HOPE not hate exposes “Big Time Charlie”, the man behind a recent campaign of online harassment against progressive charities, campaigners and others he considers “traitors”.
Tom Watson, a Worcester man who splits his time between the UK and US, has hidden behind the Big Time Charlie account – which has almost 50,000 followers – to target members of multiple organisations.
His targets include the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), Stand Up To Racism and other “traitors”, such as business owners who recruit BAME workers.
Watson, who founded the recruitment firm Futura Energy Group, uses AI to scrape data from LinkedIn and other sites to build his so-called “Traitorbase”.
He also actively campaigns for Restore Britain, claiming to have donated thousands to the far-right party, and has also posted racist content online.
Watson is an active member of Restore, launched by Rupert Lowe MP earlier this year. “I’m on the ground most days leafleting”, he wrote in August. He also claims to have joined Restore’s exclusive “Cromwell Club”, open to those who donate at least £2,500 to the party.
He is an open advocate of “remigration”, a policy of state-run ethnic cleansing, and has posted deeply racist and antisemitic content, including referring to former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as an “invader”. Additionally, he has claimed that “there should not be a single Pakistani or Muslim in Great Britain”, that he has “always employed Anglo Saxon men only” and has “never had friends from other races”.
He has also offered to distribute stickers for Remigration Now, a fascist group run by the notorious racist Steve Laws, which campaigns for the purging of all “non-whites” from the country, including the Jewish community.
In response to a news article concerning the drowning of a family of three in West Sussex, Watson posted: “How much has this reduced the migrant welfare bill by?”
Given Watson’s extreme views, it is unsurprising that he sees Restore Britain as the appropriate vehicle for his political views; HOPE not hate has repeatedly exposed other extremists in its ranks.
Moreover, the party has made its authoritarian intentions towards “the left” plain, with spokesman Charlie Downes stating on Saturday that the party intends to “utterly crush […] ‘The Left’ as it currently exists”.
Watson’s actions, and Restore’s rhetoric more broadly, are feeding into an intense and dangerous climate of political hostility.
CASE FILE: Rupert Lowe and Restore Britain
Meet the fascists supporting Restore Britain in the Manchester mayoral race
Meet Remigration Now: The pro-ethnic cleansing extremists within Restore Britain
Ups and Downes: Restore Britain’s latest crisis
Restore Britain: More fascists in Makerfield
EXPOSED: Militant neo-Nazis in Restore Britain, as leading party figure backs fascist activist
Makerfield campaign reveals deepening fascist links in Restore Britain
Restore Britain: A new home for old fascists, part 1
Restore Britain: A new home for old fascists, part 2
Steve Laws: Ethnic cleansing extremist claims “daily” contact with Restore Britain top team
The company you keep: The extremists flocking to Restore Britain
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…
