Five years ago the murder of politician Jo Cox sent shockwaves across the world and led to a “watershed” moment in the way the UK dealt with far-right extremism.
The 41-year-old mother-of-two was shot and stabbed to death as she visited a constituency office in the small industrial town of Birstall, west Yorkshire, on June 16, 2016, by neo-Nazi fanatic Thomas Mair. It was just a week before the UK went to the polls to vote over Brexit – an issue which had caused deep divisions across the country.
Ms Cox, a staunch Remain campaigner, had written an anti-Brexit column the week before, a cutting of which was later found in Mair’s home.
In court he spoke only to say ‘My name is Death to traitors, freedom for Britain’ – it was later used as a slogan by far-right group National Action, which had labelled him a “hero” in the aftermath of her death.
MP’s murder led to UK banning first far-right group
Within months of her death, National Action became the first far-right group to be proscribed in Britain and the security services began taking the far-right threat more seriously.
Previously the UK’s list of banned organisations had been international terrorist groups, such as Al Qaeda and ISIS. There are now five far-right groups on it.
Despite the crackdown, experts are warning it still poses a major threat to the UK.
“The murder of Jo Cox was a turning point and a wake up call for the security services to up their game,” chair of Muslim’s Against Anti-Semitism, Ghanem Nusiebeh, told The National.
“It clearly was a failure. Things are changing but they are not changing fast enough.”
Despite a spotlight being put on the far-right, the UK’s terror chief has warned it is still the fastest growing threat in Britain.
Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu said 10 out of 12 under 18s arrested for terrorism last year were linked to extreme right wing ideology.
"There has definitely been a growth in nationalistic material online, white supremacist literature, things that are extremely disturbing,” he said.
More than 60 far-right activists have been sentenced for terror offences since 2017, 12 were convicted last year.
Far-right will remain a threat for the ‘foreseeable’ future
Dr Chris Allen, of the Centre for the Analysis of the Radical Right, warned in a recent government report that the far-right will continue to remain a threat for the foreseeable future.
“What is clear is that National Action will go down in history as the first group of its kind to be proscribed,” he said.
“While the relatively high number of successful convictions are likely to have damaged the group, little damage will have been done to the ideology of National Socialism or those who feel or express a commitment to it. The same is true of those willing to use violence to enact that same ideology.
“In this respect, there can be no guarantees that those currently serving prison sentences will undergo a volte-face; be that in terms of an ideological commitment or a willingness to use violence.
“It is possible that some time in the future those same individuals might re-emerge in ways that seek to reaffirm or revitalise their ideological commitment.
“For this reason, the ideologies of the extreme right wing and those committed to them are likely to continue to pose a very real threat to our domestic security for at least the foreseeable future irrespective of how damaged National Action may or may not be.”
In the last three years eight of the 27 serious terrorist plots stopped in the final stages in the UK were linked to neo-fascist and racist groups.
Police arrest far-right gang over 3D weapons factory
Last month armed police raided homes in Keighley, west Yorkshire, yards from where the gun that killed Ms Cox was stolen from, and charged a gang with making 3D weapons and running far-right extremist sites on social media platform Telegram.
The area has long been a hot bed for both Islamist and far-right extremists.
The ringleader of the July 7, 2005, London tube bombings Mohammad Sidique Khan lived in Batley, as did Terence Gavan, a bus driver and member of far-right political group the British National Party (BNP) member, who was jailed for 11 years for assembling an armoury in his bedroom, including nail bombs and a booby-trapped cigarette packet.
When police raided Mair’s home after Ms Cox’s murder they discovered a collection of books on the Nazis, German military history and white supremacy on a bookshelf topped by a gold-coloured Third Reich eagle with a swastika.
It was later revealed he had attended a BNP, which once had its UK headquarters in Keighley, event in London.
Facebook banned the BNP in 2019 forcing it to use lesser known social media platforms.
Dr Paul Stott, a research fellow at the Centre for the Response to Radicalisation and Terrorism at the Henry Jackson Society, told The National that although far-right groups are continuing to lose support they are growing more extreme.
“The legacy of Jo Cox in a way is the trends that were there for the British far-right which have continued to carry on getting smaller and smaller and more isolated and more extreme,” he said.
“It is a classic case of terrorism being a sign of weakness rather than strength. “The strength was the personal tragedy for her family but her death showed the weakness and lack of appeal of the far-right.
“The BNP was really strong in Keighley and now it just exists for its legacy income.
“The recent arrests actually show something more serious with them allegedly using 3D guns. If you look at the prosecutions for the far-right it is very often in the North East and Yorkshire because of the historic legacy of it being so strong in the north.
“But they also show the police are quite on the ball now with these groups.”
Terrorism expert at Leeds Beckett University, David Lowe, who is an adviser on the UK’s anti-radicalisation Prevent programme, believes the government needs to encourage more people to use Prevent for far-right extremism as well as Islamist.
“What has happened in Keighley is a big concern,” he said.
“We will not stop dead determined people but we will on periphery. We need to work on Prevent and encourage people not to feel frightened for referring people.
“A concern with the pandemic has been young people and young minds getting information online from extremists. The far-right has been infiltrating online gaming to target youngsters to then groom them.
“Other issues which have helped fuel support have been Brexit and former US President Donald Trump’s ‘making American great again’ rhetoric but I think things have got better in the UK regarding the far-right.
“The UK has some of the most comprehensive legislation globally and has a raft a counter terrorism tools now, so many more groups have been disrupted. Five have been proscribed since her death.”
Far-right groups field candidates in by-election in bid to get political foothold
The far right still has hopes of being politically prominent in the area though, with two candidates standing in the up and coming by-election in Ms Cox’s former seat of Batley and Spen next month.
For Britain is fielding anti-Muslim activist Anne Marie Waters and former deputy leader of far-right group Britain First, Jayda Fransen, who was previously convicted of religiously aggravated harassment, is standing as an independent candidate.
Ms Cox’s sister Kim Leadbeater has chosen to stand against them as the Labour Party candidate.
Dr Stott told The National that he did not believe far-right groups would gain a foothold in the area.
“I do not think any party on the far-right has any real chance of an electoral breakthrough in the constituency,” he said.
“If you look back to 2016 when they had a by-election after the terror attack the main parties stood aside but a few far-right parties did stand. However, Labour’s Tracy Brabin was comfortably elected.
“The far-right is far from being in an electoral position. It seems to be in a period of quite dramatic decline but this is overlapped with some individuals who are clearly quite dangerous.
“You have had Thomas Mair, Darren Osborne’s attack at Finsbury Park Mosque in London and National Action. That violence is a sign of their political failure. That potentially makes them more dangerous and why the authorities are spending more time on them.”
Anti-racism group Hope Not Hate is working in the area ahead of the election and believes the far-right still poses a very real threat.
“Since Jo's tragic murder in 2016, the far-right remain at large and undeterred. Unified along anti-migrant and anti-Muslim lines,” founder Nick Lowes said.
“There is a very real risk that far-right extremists will use this high profile election to stir up hatred and division and given the history of the area this could be really dangerous to the community cohesion.”
He said the group is working with the community to help deal with “any upsurge in extremism” caused by the election.
Dr Lowe told The National that the security services have seriously overhauled the way the far right are treated since Ms Cox’s death to prevent another tragedy.
“The far-right have always been there and now we are dealing with them,” he said.
“Many far right terror plots have been prevented. We are seeing coverage of arrests, trials and convictions all due to the proscribing of far-right groups.
“This was Jo Cox’s legacy.”
