View source for London Forum (far-right group)

{{EngvarB|date=November 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2021}}
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{{Infobox political party
| name             = London Forum
| foundation       = {{Start date|2011}}
| ideology         = [[Far-right]]
| country          = United Kingdom
| split            = [[New Right (UK)]]
}}
{{Short description|Far-right coalition}}
The '''London Forum''' is a loose organisation of [[far-right]] individuals based in [[London]] but with regional headquarters across the [[United Kingdom]]. Emerging in 2011 out of a split within the  [[far-right politics in the United Kingdom|British far-right]], meetings were regularly held by the organisation. These have been met with significant protests by [[anti-fascist]] activists and have been infiltrated by journalists, most notably a 2015 investigation of the group by ''[[The Mail on Sunday]]'' with the help of ''[[Searchlight (magazine)|Searchlight]]'', an anti-fascist magazine that focuses on the British far-right.
The group has brought together [[neo-Nazis]], [[Holocaust deniers]], [[Antisemitism|anti-Semites]], former [[British National Party]] and [[National Front (UK)|National Front]] activists and the founder of a proscribed terrorist organisation, [[National Action (UK)|National Action]]. Anti-fascist groups such as [[Hope not Hate]] have included the group in their research on British far-right politics. The group was described as [[white supremacist]] by [[Jonathan Arkush]], the vice-president of the [[Board of Deputies of British Jews]], in 2015. The London group has not met regularly since 2017, but regional branches of the organisation were still meeting as of 2018.
==History and ideology==
[[File:Oswald mosley MP.jpg|thumb|[[Oswald Mosley]], the British fascist leader, has been praised by a figurehead of the group.]]
The London Forum emerged in 2011<ref name=Prentice /> as a split from the [[New Right (UK)]], a series of far-right meetings in London that took place in the first decade of the 2000s. It describes itself as "the home of the UK [[alt-right]]".<ref name="Poulter">{{cite news |last1=Childs |first1=Simon |last2=Poulter |first2=James |title=The Neo-Nazi Home of the UK Alt-Right |url=https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/9kzyav/the-neo-nazi-home-of-the-uk-alt-right |access-date=26 March 2019 |work=Vice |date=12 March 2018}}</ref>  ''Searchlight'', a magazine that focuses on the British far-right, says the group bridges "the fascist and [[Tory]] right".<ref name="Searchlight">{{cite web |title=Searchlight – about |url=http://www.searchlightmagazine.com/about/ |access-date=18 March 2019 |quote=We are the only publication regularly to investigate and analyse the far right's ideological powerhouse, the New Right, and to expose the groups that bridge the fascist and Tory right such as the London Forum and Traditional Britain Group.}}</ref> In 2015, the vice-president of the [[Board of Deputies of British Jews]], Jonathan Arkush, described the group as [[white supremacist]].<ref name="TOI">{{cite news |title=Holocaust deniers gather in secret London conference |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/holocaust-deniers-gather-in-secret-london-conference/ |access-date=26 March 2019 |work=Times of Israel |date=15 April 2015}}</ref>
Stead Steadman – described as the organiser of the London Forum by Hope not Hate<ref>{{cite web |title=State of Hate 2019: People vs The Elite? |url=http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/state-of-hate-2019-final-1.pdf |publisher=Hope not Hate |access-date=27 March 2019 |page=65}}</ref> – told ''The Independent'' that while the group is not "credally defined", it opposes "globalism, [[Cultural Marxism conspiracy theory|cultural and non-cultural Marxism]]" and supports "white ethnicity and its civilisation, liberty of expression, and religious tradition".<ref name="McIntyre">{{cite news |last1=McIntyre |first1=Niamh |title=Activists blockade London meeting of 'secret Neo Nazi society' |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/neo-nazi-meeting-london-richard-spencer-alt-right-fascist-activists-white-supremacists-a7563021.html |access-date=26 March 2019 |work=The Independent |date=6 February 2017}}</ref> The group has told [[BBC News]]: "The London Forum comprises a range of people who care about their country and its demographic future and who wish to register their disagreement with the nigh ubiquitous enforced agenda of multiracialism and multiculturalism that threatens to destroy our identity irreversibly."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Wendling |first1=Mike |last2=Yates |first2=Will |title=I went undercover in the alt-right |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-43131290 |access-date=27 March 2019 |work=BBC Trending |date=5 March 2018}}</ref> Hope not Hate says the group's "ideological fluidity" allows the hosting of "speakers from across the British and international far-right. Because of this, it has links to almost every active far-right organisation in the UK, as well as many across Europe and North America".<ref name=Prentice /> The group's events have brought together [[neo-Nazis]], [[Holocaust deniers]], alt-right students, [[Antisemitic conspiracy theories|anti-Semitic conspiracy theorists]] and former [[British National Party]] activists.<ref name="Poulter" /> The group says "Zionism, the role of Israel in international affairs and the influence of the Jewish Diaspora upon culture and politics" are "legitimate subjects for discussion".<ref name="McIntyre" />
''[[Vice News|Vice UK]]'' has described the group as "one of the organising hubs" for the far-right in Britain today.<ref name="Poulter" /> Jeremy Bedford Turner (a self-described [[fascist]] also known by the nickname Jez) is described by Hope not Hate as one of its leading figureheads.<ref name=Prentice>{{cite web |last=Pentrice |first=Charlie |title=GUILTY: London Forum's Jez Turner Convicted of Inciting Racial Hatred |url=https://www.hopenothate.org.uk/2018/05/14/guilty-london-forums-jez-turner-convicted-inciting-racial-hatred/ |website=HOPE not hate |access-date=26 March 2019 |date=14 May 2018}}</ref> He is also a member of the [[Friends of Oswald Mosley]] group.<ref name="Jackman">{{cite news |last1=Jackman |first1=Josh |title=CST reports extremist to police over 'anti-Semitic' speech at London rally |url=https://www.thejc.com/news/uk/cst-reports-extremist-to-police-over-anti-semitic-speech-at-london-rally-1.67496 |work=The Jewish Chronicle |date=7 July 2015}}</ref> Regarding the organisation, he said that the far-right "aimed for the soccer hooligans, for elements who weren't really into intellectual thinking. I realised this was a mistake ... There was a definite need for a leadership cadre, for a new [[intelligentsia]], for a new [[mass media]]".<ref name="Poulter" /> In July 2015, Turner made an anti-Semitic speech featuring [[blood libel]] accusations against Jews. This was reported to the police by the [[Community Security Trust]] (CST) advocacy group.<ref name="Jackman" />
Following a [[judicial review]] brought to the [[Crown Prosecution Service]] (CPS) from the [[Campaign Against Antisemitism]], Turner was arrested in May 2018 for [[incitement to racial hatred]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Army veteran jailed over 'sinister' anti-Jewish speech |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-44116895 |work=BBC News |date=14 May 2018}}</ref>
In February 2017, Hope not Hate said in a report that the London Forum was expanding rapidly and helping the alt-right to become globalised.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Townsend |first1=Mark |title=Britain's extremist bloggers helping the 'alt-right' go global, report finds |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/feb/11/how-britains-extremist-bloggers-helped-the-alt-right-go-global |access-date=27 March 2019 |work=The Observer |date=11 February 2017}}</ref> However, following a year-long exposé on the far-right by researcher Patrik Hermansson and legal difficulties faced by the group later that year, the London branch did not hold events since May 2017, although regional branches have continued.<ref name=Prentice />
==Prominent speakers and events==
===Speakers===
[[File:David Irving 1.jpg|thumb|left|The Holocaust denier [[David Irving]] has addressed the group.]]
Prominent speakers at the group's meetings have included Holocaust deniers [[Pedro Varela Geiss]], [[Mark Weber]]<ref name="Haaretz" /> and [[David Irving]]; [[National Front (UK)|National Front]] activist [[Richard Edmonds]]; founder of proscribed terrorist organisation [[National Action (UK)|National Action]], [[Alex Davies (extremist)|Alex Davies]] and [[Jason Jorjani]] from [[Arktos Media]]<ref name="Poulter" /> and Ian Millard, a barrister who was barred from practising after expressing his admiration for [[Adolf Hitler]].<ref name="McIntyre" />
Former parliamentary candidate for the [[UK Independence Party]] (UKIP), Jack Sen, spoke at the London Forum in 2015. He was previously suspended from UKIP after sending an anti-Semitic tweet to Liverpool Wavertree Labour candidate [[Luciana Berger]] and describes himself as a [[National Socialist]], according to ''[[Daily Mirror|The Mirror]]''.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Smith |first1=Mikey |title=Failed Ukip candidate launches anti-semitic attack on 'Jews hijacking the party' |url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/failed-ukip-candidate-jack-sen-5735626 |work=The Mirror |date=21 May 2015}}</ref> American segregationist [[Matthew Heimbach]] addressed the organisation via video link in 2018 as he had been previously denied entry to the UK by then-[[Home Secretary]] [[Theresa May]] after making what ''[[The Guardian]]'' described as "neo-Nazi and antisemitic remarks".<ref name="Poulter" /><ref>{{cite news |last1=Elgot |first1=Jessica |title=Theresa May bans US segregationist from UK for 'neo-Nazi' remarks |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/04/theresa-may-bans-us-segregationist-from-uk-for-neo-nazi-remarks |work=The Guardian |date=4 November 2015}}</ref>
YouTube personality [[Millennial Woes|Colin Robertson]] (Millennial Woes) gave a film talk on ''[[Withnail and I]]'' at a group meeting, arguing that the film is a [[politically incorrect]] statement against modern cultural degeneracy. His analysis was described by James Poulter in ''Vice UK'' as a far-right analogue to the [[Marxist]] and [[Hegelian]] film analyses of Slovenian philosopher [[Slavoj Žižek]].<ref name="Poulter" />
At a meeting of the group, Finnish nationalist Kai Murros called for a violent fascist revolution that would involve brigades of masked [[blackshirt]]s "storming universities and dragging academics out into the streets", according to ''Vice UK''.<ref name="Poulter" /> American white nationalist [[Greg Johnson (white nationalist)|Greg Johnson]] called the London Forum "the most important organisation in the British nationalist scene after the collapse of the British National Party and the subsequent wave of party fatigue".<ref name="Poulter" />
===2015 meeting===
[[File:Flash and circle.svg|thumb|The [[flash and circle|logo of the BUF]] was worn on the lapel of an attendee.]]
With the help of ''Searchlight'', the 2015 meeting by the group at the Grosvenor Hotel, Victoria was infiltrated by ''[[The Mail on Sunday]]'' reporters. ''Searchlight'' editor and publisher [[Gerry Gable]] said the event was "the biggest and most significant meeting of Holocaust deniers that Britain has ever seen".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Friedman |first1=Neile Sue |title=A Cup of Honey: The Story of a Young Holocaust Survivor, Eliezer Ayalon |date=18 December 2015 |publisher=SelectBooks, Inc. |isbn=978-1-59079-330-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vrRSDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT28 |access-date=14 October 2020}}</ref> According to the newspaper's report, participants in the gathering were not told its exact location; they met at the nearby railway station and were escorted individually and in pairs to the hotel by former private school art teacher Michael Woodbridge, who was carrying a book by the former leader of the [[British Union of Fascists]], [[Oswald Mosley]], and wore a lapel pin with the BUF logo.<ref name="TOI" />
==See also==
{{portal|London|Politics}}
* [[Conservative Monday Club]]
* [[Eldon League]]
* [[Western Goals Institute]]
* [[Traditional Britain Group]]
* [[Keep Talking (group)]]
==References==
{{reflist|30em}}
{{UK far right}}
[[Category:2011 establishments in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Alt-right organizations]]
[[Category:Anti-immigration politics in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Criticism of multiculturalism]]
[[Category:Holocaust denial in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Neo-Nazi organisations in the United Kingdom]]