Jim Dowson's extreme brand of conservatism has led to claims that he is the most influential far-right figure in the UK. In 1999, Dowson made it clear that he would go to extreme lengths to make his ultra-conservative views stick in a changing world.
Early Extremism and Murky Past
His Precious Life Scotland anti-abortion group shocked Scotland by using pictures of aborted foetuses in its campaigning. Dowson had already been involved with hard-line loyalist groups in the west of Scotland, and the Catholic Church in Scotland moved to distance itself from anything he was a part of.
At the same time, he was reported to have been the organiser of a flute band in Cumbernauld, which recorded a tape in honour of Ulster Freedom Fighter murderer Michael Stone. Stone was jailed for attacking a Republican funeral in west Belfast, throwing hand grenades and firing at the mourners, including women and children. Three people were killed. After Dowson's past came to light in the press, he admitted to having "a very murky past".
Rise in Far-Right Circles
He said he had turned to Christianity, but that served only to harden his intolerant views. In 2012, the Daily Record told how Dowson had become the British National Party's top fundraiser, closely aligned with leader Nick Griffin. He was forced out of his local Orange Lodge and took part in demonstrations against fellow Orangemen, attacking them as "atheists and boozers" after he was "born again".
For a time, Dowson began to shrink back from publicity, to the extent that The Times dubbed him "the invisible man of Britain's far right". All the time he was honing his knowledge and skills as a moneymaker, seeking out new markets where racial tensions would lead to supporters reaching into their pockets with donations. The internet enabled him to look to the USA, where the pageantry and twisted history of the Knights Templar brought opportunities for sales.
International Reach and Militia Ties
He helped found and worked as the main source of funding for Britain First, another far-right group, from which he resigned in 2014. He became the front of the anti-immigrant Knights Templar International organisation, which led him to seek foreign shores for opportunity, both to raise cash and spread his views.
A vocal supporter of Donald Trump's 2016 election campaign, Dowson connected to the hard right of the Republican movement, who were ripe for the scaremongering material he was circulating about the replacement of white societies. Dowson worked with anti-abortionists in the States to further his links there. His public profile was enhanced with his Templar Report online, which has Nick Griffin as a regular guest.
After setting up home in Northern Ireland, Dowson came to public notice in the Belfast City Hall flag protests that broke out in late 2012. That protest erupted after the city council voted to only fly the Union Flag from Belfast City Hall on seventeen designated days a year rather than constantly as previously. Dowson was charged with encouraging or assisting offenders and five counts of taking part in an unnotified public procession. In court, he dressed in Islamic-style clothing and was given a three-month suspended sentence.
In 2016, the Daily Record revealed that Dowson was spearheading a military group who hunted down asylum seekers in Bulgaria. Dowson donned camouflage fatigues to join the heavily armed Shipka Bulgarian National Movement, stalking migrants who cross the Turkish border. True to form, he was producing videos begging donors in Europe and America to send funds to arm the militia.
Dowson appeared on Russian TV to promote the Knights Templar International, and whip up support for far-right groups in Hungary and other eastern states. Also true to form, Dowson was peddling a stilted culture war, claiming that the Turkey-Bulgaria border was the key strategic point to be defended from refugee "invaders" of Europe, who were, in his view, seeking to take over the world.
Rhetoric and Recent Links
By this stage, Dowson was well aware of the allure of militia gear for angry and misguided groups who fall under the far-right spell. He boasted of supplying bulletproof vests, night vision goggles, drones and other supplies, and asking US supporters to sign up or send money. In a video from 2016, Dowson stated the same silver-tongued, divisive rhetoric that he regurgitated in Glasgow recently, spouting: "Today, the Knights Templar International brought along vests and ballistics and drones and night vision, stuff that these guys desperately need."
"A big thank you to supporters in America and the Philippines and other countries who have contributed to this. These are men and women, mainly ex-forces, doing it in their own free time, facing all sorts of risks and dangers. These are good people and they're very, very deserving of your support." In another video, shameless Dowson tells the Bulgarian militia: "When my grandfather was alive, this land was ruled by Ottomans, by the Muslims. Now they're coming back. Remember the forces of Islam once got as far as Vienna. Now they are as far as John O'Groats in Scotland and more and more are coming in. This is not political, this is a fight between good and evil, black and white, a fight of the cross, a fight of Christ."
Earlier that year, Dowson and BNP supremo Nick Griffin travelled to St Petersburg in Russia for a rally of far-right groups. In May 2017, it was reported by Hope not Hate that Dowson had been stopped from entering Hungary after the Hungarian Immigration Authority declared him an "undesirable individual" and barred him from entering the country in future. Whilst attending a far-right conference in Budapest in March 2017, Dowson stated "England is stuffed, England is stuffed totally" and advanced his belief that an independent Scotland "would protect us from the excesses of Muslim domination".
Despite his strong bonds with extreme Loyalist groups, Dowson has carefully sought to nurture links with conservative Catholic supporters. He has been heavily associated with the Irish Catholic nationalist group Síol na hÉireann (Seed of Ireland). In recent months, Dowson has been a regular guest of convicted UVF bomber Mark Sinclair, known as Freedom Dad, who has explicitly tried to link up the far-right rabble rousers in Belfast to groups in Glasgow.
