With all the hysteria about historic child abuse - and persistent rumours of cover-ups and conspiracy - I'm starting to wonder whether the spotlight will eventually turn to one dark corner of 1970's Britain that most people seem to have forgotten existed: the far-Right. Now most people will associate neo-Nazism with the most extreme homophobia, but it's also a fact that the far-Right has been riddled with gay men in leading roles. And, it has to be said, some of these gay men had a penchant for teenage boys.
Off the top of my head, I can name Martin Webster (then a leading figure in the National Front), Ray Hill (at the time in the British Movement, later to be outed as working for the state), Peter Marriner and Nicky Crane. All were gay men in leading roles in the neo-Nazi movement, and all were associated with rumours of involvement with under-age boys. And, for example, there were persistent rumours that right-wing Tory MP Harvey Proctor had had links with the National Front, who procured boys for him. Another name from the neo-Nazi scene who is rumoured to be linked to the Elm House scandal is Colin Jordan, one-time World Fuhrer of the Nazi scene.
The combination of secrecy, danger and access to tough young men made the Nazi scene a magnet for some paedophiles - and they made sure they exploited it to the hilt. For those of us on the anti-fascist side of things, there was surprisingly very little made about this at the time. Perhaps it was an unwillingness to be seen to be engaging in activity that might be interpreted as 'homophobic' -- or at the very least to be siding with the Daily Mail and its ilk.
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