The Cook Report - The Truth Behind the Front S15E01 (1997)

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Published on Aug 17, 2024
This was a programme very much of its time, containing as it does, racist comments which were controversial then, but are beyond the pale now. This was a costly, complicated and labour-intensive effort lasting over eight months. It was a deep throat operation to expose the machinations of the far right. Starting with the successors to the National Front, the programme explored the links between extremist organisations like Combat 18, the British National Party, the Front Nationale in France and even the Ku Klux Clan.

Prominent people in all these organisations were comprehensively fooled by Cook Report undercover teams into showing their true colours. The programme also revealed the five-year master plan created by the Machiavellian BNP leader in waiting Nick Griffin, to change the face of British politics and to bring the far right to the fore. He sought to portray the party as rational and reasonable, keeping the worst of his vile opinions under wraps and distancing himself from the thugs he had actually recruited to support him.

After the Cook Report expose, he was convicted of distributing material likely to incite racial hatred, for which he received a suspended prison sentence. His master plan came to nothing. With his Cambridge education and verbal skills Nick Griffin had been an influential member of the National Front, before leaving to join the BNP where he rose to be the leader – a position he held for 15 years. He also became an MEP, but in 2014 his vote collapsed and he lost his seat. He was then declared bankrupt, was replaced as BNP leader and was subsequently expelled from the party. for destabilising the organisation and harassing party members. The political comeback he was hoping for never happened.
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