A far-right organisation, Patriotic Alternative, is under scrutiny after a year-long undercover investigation by the BBC revealed shocking footage of members making extremist comments and advocating violence against migrants. Former Counter-Extremism Commissioner Dame Sara Khan has urged the UK government to urgently revise the law to ban groups like Patriotic Alternative, which she believes are “creating a climate conducive to terrorism.”
The BBC’s covert investigation captured group members using racial slurs and expressing violent intentions. One member claimed a race war was inevitable, suggesting the group should emulate the tactics of the Nazi party to gain power. Another member, Roger Phillips, discussed acquiring a pump-action shotgun and preparing for armed conflict, although he later claimed he was feeding false information.
Barrister Ramya Nagesh, who reviewed some of the footage, said, “There’s more than enough evidence for the police to investigate and refer to the Crown Prosecution Service.” She compared the inflammatory nature of the comments to previous cases of hate crime that led to prosecutions.
The leader of Patriotic Alternative, Mark Collett, denied the group’s extremist label, stating they campaign peacefully for the rights of “indigenous British people.” However, undercover footage from events in Wales, including a protest in Merthyr Tydfil against housing migrants in a hotel, showed members like Joe Marsh, a former British National Party activist, making incendiary remarks.
“If you didn’t have Jamaicans and Africans here stabbing people, we wouldn’t have any knife crime,” Marsh was recorded saying. Following the stabbing of three girls in Southport, he advised against demonstrations at mosques, suggesting protests outside migrant hotels instead. Shortly after, hotels housing migrants in Rotherham and Tamworth were set on fire, although it is unclear if Patriotic Alternative members were involved.
The undercover reporter, posing as Dan Jones, attended Patriotic Alternative’s summer camp and annual conference, where extreme views were openly shared. A former history teacher from Bristol likened their strategy to the Nazi party’s early tactics, claiming a race war was “inevitable.”
A guest speaker, Australian far-right activist Blair Cottrell, was filmed making dehumanising comments about Africans and suggesting violent retribution. “An old lady was stabbed to death by a gang of African kids,” he said. “The only way to effectively respond… is to literally skin them,” though he added, “Just theoretically of course, I can’t condone it.”
Dame Sara Khan highlighted the dangers of such groups, emphasizing the need for legislative change. “They should absolutely not be allowed to operate with impunity,” she said. “Unless something changes, I’m afraid we’re going to continue to see groups like PA radicalise our children and make us a weaker and less democratic society.”
The UK government responded by stating extremism has “no place in society” and it is working on strategies to tackle such groups. Meanwhile, Collett assured that any member breaching the group’s code of conduct would be addressed accordingly.
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