Dominic Carman

Dominic Carman is a British journalist, writer and Liberal Democrat politician.

Family

Dominic Carman was born on 23 August 1961 in Hale, Cheshire. Educated at Manchester Grammar School and Durham University, Carman is the son of barrister George Carman.^[1] He wrote a controversial biography of his father, No Ordinary Man: A Life of George Carman (2002).^[2][3][4]

Politics and anti-BNP campaigner

When he was sixteen, Carman spent three weeks as a member of the National Front in September 1977. Writing about this in the Guardian in 2010, he commented "Becoming a member was done rashly, angrily, without any thought of what it meant, or of the consequences. It was a stupid decision, undertaken with one purpose: to annoy my father." He also said "When I eventually sat down and opened National Front News, my sense of euphoric defiance ended – very abruptly", as it was filled with "hate-filled articles" about Jewish people, Holocaust denial and black and Asian immigration into Britain. "Disgusted and shocked, my stomach churned, my thoughts ran wild. So this is what they believed. Oh God, what had I done? ... I immediately resigned from the NF, less than a month after joining."^[5]

In 2005, he took part in ITV's Vote for Me television programme in which the public selected an individual to stand at the next general election, losing to Rodney Hylton-Potts.^[6]

Carman extensively researched an unofficial biography of British National Party leader Nick Griffin,^[7] but this has not been published. Carman's research has been used to criticise Griffin on a number of occasions (e.g. ^[8]). He used his research to support his campaign as the Liberal Democrat candidate in Barking at the 2010 General Election, where he stood against Griffin.^{[9][10][11][12]}

He contested the 2011 Barnsley Central by-election for the Liberal Democrats, coming in sixth place and losing his deposit,^[13] an unusual occurrence for a candidate for a major political party in the UK.^[14] In an article in the Daily Mail Carman was critical of some of the Barnsley electorate,^[15] stating that "diversity and difference are not welcome here". Defending his comments on the BBC's The Politics Show, he went on to say that Andrew Brons (one of Barnsley's MEPs) is a "Nazi and an admirer of Adolf Hitler".^[16] In response Brons made a statement saying that, "It is on record that I was a member of the National Socialist Movement between the ages of seventeen and eighteen. I am now sixty-three, nearly sixty four - forty six years ago, nearly half a century! From the age of eighteen, I have been a committed supporter of Parliamentary democracy and the rule of law."^[17]

Further reading

• Carman, Dominic (24 January 2002). No Ordinary Man: A Life of George Carman. London: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd. ISBN 0-340-82098-5. 
• Carman, Dominic (2 October 2013). Heads Up: The challenges facing England's leading head teachers. London: Thistle Publishing. ISBN 978-1909869301. 

Elections contested

UK Parliament Elections

References

External links

• "Dominic Carman" – at The Guardian