By Paul Gale

While most attention turns to Nigel Farage, an Essex solicitor is trying to reshape the far right and may, unexpectedly, dominate the far right’s campaigning efforts in the election.

Even before General Election nominations close on Friday, Searchlight has learned that (outside Reform UK and increasingly extreme Tory factions) the largest group of right-wing candidates standing will come from the alliance between the English Democrats and UKIP, formally registered with the Electoral Commission as the Patriots Alliance.

ED leader Robin Tilbrook (above), a 66-year-old Essex solicitor, has spent years waiting for the day when UKIP collapses and Farage leaves the political stage. Now he seems content to be senior partner in a pact with the fast fading and discredited UKIP. But it looks like he will also be assisted in the election by both Patriotic Alternative and the Homeland Party.

Unlike many of his fellow far right leaders, Tilbrook puts his own money into his party rather than lining his pockets at the expense of members and donors. The EDs were created by a small group of founding investors. One of these was Tilbrook’s close friend and ally Steve Uncles, who was jailed for election fraud in 2017.

And unlike some other far right parties, the EDs are not explicitly racist, relying instead on Powellite dog whistles.

But Tilbrook’s recent political alliances have been based partly on conspiracy theories, and partly on a small group of associates with deep roots on the most extreme fringes of the right.

We now know that in last month’s Police & Crime Commissioner elections, Tilbrook’s own campaign leaflets were partly produced by Mark Collett, one of Britain’s leading neo-nazis. Members of Collett’s group, Patriotic Alternative, several of whose leading officials have been jailed for offences including terrorism, were active in Tilbrook’s campaign.

Another ED candidate last month, Henry Curteis, was assisted in his campaign for West Mercia Police & Crime Commissioner by Collett’s bitter rival Kenny Smith, a former leader of the BNP in Scotland who has moved to the Midlands. Smith last year broke away from Collett’s PA and created the Homeland Party.

How UKIP’s announcement (which we report elsewhere) that it is ‘standing down’ in seven constituencies to give Farage and Reform a free run will impact on Tilbrook’s plans is yet to be seen.

Neither PA nor Homeland will have candidates at this General Election, and Searchlight understands that several of their leaders will again back Tilbrook and his ED-UKIP alliance.

We used to think that Tilbrook’s only interest was in an English Parliament. Now we know that he doesn’t care about factional splits on the far right. The EDs are happy to bring every faction on board, whether Hitlerite, Powellite, or just crazy conspiracy theorists obsessed by chemtrails, fluoride and vaccines.

If Farage fails to return to the Commons and Reform UK collapses, which is the opportunity that Tilbrook has been waiting for, will this coalition of extremists be the basis for a new far right?