Steve Silver reviews The Flash in the Pan (originally published in the Winter 2023/24 issue of Searchlight magazine) Merseyside historian Chris Jones has done the anti-fascist movement a great service in bringing out this concise history of the fascist movement in Liverpool. Flash in the Pan, which gets its name from what anti-fascists dubbed the […]
Research and analysis
Populist PVV take most seats in Dutch elections – Charles Fox analyses the results
Geert Wilders’ anti-immigration party gained the most seats in November’s elections, but forming a government in the Netherlands in never simple. Charles Fox sees parallels with past events This article originally appeared in the Winter 2023/24 issue of Searchlight magazine Even by the standards of the often higgledy-piggledy world of Dutch politics, the results of the […]
Eco-fascism A new found ‘concern’ for the climate emergency – writes Luke Michael
Under the guise of concern for the planet, far-right parties are using green issues to legitimise and promote their extreme ideologies. Luke Michael highlights their tactics This article originally appeared in the Winter 2023/24 issue of Searchlight magazine As the climate and ecological crisis starts to devastate communities worldwide, more people will consider green issues […]
Don’t underestimate Vox – warns David Karvala
Since the elections, the ultra-right Vox party has been busy mobilising street protests, but has failed to have a great impact. David Karvala warns, however, it is too early to relax This article originally appeared in Winter 2023/24 issue of Searchlight magazine In our Autumn issue we carried an analysis of the biggest Spanish far right […]
Party Time Is Over (Again)
Former BNP leader says it’s time for ‘direct action’ Mark Scholl considers the implications. In October 1981 a certain Nicholas John Griffin, then aged 22, stood as the National Front candidate in a by-election for the Croydon North West constituency. The party had been crushed in the 1979 General Election, because of very well organised […]
Britain First wiped out in Wellingborough
Golding and crew before the result sank in Having polled just 477 votes, a paltry 1.6%, Britain First’s crestfallen leader Paul Golding went online this morning to observe that this was “a disappointing result”. For him maybe; not for us. He had his excuses oven ready, the main one being that, after all, “Wellingborough is […]
Watch out for the MAGA moms
Working the crowd (clockwise from top left): Moms for Liberty founders, Tina Descovich and Tiffany Justice, presidential contenders Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley and Donald Trump; to round off the organisation’s 2023 summit in Philadelphia singer Mary Millben belted out God Bless America. First published in Winter 2023/24 Searchlight magazine A ‘conservative’ organisation that spread to […]
Rebalancing the ‘leftward’ drift – the return of McVey
The Prime Minister’s cabinet reshuffle enabled the removal of loose cannon Suella Braverman, leaving him with a ‘straight-talking’ shortfall. So back comes Esther McVey to inject some ‘common sense’. Martyn Lester is sceptical. First published in Winter 2023/24 issue of Searchlight magazine With this issue’s deadlines looming – indeed, technically passed – there has still […]
State of the far right – our annual round up
Paul Gale looks at the ongoing reconfigurations of the various dregs of the extremist right, their activities and ambitions, electoral and otherwise PA chief Mark Collett (top left) is presiding over a shrinking party, pictured here with the now jailed anti-Semite James Costello (top right). (Bottom left to right): David Clews, who heads Unity News Network, […]
Curiouser and curiouser: strange moves afoot in the surreal world of UKIP
Strange things are afoot in UKIP territory. In September, UKIP and Robin Tilbrook’s English Democrats filed an application with the Electoral Commission to register a merged organisation to be called the Patriots Alliance. This immediately provoked outrage among veteran former members of UKIP, who issued a statement denouncing the move. The statement read: ‘Mr. […]
GB News – The loopy channel
The loopy channel Tweets by Bev Turner, the latest GB News star to put her foot in the proverbial, has Martyn Lester pondering how the channel selects its cohort of blundering presenters Sometimes I pause to wonder whether it is actually built into the contracts of GB News presenters that they must periodically say something […]
Book Review. Everyday Hate: How antisemitism is built into our world and how you can change it
Everyday Hate: How antisemitism is built into our world and how you can change it Dave Rich, Biteback Publishing, 2023, 320pp, £20 h/b, ISBN: 9781785907906 Paul Jackson, our regular commentator, reviews a book that provides a guide to the dynamics of anti-Semitism and offers practical suggestions on how to challenge age-old tropes Dave Rich’s excellent […]
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 […]
Far-right terror cases undermine Shawcross report
Far-right terrorist convictions have grown more than 15-fold since 2016, contradicting the argument for a greater focus on ‘Islamist’ activity. It is time for a reality check, says Huw Davies. First published in Summer 2023 issue of Searchlight magazine Pic credits: Counter Terrorism Policing North East/West Midlands Police/Metropolitan Police (names listed end of article) A […]
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 […]
Searchlight analysis: Fascist and far right candidates in local elections, May 2023
Photo: David Hyden, so-called Independent candidate for Cannock South, on the campaign trail with fellow ex Patriotic Alternative activist, Connor Marlow, one of the leaders of the Homeland Party split. British fascists remain confused and divided in their approach to electoral politics, even allowing for the large proportion who have always preferred bombs to […]
Home Affairs Report finds channel crossings not deterred by Patel’s harsh asylum plans
Home Affairs Committee have published their report into Channel crossings, migration and asylum Read the report here: https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/23102/documents/169178/default/… Read a summary here: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5803/cmselect/cmhaff/199/summary.html… Read the conclusions and recommendations to the Government here: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5803/cmselect/cmhaff/199/report.html#heading-8
41 years on – Remembering the Bologna Bombings
WHO PAID FOR THE BOLOGNA BOMBING? By Alfio Bernabei Published in Searchlight (Autumn 2020) on the 40th anniversary Secret organisations need money – and it can take time for the paper trail to emerge. But documents seized from Licio Gelli, the head of the Masonic lodge Propaganda Due (P2) back in 1982 are now thought […]
Mussolini’s ‘proud boys’ – article by Alfio Bernabei published in Spring 2021 issue of Searchlight
Mussolini’s ‘proud boys’ A century ago, Italian fascists set up the first offshoot of the Fasci di Combattimento in London. Alfio Bernabei reflects on the genesis of the movement in the UK The fascist “league of combat” was formed in Britain 100 years ago, in the spring of 1921. It was the work of Italians – Mussolini’s […]
