]
[[Category:Atheophobia]]
[[Category:Christians]]
[[Category:Fundamentalists]]
[[Category:Homophobes]]
[[Category:Islamophobes]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Ministers]]
[[Category:Nationalism in the UK]]
[[Category:Racists]]
[[Category:Right-wing activists]]
[[Category:Sexists]]

Categories: Alt-right, Anti-abortion activists, Atheophobia, Christians, Fundamentalists, Homophobes, Islamophobes, Living people, Ministers, Nationalism in the UK, Racists, Right-wing activists, Sexists