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Nigel Farage Pictured With Far-Right Activists Who Posted ‘Pride Swastikas’ and Racist Rants

EXCLUSIVE: The Reform UK leader posed for pictures with the group of prominent far-right activists known for their extreme, racist and Islamophobic posts

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage. Photo: Guy Corbishley / Alamy

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Nigel Farage MP has been photographed posing with a group of far-right activists, including individuals associated with anti-migrant protests and racist social media posts. 

The image, leaked to Byline Times, shows the Reform UK leader and GB News presenter posing for pictures alongside extreme anti-migrant activists.

It was posted on Facebook on 18th December by Gareth Stone (below front left), an anti-migrant activist based in Hampshire who has taken part in recent protests supporting far-right activist Tommy Robinson in London. 

Screengrab via Facebook. Pictured: Gareth Stone (front left), Nigel Farage MP (centre), Darren ‘Daz’ Brady (centre left). Reform UK official and anti-migrant activist Jeremy ‘Jez’ Stocking is at the very back.

On January 5 this year Stone’s account posted an image of a girl wearing a necklace made of bacon, with the text: “Grooming gangs fear it” and “can be seen by passing taxis” in a post seemingly targeted at Muslims. 

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Stone’s account also posted in May 2017: “I f*cking hate P**is* but love Indians”. And in 2018 it referred to “scum of the earth left-wingers” adding: “I hope rape by a Muslim serves them well.” In 2010 a post by his account said: “[There] should be a public stoneing [sic] of Iranian[s] in manor park I would attend with my bag of rocks.”

Another post in 2017 said of former Conservative MP Louise Mensch: “I hope [the Muslim prophet] Mohammed rapes her”. 

The same Facebook account has posted pictures including “Enoch Powell was right” – referring to the Conservative politician booted from the party in 1968 for suggesting “rivers of blood” would flow due to rising immigration.

Another individual pictured in the photograph is Darren ‘Daz’ Brady (front right, with Farage), who came to attention last year for sharing a Pride Flag in the shape of a swastika, as shared by the disgraced former actor Laurence Fox.

A similar post from Brady’s semi-anonymised X account

Brady was arrested by Hampshire police but later released without charge. On X, Trump ally and billionaire Elon Musk rallied to his defence. Brady has also been a prominent attendee at protests opposing ‘Drag Queen Story Hour’ events.

Byline Times previously investigated and reported on an anti-migrant group on the Telegram app, hosted by Brady, which was home to violent far-right comments.

Billionaire X owner Elon Musk has rushed to Brady’s defence

One far-right figure on X who styles himself as ‘Millwall Paul’ posted on the same day: ‘Just having a chat with the next Prime Minister before his [GB News] show’. It is unclear whether it was taken at GB News HQ or if and why the far-right activist had access.

However, a GB News veteran told Byline Times: “That looks like the [GB News] Westminster studio.” The broadcaster, which has lost £100m in three years, did not respond to a request for comment.  

In the week before he claims to have met Nigel Farage, ‘Millwall Paul’ posted on X: “It’s disgusting that TV adverts nearly all feature black men with white women which has led to a massive misogynistic crime wave.” 

‘Millwall Paul’ apparently meeting Nigel Farage that same day, in what appears to be the same office (Farage is also in the same suit). Screengrab: X

On 27th January this year, he called the war in Gaza the “shittest genocide ever” claiming the population of Gaza had grown. He refers to the capital as “Londonistan” and tweets often dozens of times a day about Muslims.

He also falsely claimed white people are a “minority” in Britain and that “there are no white people” in Oldham. And he frequently trolls Keir Starmer and Labour politicians on social media, claiming of the PM: “You failed white girls raped by you [sic] Muslim mates.” 

A week after his apparent meeting with Nigel Farage, ‘Millwall Paul’ wrote to Asian broadcaster Narinder Kaur on X: “There wouldn’t be race riots if you lot would stop murdering white girls”. 

Among those also pictured (very back, right) is Jez Stocking, who heads up Rushmoor People First – a Hampshire group anti-racism researchers at Hope Not Hate say has “attracted a broad sweep of far-right groups” including the nazi Patriotic Alternative. Stocking is the least surprising of the bunch as he is Reform UK’s campaign manager for Aldershot. 

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Hope Not Hate wrote in May last year: “The Rushmoor People First campaign – led by Jeremy “Jez” Stocking – remains the de facto front-line in the broader anti-migrant movement, with many other such campaigns around the country folding a good while ago.

“Predictably, Rushmoor People First has attracted a broad sweep of far-right groups, including UKIP, Turning Point UK and the nazi Patriotic Alternative.” 

“Since the start of [2024], we’ve spotted Mr Stocking (who attended the ill-fated Armistice Day 2023 demonstration in London) at at least eight demonstrations held in Farnborough and Aldershot against the use of temporary migrant accommodation sites. This includes the one in Farnborough on 13 Januar… This demo was also attended by members of nazi outfit Patriotic Alternative, having sought to attach themselves to the campaign.”

“Consistent across these demonstrations have been the use of hardline, anti-migrant messages.” 

The photograph was reportedly taken on 18th December 2024, with poster Gareth Stone writing: “Just been up to meet Nigel for a Christmas drink.”  

Jennifer Nadel, Co-director of the non-profit group Compassion in Politics, which works to tackle extremism and abuse in politics, told Byline Times: “The UK has played a vital role in fighting fascism. In the week that we remember the Holocaust this photograph is truly concerning.  

“It’s clear that an increasingly vocal minority, intent on stealing our democracy, are gaining more and more access to power. At this moment in time when the far right is on the rise across Europe we need all Members of  Parliament, of whatever party,  to condemn acts of racism, intimidation and hate.” 

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Her campaign is increasingly focused on how to protect democracy from the threats posed by the extreme right.

Georgie Laming, a spokesperson for Hope Not Hate, added: “Whilst Nigel Farage will deny his party is far-right, you can judge a man by the company he keeps.

“Nigel Farage is happy to rub shoulders with far right figures like Daz Brady and Jez Stocking, who are known for their anti-migrant activism.

“Jez Stocking is the leader of Rushmoor People First campaign, which has attracted some of the nastiest far-right activists with ties to groups like the neo-nazi Patriotic Alternative, the Islamophobic Britain First, and the now defunct EDL.” 

While some sources suggest the images were taken at GB News studios, others believe it may have been at Reform UK’s headquarters in London.

Green Party Co-Leader, Adrian Ramsay MP told Byline Times: “I’ve said before about Farage that you can tell a lot about a man by the company he keeps. And this just cements my opinion. Farage has a long and odious history of befriending the far-right for his own political gain. I have great faith however that the British public will see through Farage’s faux ‘man of the people charade’. Rub the surface of Farage’s politics and the troubling undercurrent of far-right extremism is never far away.”

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The news comes amid an atmosphere of growing militancy among the far-right in the UK. A recent BBC investigation exposed the neo-Nazi ideology behind some members groups like Patriotic Alternative.

Reform UK has been gaining traction in the polls and sometimes appears ahead of the Conservatives. 

A Labour MP told Byline Times: “It doesn’t surprise me in the slightest. These people are going to be attracted to someone like Nigel Farage – he’s a gateway drug to far-right politics, and they know that.

“The party is mainstreaming hard-right racism…The party attracts the far right because they understand Farage and co are fellow travellers.”

Nigel Farage has previously publicly distanced himself from Tommy Robinson and similarly extreme figures. In June last year, he claimed provocatively: “I’ve done more to drive the far right out of British politics than anybody else alive.” If that’s the case, he keeps his friends and his enemies very close. 

Byline Times has approached Nigel Farage, Darren ‘Daz’ Brady, ‘Millwall Paul’, Reform UK, GB News and Gareth Stone for comment. We will add any responses if and when we receive them. 

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Josiah Mortimer also writes the On the Ground column, exclusive to the print edition of Byline Times.

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