The Independent Nationalist Network (INN) is a tiny fascist group that splintered from Patriotic Alternative (PA) in July 2021.

Claiming to be a “leaderless collective”, the group is in practice headed by the former PA members Richard Lumby, a Birmingham-based ex-British National Party organiser, and Matthew Joseph Strutt (AKA Anglo Joe) from Droitwich, Worcestershire. Another well-known but controversial figure is the Norfolk-based Chris Mitchell, formerly PA’s East of England Regional Organiser.

Early on, the INN sought to establish links with the UK’s conspiracy theory-driven protest scene, in particular Alpha Team Assemble, a militant anti-vaccine group. It has also supported several anti- migrant protests in the Midlands.

However, the INN’s main activity has revolved around the “Stop Drag Queen Story Hour” campaign, attending protests in an effort to cancel the children’s book reading sessions. In April 2023, Mitchell was convicted for hate crime offences for maliciously targeting a drag performer the previous year.

Having spent much energy squabbling with PA, Strutt led calls for “unity” on the fascist fringes in 2023, organising a meeting in May in Leeds that brought the PA leadership together with figures from the British Democrats, the Highland Division, the anti- migrant Midlands Says No campaign and Alek Yerbury and his allies.

The INN has continued to collaborate with PA and Yerbury, but is only sporadically active and remains confined to the outside fringe of far-right politics.