Established in the lead-up to a small anti-immigration demonstration in London in September 2022, Patriots of Britain (PoB) pushes anti-migrant content to its target audience of football supporters, who it seeks to unite across clubs.

At present, PoB has a negligible imprint on the UK far right, and its follower count across social media is low. POB’s Telegram admin is Chris Bateman, who has previously cycled through the British National Party and For Britain, and is now a parish councillor for the British Democrats in Basildon.

In early 2023, PoB staged a tiny protest outside Serco HQ against cross-Channel migration, as well as a “protect the statues” demonstration in London in October to which no one showed up.

2024 saw little deviation from this pattern, with PoB functioning as an identikit, online, far-right propaganda operation. During the riots, its social media channels promoted a range of protests, some of which saw serious violence and disorder, and in their aftermath PoB sought to muddy the waters around many of the convictions.

At the end of August, a tiny POB group staged a flash demo outside Belmarsh prison, describing incarcerated rioters as “political prisoners”. In October, the group promoted the Tommy Robinson rally in London.