A proscribed British neo-Nazi terror group — many of whose members have been arrested — draws its inspiration from Oswald Mosley’s Union Movement (UM) — in which his son Max was a key activist.
Sir Oswald was cited by the founders of supremacist National Action (NA) as a major influence on their beliefs, and the group even copied the UM symbol under which Max demonstrated.
In 2014, it was reported that a Hitler-loving university graduate, identified as the then leader of National Action, was also a fan of Oswald Mosley.
The founders of supremacist National Action (NA) as a major influence on their beliefs, and the group even copied the UM symbol under which Max demonstrated. The group is pictured in a file photo from 2016
Benjamin Raymond, then aged 25, had a Facebook picture which featured him posing in front of a Union flag and holding a signature of Mosley Snr.
Raymond, who was living in Bognor, West Sussex, was reportedly pictured performing Nazi salutes and posted on Facebook that he wanted to exterminate Jews and non-whites. He also posted quotes from Hitler and said the German leader’s book Mein Kampf changed his life.
Earlier this week, Britain’s most senior counter-terrorism policeman warned of the growing threat of far-Right terrorism.
Met Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said four violent far-Right plots were blocked by police operations last year.
Mr Rowley, who retires next month, warned that a ‘significant’ proportion of anti-terrorist work involves tackling an ‘organised’ white neo-Nazi threat.
Several of the conspiracies investigated by police involved suspected neo-Nazis aligned to the banned National Action underground group.
Referring to National Action, Mr Rowley said: ‘For the first time we have a home-grown proscribed white supremacist, neo-Nazi terror group, which seeks to plan attacks and build international networks.’
Met Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said four violent far-Right plots were blocked by police operations last year
National Action, a highly secretive organisation, used the slogan ‘death to traitors, freedom for Britain’, after racist loner Thomas Mair shouted those words in court during his trial for the savage 2016 murder of Labour MP Jo Cox.
The same phrase appeared on National Action’s website.
After Ms Cox was shot and stabbed to death by Mair, the group posted messages of support for him, stating ‘only 649 MPs to go’ and calling for his ‘sacrifice’ not to be in vain. Last September, two serving British soldiers were sensationally charged with being members of NA.
The pair, who deny the allegations, will stand trial and full details of the case cannot be revealed for legal reasons.
Home Secretary Amber Rudd has called National Action ‘a racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic organisation which stirs up hatred, glorifies violence’
Another NA member who idolised Hitler and had a Swastika tattoo was jailed for five years in February 2017 for having bomb-making instructions on a laptop.
Sean Creighton, 45, worshipped the German fascist leader and posted an image of Hitler with the message ‘kill the Muslims’ online.
The prosecution came after NA became the first far-Right group to be banned and placed on the Government’s blacklist under the Terrorism Act in December 2016.
The Home Office stated it was ‘virulently racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic’, and eager to ‘condone and glorify’ those who use violence for political ends.
It was launched in 2013, and it was not long before its leaders learned how social media could attract impressionable youngsters. At one point it had eight Twitter accounts, produced numerous videos on YouTube, and ran a variety of Facebook accounts.
But their tactics landed supporters in jail. Police said that 22 suspected members or associates of NA were arrested in 2016.
While it is estimated NA had only 100 members, the support it attracted online suggested there were many more sympathisers.
Banning the group, Home Secretary Amber Rudd said: ‘National Action is a racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic organisation which stirs up hatred, glorifies violence.’
The entry for NA in the official list of proscribed groups says it is a ‘racist neo-Nazi group’ that was established in 2013 and has branches across the UK which ‘conduct provocative street demonstrations and stunts aimed at intimidating local communities’.
The Home Office said: ‘The images can reasonably be taken as implying that these acts should be emulated and therefore amount to the unlawful glorification of terrorism.’
NA also claimed that Hitler’s major fault was showing ‘mercy’, while its spokesman, Jack Renshaw, called for Jews to be ‘eradicated’ during a secret meeting of far-Right nationalists.
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