‘Fascist’ group founded by Nazi sympathiser behind Royton leaflets

Charity Hope not Hate says Patriotic Alternative is ‘rife with Nazi extremists’, calling the group the “UK’s largest fascist organisation”, and accusing it of distributing leaflets in order to gain wider media attention.

Representatives of the group’s North West branch said members had delivered 1,800 leaflets in Royton in the most recent action.

A video posted by the group appears to show members of the group leafletting, as well as holding up a banner outside the council building reading “Stop the mass rape of white children,” in reference to the Oldham child sexual exploitation report released in June.

A screenshot of a video posted by the group’s North West branch appears to show them leafletting on Oldham Road, near the border with Rochdale

Oldham Council has already condemned the leaflets, which claim ‘white Britons’ will become a minority, as racist literature.

The claim is attributed to David Coleman, a former Oxford Professor who is an advisor to the pressure group Migration Watch UK, which campaigns for reduced immigration into the UK.

Research from academic Philip Rees and colleagues suggests white people will make up 70 per cent of the UK population into the 2060s.

In 2011, more than 87 per cent of the UK population was white.

Another leaflet references a ‘grooming gang coverup’.

Patriotic Alternative was founded by Mark Collett, a former director of publicity for the British National Party. 

In a Channel 4 Dispatches documentary filmed in 2002, Mr Collett, thinking the camera was not turned on, praised Hitler’s Germany and said he thought it would be better for a child to grow up in 1930s Germany than in modern-day Oldham or Burnley.

He also described AIDS as a ‘friendly disease’ in the documentary, because, in his words, ‘blacks, drug users, and gays have it’.

In the founder’s official Telegram channel, Mr Collett says that “Western liberal democracy has brought more death and suffering to the world than Russia,” before blaming the Russia-Ukraine war on ‘NATO and the CIA’.

In her statement, Cllr Chadderton said: “The council’s community safety team is aware of the issue, and this has been reported to Greater Manchester Police for action.”

Debbie Abrahams, MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth, said: “As organisations like Hope Not Hate have shown, the far right is on the rise and seeking to stoke division in communities across the UK.

“Unfortunately, Oldham is not immune to that.”

A representative for Patriotic Alternative North West said: “The labels ‘racist’ and ‘hateful’ are merely slurs used for pro-White groups.

“The study by Philip Rees mentions White people, which includes White Other and White Irish, whereas our leaflet is about White Britons. If current trends continue, White Britons will be a minority in the future.

“We also notice that Cllr Chadderton calls ‘Oldham [...] wonderfully diverse’.

“Considering the demographics of Oldham, diversity simply means ‘fewer White people’. We ask why Cllr Chadderton considers it wonderful that the percentage of White people in Oldham is lower than in other towns in the United Kingdom.”

Greater Manchester Police confirmed it was aware of the leaflets.

Jim McMahon MP was unable to comment.

Angela Rayner MP was contacted for comment.