Politics investigations correspondent
Two prominent far-right figures have set out plans to hijack the success of Reform UK and push the party towards extremist views.
David Clews, a conspiracy theorist and far-right influencer, and Mark Collett, a Nazi-sympathiser who set up the far-right Patriotic Alternative (PA), have called for supporters to “infiltrate” Nigel Farage’s party to push their own “pro-white” and anti-immigration agenda.
In an online broadcast, Clews claimed – without offering evidence – that sympathisers were already active inside Reform, including “branch chairs” and people “on candidate lists”.
A Reform spokesman said the far-right would never be welcome in the party and a “stringent vetting process” was in place.
“These people know they are not welcome and never will be,” they added.
But Clews said far-right infiltrators would be difficult for Reform to detect because the individuals had no public ties to far-right organisations.
“[They] watch alt media, they know the score, they’ve got no social media profile and they are members now of Reform and they’re going to work their way up within that,” he added.
Clews and Collett, who previously worked for the BNP, have signed a “declaration of intent” to “drag Reform to the right”.
“We encourage all of our supporters to become active organisers and members of Reform and seek candidacy to become MPs, mayors, councillors, police commissioners, MSPs, researchers, party staffers etc,” they wrote, pledging to provide “security and on the ground support” for Reform candidates if necessary.
Under the pair’s strategy, small anti-immigration parties would be asked to stand aside to improve Reform’s chances of winning and far-right activists would campaign against Reform’s opponents.
Some members of PA have been convicted of terrorism and racial hatred offences. Earlier this year, an undercover investigation by the BBC recorded members of the group using racial slurs and saying migrants should be shot.
Clews and Collett have listed the political goals they hope to make part of Reform’s platform, which include “ensuring the indigenous people of the British Isles remain a super majority by reducing immigration and beginning the process of mass deportations”.
The broadcast this week setting out the strategy on Clews’ own United News Network (UNN) channel was first identified by the campaign group Labour Against Antisemitism.
Collett said Reform’s success was helping to shift what was considered acceptable for political debate.
He pointed to Conservative shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick’s recent comments that in Dagenham the “British population has reduced by 50% in the last 25 years” as proof.
“We won’t be dropping our policies, our anti-Zionism, our anti-Net Zero,” Collett added.
“We won’t be dropping our demands for a super majority of white Britons in Britain. So we’re not selling anything out. All we’re doing is using Reform as a wrecking ball.”
The plan could represent a challenge to Reform’s vetting process.
The party has previously been dogged by issues with candidates with far-right views. In April, the BBC reported on a number of local election candidates for Reform who had posted hate, pushed far-right conspiracies and praised extremists.
A local organiser for Reform in Staffordshire stood down earlier this year after details of his links to PA emerged and a candidate in Derbyshire was suspended by the party after sharing a post from a PA organiser.
Joe Mulhall, director of research at Hope Not Hate, an anti-racism campaign group, said it was not impossible for political parties to identify those trying to hide their support for the far-right but Reform would struggle “because their vetting is terrible”.
“I think it’s likely some people from Patriotic Alternative will try to do this at a local level and their dream would be to turn some branches,” he said. “Judging by the current standards of Reform’s vetting I think there’s a strong chance they wouldn’t be picked up.”
Clews said the strategy had parallels with Momentum’s impact on Labour under Jeremy Corbyn and claimed there was a “disconnect between the membership and the leadership of the Reform party”.
“We are hoping to achieve a position where we are able to exercise significant influence on the next party of government,” he said.
Collett, described on the show by Clews as “Britain’s foremost neo-Nazi”, told the BBC he would campaign against Reform’s rivals but was not endorsing the party.
“I don’t support Nigel Farage. I support the destruction of the two-party system and dragging political discourse in a more pro-white direction,” he added.
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