Jonathan Bowden

In 2012, Bowden died of heart failure at his home in Berkshire at the age of 49, shortly after being released from the psychiatric ward of a hospital, where he was admitted after suffering a mental breakdown.

In late 2011 and early 2012, Bowden made fourteen appearances on Richard B. Spencer's Vanguard podcast. Spencer re-released the episodes in January 2018 as a series entitled Bowden!. The episode titles are "Essence of the Left", "The Uses and Abuses of Nietzsche", "The European New Right", "Creative Destruction" (libertarianism, anarchy, inequality and Ayn Rand), "Iran, Israel, and The Bomb", "Democracy", "The Feminist Mystique" (an allusion to The Feminine Mystique), "On the Genealogy of Morals", "Frankfurt School Revisionism" (critical theory, cultural Marxism and political correctness), "The Homosexual Question", "The Forgotten War" (Iraq War), "Understanding Spengler", "Politics, Politics" (the 2012 GOP primaries), and "The E Word" (eugenics).

In 2003, Bowden broke with attempts to influence Conservatism and moved into political activity by joining the British National Party (BNP). He was appointed Cultural Officer, a position its leader Nick Griffin created to give Bowden officer status within the organisation. In July 2007, Bowden resigned and left the BNP. Although he resumed public speech-making at BNP organised meetings in the localities away from the party's national events, he never re-joined the party and cut all ties after the May 2010 general election.

In 1993, Bowden published the book Right through the European Books Society. He was also reported to be a prominent figure in the creative milieu responsible for the emergence of Right Now! magazine.

Bowden and Stuart Millson co-founded the Revolutionary Conservative Caucus in November 1992 with the aim of introducing "abstract thought into the nether reaches of the Conservative and Unionist party". The group published a quarterly journal entitled The Revolutionary Conservative Review. By the end of 1994, Millson and Bowden parted company and the group dissolved.

Bowden began his political career as a member of the Conservative Party in the Bethnal Green and Stepney Constituency Association.. In 1990, he joined the Conservative Monday Club, and the following year made an unsuccessful bid to be elected onto its Executive Council. In 1991, he was appointed co-chairman with Stuart Millson of the club's media committee, and was also active in the Western Goals Institute. In 1992, Bowden was expelled from the Monday Club.

Bowden was largely self-educated. In 1984, he completed one year of a Bachelor of Arts history degree course at Birkbeck College, London University, as a mature student, but left without graduating. He subsequently enrolled at Wolfson College, Cambridge University, in autumn 1988, but left after a few months. He became a personal friend of Bill Hopkins during this time.

Jonathan David Anthony Bowden (12 April 1962 – 29 March 2012) was an English painter, novelist, essayist, playwright, actor, orator and activist. Initially a Conservative, he later became involved in far-right organisations such as the British National Party. Bowden has been described as a "cult Internet figure" in the far-right, even after his death.