Cable Street : A new musical returns for it’s second run @Southwark Playhouse 6 Sept-10 Oct 2024 here The Battle of Cable Street in London’s East End on 4 October 1936 was undoubtedly the most iconic confrontation with fascism in 1930s Britain, although people in Stockton, Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Bristol and Bermondsey will point to […]
CPAC at 50: white nationalism • deportations • war on ‘wokeness’
By Devin Burghart Previously billed as “the most influential gathering of conservatives in the world,” this year’s 50th-anniversary gathering of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) was a diminished version of the pre-Trump glory days. Corporate conservativism has been replaced with MAGA conspiracy-mongering and acceptance of white nationalism. CPAC 2024, dubbed “Where Globalism Goes to […]
Fascists openly praise Hitler in Budapest
By Martin Smith Fascists gather in Budapest to mark so-called ‘Day of honour’ Each February hundreds of fascists, and neo-nazis from across Europe gather in Budapest in Hungary to commemorate the attempted breakout of German Nazi and Hungarian Arrow Cross troops from the Soviet Army’s siege of the Hungarian capital in 1945 (see below). The […]
Conspiracy nuts take over UKIP
Lois Perry, newly elected UKIP leader Against all expectations, Lois Perry has succeeded Neil ‘Liar and Cheat’ Hamilton as Leader of UKIP, once the UK’s principal and highly influential far right party, but now on life support. When the votes were counted it was announced that she had garnered some 77% to rival ‘Bungalow’ Bill […]
UKIP Leadership election – what a turnip…er, turn up….
It was taken for granted by everyone, including Searchlight, that Bill Etheridge would win this week’s Ukip leadership election. With his pal Ben Walker both chairman of the party and returning officer in the election, what could possibly go wrong? We had our Bill and Ben storyline all mapped out – based on a 70-year-old […]
A Bridgen of sighs
By Martyn Lester Football fans (other sports are also available) will know the feeling well. Where two clubs that you despise are up against each other, and you curse the impossibility of both teams reaching full time having been on the wrong end of a 5-0 trouncing. One point for a draw seems far too […]
Farmers’ revolt: A fertile pasture for the far right
By Huw Davies European Parliament, Brussels (Feb 2024) Photo: Matthias Berg/EPP Group In the past few years, European far-right parties have climbed the polls, shaped the policies of mainstream right-wing parties, and even occupied ministerial roles in coalition governments. The reasons for the rise of far-right and populist politics vary from country to country. In […]
UKIP gets ready for the Bill and Ben Show
By Tony Peters The resignation of UKIP leader Neil “Liar and Cheat” Hamilton, which takes effect in May, was followed in pretty short order by that of deputy chair Rebecca Jane and, between them, these two departures have set off a fascinating chain of events in what was, once, the UK’s principal far-right party. Hamilton […]
Gloves come off as UK nazis slug it out
As Patriotic Alternative limps on, its two breakaways are looking to gain electoral success in the May local elections. Paul Gale charts the latest ups and downs of the three rumps One year on from its catastrophic split, the UK’s leading far right group Patriotic Alternative (PA) is raking in the cash but struggling to […]
Searchlight investigates the right wing Tory factions fighting for control of the party’s future
By Martyn Lester At the end of 2023, when unruly factions of Conservative MPs were demanding that the UK left the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to make it easier to dump asylum-seekers in Rwanda, most normal people will have been mystified to hear the agitators described in the media as “The Five Families”. […]
British far right faces up to election catastrophe
In 2023 rival factions lined up to become the new BNP and the new UKIP, each of those parties being obviously on the way to the knackers’ yard, and only remaining registered in the hope of inheritances from some aged nazi or senile Powellite. At the 2024 local elections the competition is different. Who can […]
Laurence Fox is unwell
Poor Laurence Fox, whom some regard as the Basil Brush of right-wing British politics – fond of posing in front of TV cameras and laughing incessantly at his own 70s-style humour – has clearly been traumatised by his humiliation in the London elections, where he was massively overshadowed by, among others, the Animal Welfare Party. […]
Is Russia using the extreme right to carry out operations in Europe? By Roger Pearce
As Searchlight has previously reported, the British far-right is bitterly divided over whether to support Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. For the past two years this has caused splits among nazis and other extremist groups around the world. Recent events in the UK – including arrests for terror offences allegedly carried out on behalf of […]
Former Channel 4 news chief asks: ‘Why is Ofcom letting GB News off the hook?’
As former Head of News at Channel Four, Dorothy Byrne has enormous experience in broadcasting – and she is worried. She thinks Ofcom’s repeated refusal to punish GB News for serious breaches of impartiality poses a threat to UK democracy. Here, writing exclusively for Searchlight, she sets out her fears: The UK Government is much […]
Vile UKIP racism on open display
Content warning: this post concerns and shows highly offensive racist propaganda. This particularly nauseous post appeared recently on the Berkshire UKIP Facebook page run by Gary Johnson, Director of UKIP Ltd, NEC member, South East Regional Chair and apparently Chair of any number of fantasy UKIP branches in Berkshire and at least six other counties. […]
Nostalgic right wingers gather on St George’s Day
Alan Harvey While Tommy Robinson’s chums are tramping through London on St George’s Day, there will be an altogether more sedate gathering at the Civil Service Club, in Westminster. The Springbok Club, an outfit dedicated to commemorating all that was wonderful about apartheid South Africa and pre-majority rule Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), will be addressed by […]
Nick Griffin in last ditch attempt to resurrect his political career.
Nick Griffin is attempting one last return to the leadership of British fascism. As Searchlight has expected, he is formalising links with the Independent Nationalist Network, a faction mainly based in the Midlands. The INN was formed as a split from Mark Collett’s Patriotic Alternative, and it includes some of the many PA members who […]
Far right blame game starts over ‘feeble’ election showing
British fascists are blaming each other and sinking further into mutual mudslinging after the far right’s many factions failed to nominate candidates in most areas at the local council elections on May 2nd. Influential neo-nazi umbrella group, Heritage and Destiny, lost no time in going online after nominations closed to describe the right wing showing […]
Far right candidates in forthcoming local council elections
Information from local councils is still coming in, and a complete picture may not emerge till Monday, but as things stand, these are fascist and far right candidates in the upcoming local council elections: The British Democrats are standing Jim Lewthwaite in Wyke ward, Bradford and Chris Bateman in Castledon & Crouch ward, Basildon. And, […]
Review: Nachtland @The Young Vic
Review by Andrew Weir L to R: John Heffernan, Jane Horrocks, Jenna Augen The latest example of Germany’s never-ending self-interrogation about Hitler is the darkly satirical play Nachtland – it translates as ‘night-land’ or ‘night-nation’ – by Marius von Mayenburg which closes at London’s Young Vic on 20 April. The choice of date to end […]