Far-right threat on the rise
In December, British MPs warned that the country’s armed forces and police are at risk of infiltration by far-right activists trying to acquire weapons. This comes as the number of self-initiated right-wing extremists in the UK who are being radicalized online is on the rise. The UK’s security services are also conducting a record number of investigations into potential terror threats following an upsurge in right-wing extremism, according to the i.
The rise in British far-right activity has also been reflected in the prison population, with the Home Office reporting an increase in the number of far-right extremist inmates. This trend is also seen in a study that found that most convicted terrorists were radicalized online.
The issue of migration has been a rallying point for far-right groups in the UK, with the use of inflammatory language to describe migrants coming in for criticism. The former counter-terror chief for the Metropolitan Police has described the Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s rhetoric on the topic as ‘incredibly unhelpful’ in tackling far-right extremism.
Despite the rhetoric, Braverman continues to place migrants who have crossed the channel in hotels around the country. Far-right activists have targeted these hotels for years, but we seem to be experiencing an upsurge in protests.
A Tory MP has pleaded with the Home Secretary to reconsider requisitioning a hotel in his constituency to house migrants amid fears it will spark violence from the far right.
Fascist party Patriotic Alternative (PA) held protests in various parts of the country through December, including in Barrow. PA has been joining protests against ‘migrant hotels’ and distributing ‘sickening’ leaflets in areas where there are such hotels, like Kettering.
In Scotland, members of the far-right group UK A Force for Good, which is supported by some former British National Party members, according to the Daily Record, laid flowers at the grave of Kriss Donald. Alleged Nazi sympathizer Darren Hurrel, 20 years old, of Douglasdale Street, Rigside, appeared in court accused of using threatening, abusive, and insulting words or behavior. Hurrel was chased by a mob of angry pupils outside Larkhall Academy in Lanarkshire. Hurrel has been connected to PA and the neo-Nazi group Highland Division.
A gig venue in Bathgate, West Lothian, may have to close after allegations it was set to host a two-day Blood & Honour event, its owners have claimed.
Neo-Nazi music producer Robert Talland and his two children have appeared in court accused of stirring up racial hatred through music. The children are also accused of inciting racial hatred by performing songs at a pub in Leeds.
Smashing the patriarchy
British-American misogynist influencer Andrew Tate, described as the “king of toxic masculinity,” was arrested in Romania on charges of human trafficking and rape. Tate was previously closely associated with former English Defence League leader Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (Tommy Robinson). Tate is linked to a number of other far-right figures.
Yaxley Lennon attended a second-division football match in Spain during December.
Alan Leggett, known as ‘Active Patriot’, held a Twitter Space to discuss protesting against migrant hotels, which was joined by British and Irish far-right figures, including Derek Blighe. PA’s Yorkshire regional organizer Sam Melia tried to join the space but couldn’t.
French Holocaust denier Vincent Reynouard was arrested in Fife, Scotland, while on the run. Anti-Semitic singer Alison Chabloz was a close associate of Reynouard.
Notorious far-right Chelsea hooligan Jason Marriner is now living in Thailand, where he has opened an English food shop.
Spanish fascist Isabel Peralta, who writes for the British Heritage and Destiny magazine, has been banned from entering Germany for life due to her extremist views.
During December, PA leader Mark Collett’s guests on his weekly Patriotic Weekly Review show included Michael “Enoch” Peinovich from the US-based fascist National Justice Party and The Right Stuff neo-Nazi podcast network, former Ku Klux Klan leader Dr. David Duke, French Canadian neo-Nazi Jean-François Gariépy and American anti-Semite Tim Murdock.
In Australia, neo-Nazi Thomas Sewell was found guilty of racially assaulting a security guard. Sewell was previously associated with British fascists around PA. Sewell appeared on a now-deleted podcast for PA supporters calling for the mass rape of public workers.
Neo-Nazi Russian militia Task Force Rusich has appealed for intelligence on Nato member states, according to Britain’s The Guardian newspaper.
Former Breitbart UK editor Raheem Kassam attended the New York Young Republican Club’s annual gala, which was attended by what the Southern Poverty Legal Center describes as “a collection of radical right figures including white nationalists and ultranationalist European leaders”.
In London, supporters of the French Rassemblement National party working in finance met at a restaurant in central London on 12 December.
More than 800 pieces of content promoting or celebrating far-right terrorism were found on 34 websites in a Europe-wide crackdown by the crime agency Europol involving 14 countries, including the UK.
A car bomb hoaxer who claims to have been inspired by Norwegian terrorist Anders Breivik has become the first prisoner to be barred from release by the Justice Secretary.