He kept a relatively low profile during the pandemic, but is now back on the extremist circuit, peddling anti-Semitism, conspiracy theories and Holocaust denial, as Richard Pembroke explains Bishop Richard Williamson, the notorious traditional Catholic anti-Semite and Holocaust denier, has a tendency to disappear from public view for a few years and then re-emerge, unable […]
News
‘No’ to a street named after an antifascist. The decision by Lucca’s town council makes headlines in Italy by Alfio Bernabei
Sandro Petrini, antifascist The town council of Lucca, one of Tuscany’s most treasured artistic places and favoured destination for tourists from all over the world, has rejected a motion in favour of naming a street after a leading figure of antifascism. Traditionally a stronghold of the left, the council came under the control of the […]
Far right groups crash out in Parliamentary by elections
The two recent Parliamentary by elections – in Tamworth and Mid-Bedfordshire – saw most of a hodgepodge of far-right candidates poll less than 5% and lose their deposits. Only Reform UK, the successor to the Brexit Party, polled (just) enough to keep their £500. The results for far-right candidates were. TAMWORTH Ian Cooper, Reform UK […]
UK far right splits over Hamas
The British far right has been predictably opportunistic and shameless, but also confused and divided, in response to the recent Hamas attack on southern Israel. A broad swathe of extremists, ranging from Nigel Farage to EDL founder ‘Tommy Robinson’, have tried to exploit the situation to promote Islamophobia. At the opposite pole are some of […]
Searchlight Exclusive: Well-heeled nazis in plot to obstruct UK’s planned Holocaust Memorial
EXCLUSIVE By Tony Peters Wealthy Holocaust revisionists across the world are planning a campaign against the establishment of a Holocaust Memorial in London. Plans for the memorial, intended both as a monument to all victims of the Holocaust and as a learning centre, have been advancing since 2015, but are now attracting the hostility of […]
From the archive: 40 years ago – when we first exposed NF links with fugitive Italian terrorists
It was 40 years ago…when Searchlight first exposed connections between Italian fascist fugitive Roberto Fiore and UK nazis like Nick Griffin. And all in connection with London tourist guides.
Anniversary conference exposes UKIP’s terminal decline
Thirty years ago, with much fanfare, the founding conference of UKIP took place at the London School of Economics with a very mixed audience of over 500 in attendance. This weekend, the 30th anniversary conference, again with much fanfare, was held in a former cinema in Newport, south Wales, but with only 65 in […]
Patriotic Alternative conference exposes weaknesses and international connections
Rogue’s gallery, left to right: David Clews, Laura Towler, Joel Davis, Mark Collett, Tony Hovater, Warren Balogh Fearful of internal splits and anti-fascist infiltration, Patriotic Alternative abandoned plans to stage their conference in an expensive hotel (as they have done at least once a year since the group was founded). Instead, they gathered in the […]
Nazis lied to charity to book conference hall
Left to right: David Clews, Laura Towler, Joel Davis, Mark Collett, Tony Hovater, Warren Balogh Patriotic Alternative leaders lied to a charity to book a community hall for PA’s annual conference. The conference was held at Waltham on the Wolds Village Hall, near Melton Mowbury in Leicestershire, last Saturday. As well as PA leaders, […]
UKIP stirs racist pot in Llanelli
As if things weren’t bad enough down in Llanelli, in South Wales, with the far right stoking up racist feeling in the town, UKIP now plans to hold a public meeting there, jointly with the far-right Voice of Wales, featuring anti-Islam campaigner, Anne Marie Waters. Waters, UKIP’s Justice spokesperson, was only recently re-admitted to the […]
International Nazi network meets in UK – The inside story
In recent weeks splits within Patriotic Alternative, the most extreme and active far right organisation in the UK, have widened. Fascists who until a few months ago were supposedly comrades in campaigns of race-baiting, are now bitter personal enemies. One significant development is that PA’s leadership have become even more explicit in identifying themselves with the […]
Pro-Ukraine nazi militia leader attended secret UK training camps
Images: top, Denis Nikitin, aka Kapustin, with his Russian Volunteer Corps in May this year; bottom left, camps organiser Larry Nunn (with loud hailer); bottom right, Arkadiusz Rzepinski, leader of the UK section of far right Polish group NOP [National Rebirth of Poland] This article first appeared in Searchlight Summer 2023 issue. THE LEADER OF a […]
Slick operator who led Italy’s fascist revival – Alfio Bernabei looks back at Berlusconi’s legacy
Silvio Berlusconi, 1936–2023 Photo: European People’s Party Silvio Berlusconi helped rehabilitate fascism by falsifying the historical truth and lying about the crimes committed in the name of fascism. He did this by using a mixture of ignorance and persuasion, laced with seductive doses of panache and bonhomie amid plenty of televisual entertainment. Over the […]
Proud Boys leaders guilty of seditious conspiracy – Leonard Zeskind reports
Convicted Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio (left), pictured with David Sumrall, founder of far-right media outlet StopHate, who is active in defending the 6 January rioters As Proud Boys face jail terms for their part in the 6 January riots, the ongoing realignment of forces on the Republican right continues. Leonard Zeskind reports On 4 […]
Looking into the abyss: Rushton bemoans crank populism while Griffin highlights the advent of new far-right parties
Downhearted Nick Griffin (left) and Peter Rushton (right) Images credit: Griffin (Searchlight) Rushton (Heritage and Destiny website) Two of the far right’s most influential figures have been perusing the movement’s recent local election disaster in May and have come to radically different – although similarly scathing – conclusions. Mark Scholl considers their deliberations The first figure in question is self-styled nazi […]
Punk: Rage & Revolution, Leicester. Exhibition Review by Paul Sillett
Exhibition Punk: Rage & Revolution, Leicester Museum & Art Gallery, Until 3 September. Free entry Punk culture played an important part in countering fascists, so come celebrate it, says Paul Sillett If you were at all touched by the ‘punk explosion’ in 1976, this exhibition is a must! It gives an incisive historical overview of […]
A swap shop where the far right trades ideas – European Conservative Political Action Conference
Topping the bill at this year’s CPAC, Hungary’s authoritarian leader Viktor Orbán advocated a far-right takeover of liberal democracies, by following his example. Martin Smith gains an insight into the developing links between global extremists This year’s European Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) was held on 4 and 5 May at the Bálna Centre in […]
A Bridgen too far?
Kicked out of the Tory Party over coronavirus claims, MP Andrew Bridgen has now migrated to Reclaim. Martyn Lester surveys his career First published in Searchlight magazine (Summer 2023) The Reclaim Party, the right-wing political organisation best known for its frontman, the actor Laurence Fox, surprisingly gained its first member of parliament in May. As […]
UKIP: desperate move to refill the ranks
UKIP is shifting further to the right, reversing a ban on former members of nazi groups, to include more ‘like minded people’, but the party has been in crisis for some time. Tony Peters follows its decline UKIP has moved significantly to the right in recent months with the lifting of a long-standing ban on former members […]
National Conservatism: gateway to the far right?
Concerns over falling birth rates and high immigration loomed large at the recent National Conservatism conference in London. Star turn, Conservative MP Miriam Cates, is exercised by both. But what’s the connection? David Edgar sifts through the rhetoric First published in the Summer 2023 issue of Searchlight magazine Credit: National Conservatism You Tube channel The […]
