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As anti-migrant protests continue to spread in England, the demonstrations are helping to bridge the gap between supposedly mainstream conservatives and extremist groups.
And by and large those politicians are either failing to distance themselves from these groups, or actively embracing the association.
The old ‘cordon sanitaire’ previously separating centre-right conservatives from the race-obsessed extreme right appears to be evaporating before our eyes – and it is the anti-migrant hotel protests which are providing the space for it to happen.
We look through some of the clearest examples of his below, in addition to our exclusive report in January on Nigel Farage posing with racist activists.
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1. Reform Councillors with ‘Neo-Nazi’
Five Reform councillors in Kent joined a ‘stop the boats’ protest in Maidstone at the weekend. They appeared in photographs with a man draped in a flag of the British Movement, described as ‘one of the UK’s longest-standing neo-Nazi organisations’, as Kent Current reported.
The councillors were Oliver Bradshaw, Dean Burns, Amelia Randall, Garry Sturley and Pamela Williams. They posed with protesters including a heavily-tattooed man wrapped in a British Movement flag, who Byline Times can identify as former National Front activist, Mike Gott.
Photo credit: Kent Current
In some shots, Reform’s councillors are smiling and giving double thumbs-up gestures alongside Gott – also known as Carl England – a man Hope Not Hate has dubbed a neo-Nazi.
As Kent Current reports, the British Movement – which his flag endorses – was founded in the late 1960s and is one of the most overtly neo-Nazi organisations in Britain. Its members have been convicted in recent years for offences including stockpiling weapons and preparing acts of terror. Gott has himself previously been sentenced to prison for possession of a knuckleduster (as is tattooed on his face), harassment, and assault by beating.
It is not clear whether the Reform councillors were aware of who Gott is.
Where Is the Political Leadership Against This Violent Far-Right Movement Terrorising Britain?
The silence of senior mainstream politicians and media organisations against the rise of a new well-organised far-right movement on Britain’s streets is a disgrace, argues Adam Bienkov
2. Robert Jenrick with Founder of Terror-Linked Fascist Group
Conservative shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick attended a demonstration organised by a neo-Nazi party and posted a picture of himself with the founder of a terror organisation.
Jenrick later posted pictures of himself with demonstrators, which included Eddy Butler, one of the original founders of neo-Nazi group Combat 18. The numerals in Combat 18 refer to the first and eighth letters of the alphabet, referencing the name of Adolf Hitler.
Monitoring group Stand Up to Racism reported: “Butler helped to establish Combat 18 as the security detail of the British National Party in the early 1990s.
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“In January 2025, the Government designated Combat 18 as an alias of the Blood & Honour group, saying there are “reasonable grounds” to suspect it of “being involved in terrorist activities th