White Vanguard (WV) is a small but openly neo-Nazi group that launched in March 2025. Throughout the year, the group 20-30 core activists engaged in increasingly extreme and confrontational tactics, garnering considerable publicity. However, a major split in December has left the group half the size, forced a change of leadership and left its future uncertain. 

WV emerged out of Youth Alliance (YA), a Christian nationalist outfit that launched in 2024 and folded within the year. YA, which initially had an anti-Muslim focus, sought to attach itself to the Tommy Robinson-led protest movement before radicalising into extreme antisemitism. The group dissolved following the riots that swept the country in the summer of 2024, which it had openly endorsed. What remained of YA briefly renamed itself “National Socialist Youth” before regrouping under the WV banner.

Co-leaders Kai Cunningham and Harrison Leworthy — from Dagenham, London and Havant, Hampshire respectively — modelled their new organisation on the Australian National Socialist Network (NSN). Venerating NSN leader Thomas Sewell as a Hitler-like figure, WV borrowed the group’s uniform of black Helly Hansen jackets (the logo of which — “HH” — is seen as a reference to Hitler). Contact between the two organisations has since been established. 

The group also mimics aspects of the Active Club Network, requiring members to physically train three times a week in an effort to cultivate a disciplined, elite activist cadre. 

WV gained its first taste of publicity at a Britain First march in Birmingham last May, with footage circulating of Cunningham bellowing into a megaphone about national socialism. With Cunningham, a former Reform UK member, as the public face, WV established a small but active presence in London, the South and North of England and Wales.

WV continued to hold media-baiting stunts, such as injecting neo-Nazi messages into demonstrations organised by other groups, including those outside of asylum accommodation sites, and confronting better-known figures on camera. It also organised banner drops on the steps of the Senedd in Cardiff and outside the MI5 headquarters in London, as well as at the Australian Embassy in support of their hero Thomas Sewell. 

WV’s small membership includes both newcomers and figures with histories of far-right activism. Alex Hill, a roofer and male escort from Gillingham, Kent, was previously active in Britain First’s security arm. London-based Jay Barlow (AKA Glenn) – who has convictions for possession of a knife, racially aggravated harassment and GBH – is also a member of Active Clubs. The group also collaborated with Patriotic Alternative on a number of actions. 

We predicted in June that the group was unlikely to last long. Militant elements were driving it in an ever-more radical direction, and it increasingly came to resemble National Action, a neo-Nazi group that was banned under anti-terror laws in 2016. For example, in August, the group burned books by LGBT+ and Jewish authors while throwing Hitler salutes, and the following month it began intimidating local politicians. 

In September, the group posted the details of a Peterborough councillor alongside the threat: “Traitors will suffer true consequences under real nationalist leadership.” Thirteen masked activists subsequently marched through the town shouting “White man! Fight back!” before assembling outside the councillor’s home, as Leworthy delivered an inflammatory monologue promising “total war” to the camera. 

However, as HOPE not hate reported this January, internal tensions had long been simmering. Many members were frustrated at Leworthy, whose egotism, immaturity and argumentative personality had burned numerous bridges and was partly responsible for WV’s high activist turnover.

These tensions came to a head in November following Cunningham’s arrest on return from Northern Ireland. Suspicions that he had cooperated with the authorities caused panic among the membership, and WV announced that “Kai has officially stepped down from his position and left the movement for personal reasons”. 

In reality, Cunningham remains at the helm of the organisation. However, a mass walkout followed, with the group’s most radical elements forming a new organisation, Aryan Front. WV claimed in a further statement that its website is “no longer under our administration”. Leworthy was subsequently forced out of the group.

Dewsbury-based Jordan Widdop (AKA Widz), WV’s northern organiser, stepped into national leadership alongside Cunningham. However, HOPE not hate’s reporting has resulted in further fallouts. At time of writing, the group’s planned relaunch has yet to manifest, and it is unclear how long its few remaining activists will remain before jumping ship to other vehicles.