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Far right activists in Scotland have split from Patriotic Alternative to form a new group called Homeland which held its inaugural meeting on Hitler’s birthday, according to an anti-fascist research group.
Kenny Smith, a former British National Party (BNP) organiser who lives in Skye, has led a breakaway faction to form a new party after bitter in-fighting at Patriotic Alternative (PA), says a report by Red Flare.
The Ferret understands the split is between PA’s leader Mark Collett and his followers on one side, and former BNP officials led by PA Scotland’s Smith on the other.
The new group, Homeland, promotes nationalism based on ancestry, land and the “law of blood”.
Red Flare claimed that Homeland is “now the most dangerous” British far right group.
The breakaway group held its first meeting on 20 April — celebrated by neo-Nazis as the date of Adolf Hitler’s birthday.
The split could mark the end of PA’s brief reign as the largest and most significant fascist group in the UK.
According to analysis by, Red Flare, a majority of PA’s regional organisers have defected to Homeland.
They include an English butcher called Simon Crane who lives in Broxburn, West Lothian. He was PA Scotland’s regional organiser.
Details of the falling out emerged in recordings of two meetings leaked online and heard by The Ferret.
A leaked recording of an emergency meeting of PA on 20 April shows how Collett pleaded with activists not to leave the organisation, which recently gained some prominence through protests outside hotels across the UK housing migrants.
“I don’t want a split. I will do anything I can to avoid that,” Collett said during the meeting.
“I want to heal rifts. I do not want to split, it breaks my heart. It gives me sleepless nights, I am very worn down. I am very tired… I have had a pretty horrid week. And I want to put this behind us.”
Far right activists were apparently frustrated by PA’s repeated failure to gain registration as a political party from the electoral commission, as well as a focus on online activism rather than real-life community organising.
This is the second split within a month at PA, according to the anti-fascist magazine, Searchlight, after Hitler lookalike, Alek Yerbury, broke away to form a military style splinter group, the National Support Detachment.
While splits on the far right are often a cause for celebration for anti-fascists, the emergence of Homeland presents new dangers.
Allan Jones, a spokesperson for Red Flare.
Allan Jones, a spokesperson for Red Flare, said: “While splits on the far right are often a cause for celebration for anti-fascists, the emergence of Homeland presents new dangers.
“PA have created a new generation of British fascist activists and introduced them to political organising, many for the first time.
“This generation is now breaking free from PA’s leadership and forming an organisation intent on winning political power – something PA has never seriously attempted.
“Homeland represents a distillation of PA’s most dangerous elements into something harder, more serious and better organised. Homeland is now the most dangerous group on the British far right.”
A 2022 investigation by The Ferret revealed Smith had been using a Telegram group called Scottish Identity to recruit what he called “true” National Socialists into PA Scotland. Members of this group shared pictures of weapons caches, made Nazi salutes, and called for “guerilla warfare”.
Last year The Ferret also revealed that Smith pleaded guilty to firearms offences.
PA has been asked to comment.
This article was amended at 10.38 on 21 March 2024 to clarify that “Homeland promotes nationalism based on ancestry, land and the “law of blood”.
Airbnb’s business practices in the West Bank have long been in the spotlight, prompting criticism from human rights campaigners. We can now reveal that the firm has lobbied the Scottish Government 52 times since 2018.
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