He and several other auditors, including neo-Nazi Harry Jackson, entered the church when scheduled bell ringing practice went ahead during speeches from protesters. Police were forced to intervene as the vicar was aggressively confronted.
The vicar calmly explained the bell ringers always practiced on a Saturday, and police later confirmed that the organiser of the protest had been pre-warned about them. Holmes escalated the situation further when the vicar was removed by police, stating:
“These priests do need confronting. If you want to see the collapse in Christianity in this country, it’s because the paedo priests and bishops and that covering it up.”
The obvious irony of the attack is that the protest itself had focussed on, amongst other issues, restoring Christian values back into the UK, and lamented the alleged decline of Britain’s Christian culture due to Islamic influence. This contradiction was clearly lost on the pack storming Doncaster Minster.
Ultimately, Holmes and the rest of the auditors left the church, but not before promising to return next Saturday to make sure the bell ringers really do practice at that time.
Following the events, Unite the Right organiser Steve Dand released a video statement condemning the actions of the auditors, saying that “they do not represent Unite the Right UK, they’re nothing to do with us”. Dand said that “entering a house of God and confronting the vicar was out of order… that should never have happened and I will personally apologise to the vicar for what was done”.
Holmes, a property developer from Sheffield, gained attention amongst the far right when he appeared in local news in October 2025. The story was simple: he had hung a 30ft Union Flag emblazoned with “FLYtheFLAG.uk” opposite the Chesterfield council offices. When he was forced to remove it or face a fine, he hung a 100-foot wide, £3000 Union Flag over an empty former council building that he owned.
Holmes immersed himself in the flagging movement that swept the country in 2025, but has been a part of the far-right scene for longer, having attended a Unite the Kingdom rally in London in 2024. Despite denying being a racist, his social media activity betrays his political opinions.
Holmes has also promoted demonstrations hosted by Harry Hilden, an anti-migrant activist from Faversham in Kent, who was recently exposed as being strongly aligned with the neo-Nazi group Patriotic Alternative. Other posts show him supportively posting a speech from American History X; the character giving the speech in question is a violent neo-Nazi. Others show him claiming that “promoting race-mixing… homosexuality… female (sic) at work… abortion and usage of birth control” are done to “kill a race peacefully”.
Holmes became a member of Restore and campaigned with the group for the Makerfield by-election this June, where candidate Rebecca Shepherd came third. However, his relationship with the party soon turned sour due to his behaviour causing a series of internal disagreements.
This included a conflict at a pub which resulted in Holmes being escorted out by another party member, after he challenged a staff member over the difference between wearing a pride lanyard and a Restore Britain t-shirt.
Holmes humiliated himself further in Doncaster over last weekend. His speech was largely devoted to promoting his merchandise brand “FLYtheFLAG.uk”, and included a strange detour about the percentage of virgins in Japan.
He also explained that “we need… men to be men, and for women to support their men in standing up”. This is a growing sentiment amongst the far right which present even their own female activists as supporting acts for the male main event. During his speech and others, the bells are audible.
Holmes and the other protesters’ confrontation with a local vicar shows how the far right engages with Christianity and its associated values only so far as it legitimises their hate.
When confronted with clergy they perceived to be challenging them (by simply ringing bells), they entered the church and aggressively accused the vicar of not “supporting British values”, “hiding” in his church and being “happy for this country to be invaded”.
The surreal irony of the situation was not lost on one of the protesters, veteran and leading member of Frontline Alliance Andrew Shaw. After speeches about how an intake of Muslim immigrants will damage Christianity as the “religion and culture of Britain”, and Shaw himself encouraging people to shout as loud as they can if they’re Christians, he awkwardly stated:
“Why have we got people going over to a fucking priest and kicking off with him? Why? He’s a priest! You’re meant to be Christians and yet you’re going off and kicking off with a priest because they’re playing bells! Right? We can’t say that we’re a Christian and then go and kick off with a priest! That makes no sense!”
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…
