When Nigel Farage made his screeching U-turn from ’There’s no chance that I will run in this election’ to ’I am the candidate for Clacton’ a few people will have thought: How odd, that the seaside town that actually elected a UKIP MP (twice!) should have been left vacant by Reform, and thus be available […]
Research and analysis
Farage election U-turn provides cover for fishy candidacy claims by Kippers
Leaders of UKIP are privately offering up prayers of thanks to Nigel Farage for digging them out of a calamity-sized hole. There they were, wondering how on earth they were going to assemble a respectable number of candidates for the election, when good old ‘Dodgy’ Nige comes along and throws them a lifeline. Within 24 […]
Unlikely candidate emerges to dominate far right’s election campaigns
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 […]
Don’t be ambushed by the D Day opportunists
Photo: www.britishnormandymemorial.org We are reflecting, exactly 80 years after the events, on the D Day landings. And sighing in exasperation at the efforts of tinpot populists to make some cheap political capital out of the anniversary, moaning that children and young adults are unaware of the history of D Day. Of course, D Day should […]
Farage’s fever fantasy: today Clacton, tomorrow the world
One thing that you have to hand to Nigel Farage is that he’s good at warping the media agenda. The BBC News channel froze all other coverage to subject viewers to a slightly deranged announcement about one slightly down-at-heel seaside town. Or one very shoddy fringe politician. Take your pick. Yes, Narcissistic Nigel is off […]
‘Tommy’ spreads his anti-Muslim rot at Westminster
Tommy Robinson didn’t take long to take advantage of his ban on entering within the M25 being lifted (through a technicality). Today he mobilised a rag-tag of the far right, football hooligans and others who had been active in anti-lockdown protests to gather in Victoria and march to Parliament Square. There he screened his documentary […]
The far right groups hoping to succeed Reform
By Paul Gale Most coverage of candidates to the right of the Conservative Party will be on Reform UK. But several parties will be trying to position themselves as successors to Reform, anticipating that after 4th July it might either collapse due to disappointment, or merge with a more right-wing Tory party. Probably the strongest […]
Far right runners and riders in the General Election
By Paul Gale The ‘surprise’ of an early general election on July 4th is already being used as an excuse for failure by a wide range of far-right leaders, ranging from Nigel Farage (who sees himself as Britain’s Trump) to Alek Yerbury (who sees himself as Britain’s Hitler). Nigel Farage – Reform UK’s absent leader […]
Meloni’s reckoning
By Alfio Bernabei Exhibition: 15th April – 13 June 2024 Centenary of Matteotti’s visit to London, Charing Cross Library (see below) Event: Talk by Alfio Bernabei : Thurs 30th May 7pm-8pm@ Charing Cross Library (see below) Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni still refuses to answer the question: “Are you anti-fascist or are you not?” She […]
Under new management: Trump takes over Republican Party apparatus
By Leonard Zeskind Donald Trump has effectively won the Republican Party nomination and is all over TV, the newspapers and the web. He fumes against immigrants “poisoning the blood of our country”and, when critics point out the similarity between his language choices and Hitler’s, he simply repeats himself. He has been transforming the party into […]
Cable Street: A new musical – Review by David Rosenberg
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 […]
Time for UKIP’s ‘Afghan veteran’ Chairman to set the record straight?
Fresh embarrassment for UKIP as their chairman, Ben Walker, is discovered not to have been a Petty Officer, as has been reported. Searchlight understands that ‘Barnacle’ Ben’s Royal Navy discharge paperwork shows him as having left the service not as a PO, but at the (lower) rank of LSA. Oops! Blushes all round. For those […]
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 […]