White Vanguard: Shifts and rifts on the militant Nazi fringe

Ahead of a neo-Nazi protest in Tamworth this weekend, HOPE not hate outlines a budding power struggle within White Vanguard, and identifies members of the National Socialist Network – which is banned in Australia – active on British soil

Tomorrow, figures from across Britain’s fascist fringe will amass in Tamworth, Staffordshire for an event organised by the neo-Nazi group Patriotic Alternative (PA). 

This will include the black clad militants of White Vanguard (WV), a group that made its name last year through hijacking anti-migrant protests and intimidating local politicians at their homes. 

WV’s growth has been hobbled by all the internal melodramas, squabbles and splits typical on the extreme right. In January, we reported that a rift had cost the group half its membership, out of which the terroristic Aryan Front emerged. 

The immediate damage was unignorable. Early in the year, WV’s forlorn führer Kai Cunningham could be seen skulking around at public protests flanked only by his new second-in-command, the repeat knife offender Jay Barlow, and one or two faithfuls. 

However, both activity and attendance has spiked in recent weeks, driven by a batch of recent recruits from Liverpool. These newcomers are organising activism off their own backs, including defiling the city’s cenotaph with the neo-Nazi nuisance Ryan Ferguson last month.

Control seems to be slipping away from Cunningham, and a power struggle appears on the horizon. The Dagenham-based leader has never fully shed suspicions of his cooperation with the authorities after he was picked up last November. 

Barlow has already been forced out, and senior members like Max Hills have drifted towards PA and other outfits. Among those climbing the ladder within WV is Thomas “Tommo” Coyle, now a Midlands organiser.

Cunningham is also wary of proscription, a fate that befell WV’s neo-Nazi predecessor National Action in 2016. Fears have intensified following the banning of the National Socialist Network (NSN) under Australian anti-hate laws this May. 

WV is closely modelled on the NSN, whose militaristic marches, intimidation tactics and violence have inspired neo-Nazis across the globe. The NSN leadership has advised WV, which even adopted its uniform of black Helly Hansen jackets (the logo of which – “HH” – is seen as a reference to Hitler).

There has also been some crossover in personnel. Last summer, NSN activist Dylan Garnett (AKA Dylan Margrave) met with Cunningham and other WV activists in London. Garnett, based in Melbourne, was a core NSN member, accompanying the leadership at actions and court hearings.

Prominent ex-NSN member Alexander Zaslavsky has also relocated to the UK. Zaslavsky suffered his own legal issues for activism with the now-banned group. We first snapped Zaslavsky with WV at a PA protest in Warwick in February, and again in Nuneaton the following month.

WV is a receptacle for the most extreme elements of the right, and is spinning into ever more dangerous territory. However, whether it can survive further splits and police scrutiny – and if it does, in what form – remains unclear.