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Britain First leader Paul Golding‘s application to join the Tories has “not been approved”, the party has confirmed, after the far-right figurehead said he applied to join to back Boris Johnson.
Golding, who said he received a welcome email from the Conservative Party after his application, said he liked the “cut of the cloth” of the PM after he described Muslim women who wear the all-covering burqa as looking like “letterboxes”.
He also expressed his desire was to emulate Momentum’s work in backing Jeremy Corbyn in Labour for Mr Johnson, indicating other Britain First members could also join the party.
“Primarily, we had the experience of Momentum joining the Labour Party en masse to consolidate the leadership position of Jeremy Corbyn,” said Mr Golding, who has twice been imprisoned for religiously aggravated harassment in the past five years.
“We have decided to do the same but in reverse. We are all joining to see if we can consolidate Boris’s leadership over the Tory party.
“He is getting Brexit done but, as well as that, he has made a lot of comments in the past referring to burqa and niqab-wearing women as ‘letterboxes’.
“After the London Bridge attack, he said he wanted to crack down on the early release of terrorist prisoners. We like the cut of the cloth on Boris Johnson.
“He is more of a populist leader and I think in recent weeks he has nailed his colours to the mast against immigration and being for Brexit.”
Britain First, an anti-Islam party, said a number of senior members including its leader, head of security and campaign manager had applied to join the Conservatives.
However, the Tories said Golding’s application had “not been approved”.
Party chairman James Cleverly tweeted on Thursday evening: “I’m not going to comment on every claim or rumour about people from Britain First, or BNP etc trying to join the Conservatives
“But I will make this clear: The racist views of those parties are incompatible with the values of ours and their applications will be rejected.”
A Tory source earlier said membership applicants receive an automatic confirmation ahead of a fuller vetting process.
“I think it is very clear that people who apply to be members of the Conservative Party, those memberships are reviewed when an application is done automatically,” a source said.
“And I can imagine members of Britain First and the individual you cite would certainly not be welcome in the Conservative Party.”
A Tory spokeswoman added: “Paul Golding’s application for membership of the Conservative Party has not been approved.
“While we welcome new members from a wide variety of backgrounds, we are vigilant against those seeking to join the party who do not share our aims.
“There is a process in place for local Conservative associations to approve members who apply to join, or to reject those who do not share the party’s values or objects.
“We support local associations with this work to ensure they can and do take action where needed.”
Golding shared a screenshot of what appeared to be a confirmation email, electronically signed by Tory chairmen and MPs James Cleverly and Ben Elliot, welcoming him to the party at 2pm on Thursday.
He previously stood in the European Parliament and London mayoral elections for Britain First, and served time in jail as recently as last year.
He was found guilty at Folkestone Magistrates’ Court of religiously aggravated harassment.
This was carried out alongside deputy leader Jayda Fransen in Kent in May 2017.
The far-right activist was handed an 18-week term for his part in a political campaign in which he and Fransen claimed to be trying to expose Islamic men who were the subject of a rape trial.
They instead ended up branding innocent Muslims as paedophiles and rapists.
Reporting by PA.
