Meet the Great British PAC: a far-right pressure group, packed with extremists

While the involvement of Lords, former MPs and councillors in the Great British PAC might give it a respectable appearance, HOPE not hate analysis shows the pressure group is packed with extremists, with thirteen members of its team having promoted far-right views and conspiracy theories online, including one who shared pro-Hitler and antisemitic content and another who posted racist comments about the IQ of ethnic minorities.

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Back in September, a new political organisation, with the supposed aim of uniting the right ahead of a general election in 2029, entered the fray: the Great British PAC (GB PAC). 

GB PAC is not a political party, but rather takes its inspiration from political action committees in the United States, which receive large amounts of money to fund campaigns for or against candidates and issues. 

On its website, the organisation describes its aim as delivering “a truly patriotic government,” adding: 

“We’re here to deliver a British-first agenda, train the next generation of leaders on the right, draft ironclad legislation, and ensure the UK is governed by those who believe in its future.” 

GB PAC explains it is seeking to fulfil this mission through a number of different methods, such as holding an annual conference; undertaking legal initiatives designed “to counter the damaging effects of the current government’s policies”; establishing a media rebuttal unit to call out what it deems “misinformation, bias, and unfair practices”; and creating an academy, which will shape “the future of British politics by identifying, training, and supporting the next generation” of right wing leaders. 

The pressure group has already started to get noticed. It claims to have come up with Reform UK’s policy on potholes and organised a legal challenge to the government’s plan to hand the Chagos Islands over to Mauritius. 

So, who’s behind it?

GB PAC was set up by journalist and Conservative party supporter Claire Bullivant, who serves as its chief executive officer, and is also the editor of the Conservative & Reformer Post website.

It’s no surprise, then, that the Conservative & Reformer Post has been keen to promote GB PAC. An article on 22 March, for instance, termed the organisation “a new force to be reckoned with” and trumpeted how one of those at its helm is… “Claire Bullivant, a media entrepreneur and political firebrand known for her sharp strategic eye”. 

While Bullivant is the group’s chief executive, GB PAC’s chair is former deputy Reform leader Ben Habib, who sparked outrage in April 2024 for saying Britain should “absolutely” let migrants drown in the English Channel. 

Habib, who was ousted as Reform deputy leader in July 2024, has since set up his own political party, the Integrity Party, which is strange given GB PAC’s professed ambition to unite the right. 

Members of the pressure group include a number of Conservative party figures. Tory peer Lord Dan Hannan, who made his name as one of the party’s MEPs, is on its advisory board, as is fellow Conservative Lord Stephen Greenhalgh. Two ex Tory MPs – Brendan Clarke-Smith and David Jones (who now supports Reform) – are also on the board. 

One sitting MP – Jim Allister who founded the Traditional Unionist Voice party – is also involved, as both a board member and the group’s Northern Ireland envoy.

They are joined on the board by Bepi Pezzulli, who stood for Reform in the 2024 general election and now serves as the party’s vice chair in Kensington & Chelsea and Hammersmith & Fulham. 

And… why are these people in it?

While the involvement of Lords, former MPs and councillors might give GB PAC a veneer of respectability, HOPE not hate has found that thirteen people holding formal roles in the pressure group have promoted far-right views and conspiracy theories online.

When contacted by HOPE not hate for comment last week, the pressure group’s chair Ben Habib responded: “We don’t care what our members have said in the past – they haven’t broken any laws.”

“We stand by all our board advisors and directors including: Carl Benjamin, Edward Oakenfull, Antony Antoniou, Peter Storms, Paul Hopkins, Alex Stevenson, Donna Edmunds, Caroline Smith, Scott Lewis, Sarah Morris, Anthony Mack, Catriona Flear and Guy Lachlan,” Habib’s thunderous reply, which GB PAC also posted on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter), went on. “We will stand by our people without hesitation.” 

As will be seen below, this means Habib is standing by someone who tweeted racist comments about the IQ of ethnic minorities, another who promoted pro-Hitler and antisemitic content on social media, and a number who have made Islamophobic comments online. Habib doesn’t care about any of that.

The questionable characters who have found a home in GB PAC are:

Carl Benjamin (Advisory Board Member)

Benjamin, otherwise known as “Sargon of Akkad”, is a misogynistic online influencer, who has a history of using racist and homophobic slurs. 

In a video posted to YouTube in 2015, before it was deleted and obtained by HOPE not hate in 2019, Benjamin displayed rampant homophobia and racism, repeatedly using the words “n***er”, “sp*c”, “k*ke”, “f*g”, “ch*nk” and “r**ard”. 

Writing on Twitter in 2016, Benjamin said, “I wouldn’t even rape you” to the Labour MP Jess Phillips. 

Benjamin initially refused to apologise for the tweet, terming the outrage surrounding it “ridiculous”, although did finally say sorry last year. 

As well as currently sitting on the GB PAC advisory board, Benjamin is also the founder of far-right podcast platform The Lotus Eaters, which he launched in 2020.  

Edward Oakenfull (East Midlands Director)

Oakenfull is GB PAC’s regional director for the East Midlands and was the Reform candidate for the Derbyshire Dales constituency in the 2024 general election. 

Less than a week before polling day, however, Reform withdrew its support for Oakenfull, after he was revealed to have posted anti-Muslim views and racist comments about the IQ of ethnic minorities on X. 

According to DerbyshireLive, Oakenfull wrote in June 2023: 

“The gene pool decline is another interesting area. By importing loads of sub Saharan Africans plus Muslims that inter breed the IQ is in severe decline.”

In November 2023, the now GB PAC director for the East Midlands declared that “nothing good will come from importing yet more Muslims” and, in December 2023, he posted: “The newly appointed Chair of the BBC is a Muslim, another reason to cancel the license [sic] as you just know more woke drivel will be churned out!”

Antony Antoniou (Northamptonshire Director)

Another candidate dropped by Reform ahead of last year’s general election was Antony Antoniou, who is now GB PAC’s county director for Northamptonshire. 

Research by the Campaign Against Antisemitism, which was verified by Sky News in June 2024, revealed that Antoniou had promoted material on X which defended Adolf Hitler and propagated antisemitic conspiracy theories.

In particular, in January 2016, he posted a link to a website, which contained Hitler’s speeches and argued that the Nazi leader “could foresee the social warfare that Europe of today is being subjected to”.

Then, in June 2016 he shared a link to a video titled “World Defeated The Wrong Enemy”, the description of which asserted that Hitler “wanted nothing but peace, and never ordered the extermination of a single Jew”. 

In August that year, Antoniou promoted a video by the Holocaust denier David Icke, which claimed that “the treatment of Jewish people in Germany by the Nazis was grotesquely exploited by the Rothschilds and their fellow members of this Zionist secret society”.

Speaking to Sky News, Antoniou claimed he “wasn’t aware of those tweets” as he used his account as an apparently automated “news blog”. How unfortunate!

Peter Storms (Dorset Director)

Storms was due to stand in the Bournemouth West constituency for Reform in the 2024 general election, but was deselected by the party, which “felt it was not right for him to stand as a candidate with our rosette” given some of his online posts.

In particular, Storms had shared content from the extreme far-right political party Britain First, according to The Times.  

His behaviour hasn’t ceased. On 30 March, he promoted two posts by Ashlea Simon, co-leader of Britain First. In one of them she said: “London looks more like Africa thanks to decades of mass immigration. Deport them all.” 

On his X account, Storms has also voiced anti-Muslim views. On 28 March 2024, for instance, he wrote that “a vote for @UKLabour is a vote for the #islamification of the #unitedkingdom” and, on 4 May 2024, said: “London is lost. Another 4 years of islamification under Sadiq Khan will make it the new califate [sic].”

Paul Hopkins (Warwickshire Director)

Hopkins was a Reform candidate in last July’s election and is now GB PAC’s county director for Warwickshire.

On his X account, on 27 May, Hopkins pronounced: “For all those who have been sucked in by the media and government lies about Tommy [Robinson], watch this, you might just realise the truth.”

The same month he also shared a post by COVID-19 conspiracy theorist and far-right politician Andrew Bridgen, in which he declared, “I revealed that the virus and the so called ‘vaccines’ were actually developed in the US (both were bioweapons),” before huffing: “No media in the UK would cover the story.”

On 10 April, he wrote, “Definitely need to support this Catherine, a true patriot,” in response to a post by Catherine Blaiklock, a politician with the far-right English nationalist party English Democrats, in which she was urging people to vote for her in the Runcorn byelection in May. In the end, only 95 did.  

Alex Stevenson (Derbyshire Director)

Stevenson was a Reform councillor in Derbyshire, but was suspended by the party, pending an internal investigation, in December 2024 and resigned the following month.

Then Reform chair Zia Yusuf explained Stevenson was suspended “for nominating candidates that failed vetting [and] fraudulently nominating candidates with an invalid DNO [delegated nominating officer] certificate,” which is particularly impressive given Reform’s strong track record of nominating unsuitable candidates.

Stevenson was previously a Conservative councillor, but was suspended by the party in January 2023 for defending comments by Bridgen which compared COVID-19 vaccines to the Holocaust.

Stevenson’s support for Bridgen has shown no sign of abating. On his Facebook account, Stevenson has repeatedly promoted Bridgen’s content.

In late March, for instance, he wrote that “NATO has always been the Aggressor,” before linking the a post on X by Bridgen, in which he asserted that “the decision has been made by the globalists controllers of Starmer and Macron to not only continue, but expand their proxy war with Russia into possible open world war.”

Donna Edmunds (West Midlands Director)

GB PAC’s regional director for the West Midlands, Donna Edmunds, was elected as a Reform councillor in Shropshire on 1 May. Just three days later, she was suspended by Reform for posting on X (formerly Twitter) about her intention to defect to another party in future.

While that was too much for Reform, the party was happy to let her stand for it despite a history of promoting far-right views.

Back in 2014, when she was sitting as a UKIP councillor on Lewes District Council, Edmunds said businesses should be able to refuse services to women and gay people.

Edmunds is also a keen fan of Stephen Lennon (AKA Tommy Robinson), having expressed support for him in a slew of social media posts.

On 22 May, for instance, Edmunds wrote that Lennon – who spent seven months in prison, from October 2024 to May 2025 for repeating false and defamatory allegations about a Syrian refugee – “is a national hero”, adding: “The only reason Tommy is in jail… is to further subjugate the white working classes.”

Edmunds has also called for “a statue of Tommy Robinson in every town square in Britain”.

Caroline Smith (Programme Director and Policy Platform Moderator)

Another in GB PAC’s ranks who’d like to see a statue of Lennon is Caroline Smith.

On her X account, where she has promoted posts by Lennon on numerous occasions, Smith responded to a post asking whether the serial criminal deserves a Knighthood by commenting: “Yes. And a statue”.

Smith has also displayed her support for the extremist on Facebook, where, on 28 May, she posted a link to a song, which goes:

“Assholes, listen up, we’ve got a message for every corrupt judge, every crooked cop, every politician who sold their soul to silence the truth. You thought throwing Tommy in a cell would shut us up. Nah. It lit the bloody fire… Tommy Robinson. Yeah you hate that sound, because he speaks the truth that’ll bring you down… Leave him the fuck alone, you hear? You call it hate. Nah. It’s anger and truth.”

Smith also attended Tommy Robinson rallies in June and July last year, about which she wrote on Facebook that she “met some amazing people and had a fantastic time,” adding: “Don’t believe what you are reading on MSM.” 

As well as being a fan of Lennon, Smith has promoted content by the American anti-Muslim activist Pamela Geller, who was banned from entering the UK in 2013, on a number of occasions.

Scott Lewis (South Wales Director)

Just like Edmunds and Smith, Lewis is another GB PAC director who admires Lennon, having promoted his content numerous times on his X account. 

Lewis has also repeatedly and forthrightly voiced his support for the anti-Muslim extremist.

On 2 January, for instance, Lewis wrote of Lennon: “One day, when the dust settles, Tommy will be remembered as a hero.”

More recently, on 20 May, Lewis declared:

“Tommy Robinson is not just a man. He is a symbol. A symbol of what happens when truth refuses to kneel… Tommy Robinson is walking out of those prison gates into a country that’s finally waking up… You want change? Then rise. Because one man can light the fire. But it takes a nation to burn the system down. Welcome home, Tommy. The lions are ready.”

As well as being a fan of Lennon, Lewis is an Islamophobe.

“Traitors in Westminster yawn while Britain is dismantled sermon by sermon,” he harrumphed in a post on 29 April, for instance, after claiming that “Islam as a political system” wants “to dominate the West”.

Lewis went on: “This is infiltration… We don’t need more ‘dialogue.’ We need defence. Wake up. Or be ruled. There is no third option.”

On 2 June, he responded to far-right American political activist Charlie Kirk saying, “Islam is not compatible with western civilization,” by commenting: “Britain, you shouldn’t be afraid to say this.”

Sarah Morris (Hampshire & Isle of Wight Director)

GB PAC’s director in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, Sarah Morris, was a Reform candidate in last year’s general election, but failed the party’s vetting process for this year’s local elections.

A glance at her X account shows why Reform might have had second thoughts about Morris (even if it hasn’t about so many others).

This month, she shared a video of Bridgen in which the former MP claims Western leaders are “determined to get us into a war with Russia,” before declaring: “Thank God we’ve got someone in Putin who at least has got some brains.”

In May, she promoted a post by her fellow GB PAC director, Donna Edmunds, in which she said: “I think it might be time to start a campaign to get @TRobinsonNewEra [Tommy Robinson] freed from jail. He’s a political prisoner.” 

Anthony Mack (South East England Director)

GB PAC’s regional director for South East England, Anthony Mack, has promoted far-right posts on his X account.

In September 2024, he shared a graphic, which pronounced: “Poland refused to take immigrants from Islamic countries. Poland was accused of Islamophobia & Muslim hatred. Today, Poland is safe and their citizens are living peacefully.”

In the same month, he also promoted a graphic declaring, “97% of climate scientists agree that they don’t want to be defunded,” and a post by the far-right party UKIP, which stated: “Nigel Farage says ‘it’s impossible to deport hundreds of thousands of people’… UKIP says step aside and let politicians with a spine get the job done.”

Catriona Flear (Hampshire Director)

Flear, GB PAC’s county director for Hampshire, has voiced anti-Muslim views on social media.

In response to a post on X about the number of Muslim MPs, Flear commented on 28 May: “It’s not just parliament. They are being put into positions of authority in every institution throughout the land. This is a deliberate move, not just by this traitorous government but by many previous ones.”

Responding to another post, which called the King a “traitor” and claimed he is “nothing but another puppet for the WEF [World Economic Forum],” she declared on 14 June: “If these idiots think they can replace us with Muslims, good luck with that one if they think they will be compliant and pay taxes. The monarch will be the firsr [sic] to go!”

Guy Lachlan (East Anglia Director)

GB PAC’s regional director for East Anglia, Guy Lachlan, stood for Reform in last year’s general election in the St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire constituency. 

According to a Mail on Sunday report, Lachlan was allowed to stand for the party despite having “liked” a tweet by the anti-Muslim political party Britain First and having described humanity as “bacteria” in a bizarre social media post, which went on to comment that “policies would have to include one-child limits, sterilisation and euthanasia”.

Lachlan was employed by Reform after the election, but subsequently fired over his prior social media activity – not that that’s enough to concern the GB PAC.