The Singles are ready to mingle

The involvement and influence of far-right activists in the anti-lockdown/anti-vaccine/Covid denial movement is becoming ever clearer.

Among those emerging from this murky sub-culture are none other than Matthew Single and his wife, Sadie Single. This couple played a pivotal role in the demise of the Nick Griffin-led British National Party when Matthew Single was convicted for leaking the entire party membership online (charges against Sadie were dropped).

The leaking of the BNP’s membership list was a monumental disaster for the BNP and from it – along with a number of other schisms – the party never fully recovered. It was the ultimate and inexcusable betrayal, brought on by months of infighting and internecine threats made worse by the fact Single was part of the BNP’s fearsome and idiotic security team, and Mrs Single (née Graham) somewhat of a rising star and local councillor.

What led to the unhappy couple’s demise were questions they both asked of the morality and conduct of Mark Collett, now leader of Patriotic Alternative. Collett’s questionable behaviour had long been debated inside the party, but somehow Collett was always excused his numerous transgressions.

Despite his own serious doubts about aspects of Collett’s behaviour, Nick Griffin backed Collett and created an animosity that led to a series of purges of senior officials and a limp leadership contest.  

The 2009 membership leak was a defining moment in the slow death of the most successful post-war British fascist movement. Sadie Graham (as she was) had been considered a bright light in the far right. She had a pedigree that extended as far as Australia, where she had a previous dalliance with hard-line Nazis there and pictures of her handling legally held firearms were aplenty.

The leaking of the list was the final roll of the dice in an internal dispute her side lost. It did her no favours.

Graham was thrown off Broxtowe Borough Council for non-attendance (BNP members were impressed by her commitment and conscientious approach to her role) while Matthew Single, before his arrest, had been found by police, “depressed and upset” and wanting to harm himself. Understandably, given the distress caused to those members whose details were revealed to the world, the couple moved to somewhere in the south of England and obscurity.

That is until now.

Ms Graham- now Mrs Single, appears to have spent the intervening time becoming a teacher and, she says, working in a primary school.

Most recently she was seen at the violent protest at the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in London. She also took part in the accidental occupation of ITN HQ last month where she told a YouTube “journalist” that she has removed her children from school for fear they were becoming indoctrinated.

The attraction for the Singles, previously prominent players in the far right and now fast rising actors in the anti-lockdown/anti-vaccine milieu, might lie in the allocation of blame for the crisis on a “Satanic paedophile elite” intent on world domination and population reduction. You don’t have to scratch deeply before meeting the spectre of Antisemitism. Nick Griffin taught them well. The appeal of this nonsense has also tempted a range of racist haters from For Britain (Anna Maria Waters has attended the innocuously sounding ‘Stand in the Park’ protests in her adopted Hartlepool), Patriotic Alternative and ex EDL/Infidel groups to become involved. Indeed, EDL chants of “Whose streets? Our streets” were heard last Saturday at an anti-lockdown/anti-vaccine protest in Hartlepool.

While it would be wrong to portray everyone involved in the anti-lockdown/anti-vaccine movement as motivated by Antisemitism and racism, it is vital to understand the potential damage that experienced operators like Sadie and Matthew Single can wreak. Mrs Single (nee Graham) has spoken about the home schooling company she operates for “woke” families. Given her BNP past, it is deeply worrying that she has any involvement in children’s education.

We are hugely indebted to Mohammed Shafiq who bought Sadie Graham/Single’s involvement in the conspiracy movement in a series of illuminating tweets, you can read here.