Warning: this article contains extreme and offensive imagery
The British Movement (BM) is the most overtly neo-Nazi organisation in the UK, and among the longest standing. Also known as the British National Socialist Movement, the group aims to foment “revolution from below” and has cultivated an extensive record of race hate and violence since its foundation in 1968.
The BM has seen a recent uptick in activity after a number of younger figures joined the aging skinheads. As we recently revealed, among those drawn to the group was Brogan Stewart, convicted of plotting terror attacks on mosques and synagogues in May.
The BM’s North West branch has also been rejuvenated by an influx of former Patriotic Alternative (PA) members, who had been active in both groups for several years before formally defecting this January.
These activists have introduced PA-style tactics to the older group, such as banner drops and street stalls, and have organised martial arts training sessions in Manchester, drawing inspiration from the Active Clubs, an international network of fascist fight clubs.
Now, HOPE not hate can name these activists.
Laurence Toms-Arbel, a DJ from London now based in Manchester, is a core BM North West activist who has arranged martial arts training sessions with his fellow fascists.
He appears to have made his entry into far-right politics via supporting Donald Trump and the conspiracy theories that blossomed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. This included involvement in the anti-vaccine protest movement and dabbling in QAnon, a conspiracy theory that claims Trump is waging a secret war against a cabal of Satanic paedophiles.
After a spell in Proud Boys Britannia and supporting Stephen Lennon (AKA Tommy Robinson), Toms-Arbel joined PA and became the group’s Manchester contact. He is now a dedicated neo-Nazi and practices “folkish” Odinism, a racially exclusive version of Norse paganism.
David Adams, of Southport, was previously PA’s Merseyside contact and one of the group’s most active members. He continued his high output after joining BM, and helped win his region an award from the group’s aging general secretary Steve Frost last November.
Adams — who has a tattoo of the Nazi sonnenrad symbol on his arm — is a dedicated Odinist and has dabbled in Odinic Rite, Woden’s Folk and the Odinist Fellowship, the three main “folkish” (racially exclusive) Odinist groups in the UK. This includes leafleting and other forms of outreach for the latter group.
Adams also runs the Green Man’s Hearth, a tiny Odinist group active in the North West composed largely of fellow PA and BM members. Andrew McIntyre — a key instigator of the Merseyside riots last summer — was briefly involved in Adams’ group.
Manchester-based Morgan Elsby has been active in the far right since at least 2017, when he was arrested during a far-right mobilisation following the Islamist terror attack in the city that May.
The following month, he was filmed in Manchester clad in a fascist uniform modelled on Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists.
He was active in PA’s North West branch by 2023, going on to join the BM alongside other members of his branch.
Despite his political activities, Elsby has spent years working as a security guard at Manchester United Football Club.
Patrick McGrath, from Bolton, is another ex-PA member to join the BM. McGrath was previously linked to the New British Union, a fascist dressing-up club that attempts to emulate Oswald Mosley’s Blackshirts.
In 2020, he attended a “Save Our Statues” protest in Bolton alongside fellow members of the Devils Disciples Motorcycle Club, a biker group founded in the US.
He represented the English Democrats, a minor far-right party, in the 2024 general election in Bolton West, following a pact between PA and the group (he received 0.5% of the vote).
Prefer to listen? Click the play button to hear the audio version. Harry Shukman Reform UK is staffed by oddballs and enigmas, but none odder…
