A CWO sympathiser comments on the resurgence of the far-right in the UK.

In 2024, riots and anti-migrant protests broke out across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The spark that set it all off was a lie about the religion and ethnicity of the perpetrator of a mass stabbing in Southport; far-right media claimed the murderer was an immigrant Muslim, when in fact he was a Welsh teenager born in the UK to a Christian family.⁽¹⁾ He was also black. This was enough for the fabrications to spread like wildfire.⁽²⁾ One year on, opportunist politicians are not sleeping and their efforts to stir up hatred continue. Parties like Reform UK and their leaders try to present themselves as being of the white British working class and for the working class. This could not be further from the truth… Let’s dispel these commonly repeated myths.

Myth #1: Nigel Farage is your average bloke who spends his evenings at the local pub

Nigel Paul Farage, the founder and leader of Reform UK, has created a media image of himself as an ordinary British man who does all the same things that a normal worker does. In fact, he was born to a stockbroker father in Farnborough.⁽³⁾ He would go on to be educated at a fee-paying private school in south London.⁽⁴⁾ He began his career as a commodities trader in the 1980s. By 2014, Farage – now a controversial politician – had declared over £205,000 for ‘gifts’ since 2001.⁽⁵⁾ Between 2016 and 2017, businessman Arron Banks paid almost half a million pounds in benefits to cover Farage’s travel and accommodation expenses.⁽⁶⁾ This year, Farage took a £40k payment to speak in Kuala Lumpur at an event hosted by Nomad Capitalist – a company that helps the super-rich obtain multiple passports, encouraging British entrepreneurs to leave the country and thus reduce their tax bills.⁽⁷⁾ You have NOTHING in common with him, unless you are an opulent lackey of the world’s elite.

Myth #2: Reform UK and similar organisations stand for the British working man

The private-school educated Nigel Farage drained a total of £2m in taxpayers’ money in ‘expenses’ while a Member of the same European Parliament he was campaigning to leave.⁽⁸⁾ As illustrated by Farage’s shady fiscal practices and massive earnings, the people behind Reform UK are not of the working class nor do they have your best interests at heart. They made a career out of Brexit, now they seek to continue making money from the frustrations of an increasingly impoverished population that has been repeatedly lied to by politicians from all the ruling parties. These far-right opportunists are liars who want to give the rich more tax breaks, while welfare, healthcare, and local council funds will continue to dwindle. Do not be fooled by their propaganda – they seek to exploit you just like the rest of Parliament and those who aim to get voted in.

Myth #3: The NHS will be saved by mass deportation and stricter immigration control

Farage has previously promised to pour £350 million a week into the NHS if Britain backed a Brexit vote. Just hours after the Brexit referendum was announced in 2016, when over 17 million people voted to leave the EU, Farage admitted to lying about this pledge.⁽⁹⁾ Many other false promises had been made by Farage and various politicians, who claim that the influx of immigrants is putting an immense strain on the UK’s healthcare system. Actually, an Oxford Economics study reported that each migrant makes a positive net contribution of £28,000 (non-EEA) or £78,000 (EEA), over the course of their lifetime putting in more than they take out in benefits and other services. The average UK citizen’s net lifetime contribution was zero… Many NHS staff, including a third of doctors and nurses, are non-UK nationals.⁽¹⁰⁾ The NHS, just like the care sector and many other industries in Britain, relies extensively on the hard work of immigrants. If they were suddenly deported and no more were to be let in, the NHS would simply collapse.

Myth #4: Muslim ‘grooming gangs’ are running rampant in the UK, raping women and children

This is a popular rallying call among the racist organisations of the far-right, who create moral panics around the concept of Islamic rape gangs. While every ethnicity has its share of rotten apples, statements claiming that Muslims or people of colour are somehow disproportionately more prone to domestic abuse or paedophilia are completely false. In reality, statistics show that most of the offenders are white British – the expected pattern in a society that is predominantly white British.⁽¹¹⁾ Moreover, almost half of the men arrested in the 2024 race riots had previously been reported to the police for domestic abuse.⁽¹²⁾ If you marched alongside them, there is a good chance that the man next to you had beaten his wife. Think about that next time you hear one of them claim he is protecting the rights of British women.

Myth #5: Putting English flags up on lampposts is helping you ‘take your country back’

Lately it has become very fashionable to put up English flags on lampposts, display them in windows, hang them anywhere they can be hung, even paint them on the roads or pavements.⁽¹³⁾ The English state does not care for you. Its ruling class has exploited you throughout your entire life and will continue to do so, flag or not. This flag is a symbol of your enslavement. All you are doing is making minorities feel unwelcome and helping make a profit for the companies behind these flags, some of which are made by child labourers in East Asia.

So what can I do?

The right-wing lies to you and tries to take advantage of your frustration. You are nothing to them but a vote and a paycheque. The left-wing demonises you and calls you a villain. You are nothing to them but a scapegoat. Organisations that truly have the interests of workers at heart are not interested in taking a moral high ground. The capitalists want to keep us stupid and divided – it is their job in managing the capitalist system and its cyclical crises, so that you will be ready to die in wars fought for their interests. We must educate ourselves and link our struggle with the struggles of other workers, across different industries and sectors, without regard for gender, sexuality, skin colour or ethnic origin. Devastating climate changes and the prospect of a third world war will only exacerbate the migrant crisis.

The Indian doctor who treats your grandfather’s illness is not your enemy. The Polish woman who looks after your disabled grandmother is not your enemy. The young Eritrean man who risked his life to escape horrific violence at home is not your enemy. Just as you are not the enemy. White British men, just like workers of all countries, really have been exploited for centuries by their ruling class and this continues to this day. The British government’s policies, particularly against the mining and shipbuilding industries, have had a devastating effect on countless communities – oppressing and destroying the livelihood and very social fabric of so many villages, towns, and cities. We are still living with the disastrous consequences of their decisions. In response to the capitalist crisis, the ruling class has chipped away at the welfare state, healthcare, sick pay, and other services and workers’ rights. The assault on our wages and conditions, and on us, will only continue as capitalism drives us towards more destructive wars. Instead of letting the elites manipulate us, by banding together as workers, across all the artificially imposed divisions, we can defend our interests and begin the struggle for a different world.

A better future is possible, but we will never get there if we let ourselves be divided along ethnic lines or other identitarian schemes. We should learn from each other’s experiences and help one another. We must unite as a class and fight for a better world – for ourselves, for our children, and for their children.

Notes:

Image: commons.wikimedia.org

(1) A timeline of events related to the killer’s attack and the riots that unfurled after it: lbc.co.uk

(2) Sky News reported that the killer was, in fact, in possession of anti-Islamic and anti-Semitic material: news.sky.com

(3) For a profile of Nigel Farage and details on his early life, see: bbc.co.uk

(4) More on Farage’s days at Dulwich College here: independent.co.uk

(5) bbc.co.uk

(6) theguardian.com

(7) leftfootforward.org

(8) theguardian.com

(9) independent.co.uk

(10) For the figures, see: socialinterestgroup.org.uk

(11) independent.co.uk

(12) theguardian.com

(13) For details on some of the far-right organisers behind ‘Operation Raise the Colours’, see: hopenothate.org.uk