Far right threat remains despite National Action demise, warns expert

Despite the successful dismantling of National Action, the threat of neo-nazism remains, warned Professor Matthew Feldman.

His warning came after National Action founder Alex Davies was jailed for eight-and-a-half years at the Old Bailey last week.

Davis, 27, from Swansea, became the 19th person to be convicted of membership of the neo-Nazi organisation after it was proscribed as a terrorist group for glorifying the murder of MP Jo Cox in 2016.

Prof Feldman, who gave evidence in Davies’ trial, told PA News Agency:

“Their ability to achieve aims by violence is virtually nil. But that doesn’t mean that the threat of neo-Nazism and fascist activism more generally has gone away.”

Convicted NA members have included British soldier and Afghanistan veteran, Finnish-born Mikko Vehvilainen, and former Metropolitan Police constable Ben Hannam, who lied about his extremist past in his application to join the force.

Vehvilainen, then 34, from Powys, Wales, was jailed for eight years in 2018 and kicked out of the Army. Hannam, 23, from north London, was convicted of membership last year and jailed for four years and four months.

Prof Feldman is a Professorial Fellow at the University of York and Richmond, the American International University in London, and has held fellowships at the Universities of Birmingham, Northampton and Oxford. He has consulted widely for government, policing and prosecution services.