Mark Collett

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Mark Adrian Collett (born 1980) is a former chairman of the Young BNP, the youth division of the British National Party (BNP), and is Director of Publicity of the Party.^[1] From Rothley, he was educated at Loughborough Grammar School and the University of Leeds where he gained a 2.2 in Economics. ^[2]

Collett became more well-known following a Channel 4 documentary on the BNP, Young, Nazi, and Proud, by David Modell, broadcast in November 2002, which concentrated on Collett. Collett declared his admiration for Adolf Hitler and UDA terrorist Johnny Adair, unaware he was being filmed. Collett was sacked from his position in the party days after the broadcast, although party leaders continued to share speaking platforms with him. Collett is the party's head of publicity and produces the party's monthly magazine Identity.

As a result of a police investigation into another documentary, BBC1's The Secret Agent, which in July 2004 broadcast secret footage of alleged racist activities, Collett, then aged 24, was bailed on race hate offences at Leeds magistrates' court on April 7, 2005 alongside party founder John Tyndall and party leader Nick Griffin. The trial ended on February 2, 2006 after a jury acquitted Collett of two charges of using words or behaviour intended to stir up racial hatred, and two alternative charges of using words likely to stir up racial hatred. The jury failed to reach a verdict in respect of a further four charges.

The Crown Prosecution Service subsequently announced that he and Nick Griffin would face a retrial on the remaining charges of using words or behaviour intended to stir up racial hatred. This retrial began at Leeds Crown Court on November 1, 2006 and he and Griffin were found not guilty.^[3] The defendants were greeted with crowds of supporters and anti-BNP protesters from the campaign group Unite Against Fascism as they entered the court during the trial.^[4]

Despite the BNP taking a softer public stance on homosexuality, on Russell Brand's 2002 TV show RE:Brand he described homosexuals as "AIDS Monkeys", "bum bandits" and "faggots".^[5] As seen on the documentary, Young, Nazi and Proud, Collett said that he considered AIDS a “friendly disease because blacks, drug users and gays have it." ^[6] Earlier, during the making of the film Young, Nazi and Proud, Collett had been keen for the film-makers to show him working out shirtless, and he permitted them to film him wearing only a towel after showering. At this point he jokingly asked the (male) journalist if the camera crew would like to film him naked.^[7] The presenter remarked that this behaviour seemed at odds with his declared standpoint on homosexuality.^[8]^[9]

[edit] Elections contested

Date of election	Constituency	Party	Votes	%
2005	Leeds Central	BNP	1201	4.1

He regularly stands in the Richmond Hill council ward in Leeds, where Workers Power (UK) and Revolution (political group) have a joint campaign against him.