Hmm.

 Was actor Ricky Tomlinson a member of the National Front?

Yes. Before becoming involved in trade unionism he was a member of the National Front, which he now bitterly regrets and puts down to being "politically naive" and "poorly educated". He worked as a plasterer on building sites for many years.

Blogger: you can get away with anything appalling in your personal history if you then join the left of politics. 

For reasons unexplained, if this is reversed, it is not so. In Ricky's case it seems he was just attracted to a different form of extremism.