60 candidates, far fewer than in previous elections. A faction known as the "Populists" emerged in the party under Roy Painter's leadership. They were frustrated that the NF's directorate was dominated by former BNP and GBM members and believed that Tyndall remained a neo-Nazi. They ensured John Kingsley Read's election as chairman, with Tyndall demoted to vice chair. Growing strife between the Tyndallites and Populists broke out; Read and the executive committee suspended Tyndall and nine of his supporters from the directorate, before expelling Tyndall from the party. Tyndall took the issue to the High Court, where his expulsion was declared illegal. In frustration at their inability to eject Tyndall and the Tyndallites, Read and his supporters split from the NF to form the National Party (NP) in December 1975. Tyndall's second leadership: 1976–1982 In February 1976, Tyndall was restored as the NF leader. The party then capitalised on public anger at the government's agreement to accept Malawian Asian refugees, and held demonstrations against their arrival. After a resurgence in fortunes in London at the 1977 GLC election, when the party improved on its October 1974 general election result, further marches were planned in the city. These included a march through Lewisham in August 1977, where clashes with anti-fascists became known as the "Battle of Lewisham". In the 1979 general election, the NF contested more seats than any insurgent party since Labour in 1918. It nevertheless performed badly, securing only 1.3% of the total vote, down from 3.1% in the October 1974 general election. This decline may have been due to increased anti-fascist campaigning over preceding years, or because of the Conservatives' increasingly restrictive stance on immigration under Margaret Thatcher attracted many votes that previously went to the Front. NF membership had also declined. Although Tyndall and Webster had been longstanding comrades, in the late 1970s Tyndall began to blame his old friend for the party's problems. Tyndall was upset with Webster's attempts to encourage far-right skinheads and football hooligans to join the NF, as well as allegations that Webster had been making sexual advances toward the party's young men. In October 1979 he urged the NF directorate to call for Webster's resignation, but was refused. Tyndall resigned in January 1980, complaining of a "foul stench of perversion" in the party. In June, he founded the New National Front (NNF), which claimed that a third of the NF's membership defected