Britain’s hard right on the march as tens of thousands descend on London

By Christian Edwards, CNN

London (CNN) — When some 150,000 people descended on London in September for a rally organized by Tommy Robinson – an agitator who spreads anti-Muslim bigotry and has several criminal convictions – it felt like a watershed moment in British politics.

“Something in our country changed,” Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, said at the time. “This felt different.”

And so when at least tens of thousands gathered again in the British capital on Saturday for the latest “Unite the Kingdom” march, it felt less out of the ordinary. Views that would once not have been expressed in public are becoming commonplace. Marches organized by Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, are becoming a regular outlet for them.

“Millions have got to go,” said Pete, 64, from Derbyshire, in the English midlands. He was referring to unauthorized immigrants. “They shouldn’t be in this country,” he told CNN. “They’re claiming benefits. ‘Benefit Britain’ has got to end.”

At September’s mass rally, the mood was militant. “Whether you choose violence or not, violence is coming to you,” Elon Musk told the crowd via video link. “You either fight back or die.”

Saturday’s march was smaller, according to early estimates, and did not attract the same high-profile foreign guests. But Robinson’s message was similarly combative. “Are you ready for the Battle of Britain?” he asked his supporters, packed into Parliament Square. Ahead of the next general election, he said his supporters must “get involved” and “become activists,” or “we are going to lose our country forever.”

The next general election is not due until 2029, but a frenetic week in Westminster – in which Prime Minister Keir Starmer has struggled to see off a revolt among his Labour Party lawmakers – has led many in Britain to wonder whether Starmer’s government will last that long. Labour’s wobbles have injected Britain’s increasingly organized hard-right movements with fresh force.

Ahead of the march, Starmer said he supported peaceful protests, but accused the organizers of peddling “hatred and division” and said his government had blocked visas for far-right agitators who wanted to come to Britain to spread extremist views. “They don’t speak for the decent, fair, respectful Britain I know,” Starmer said.

That vision of Britain feels in retreat. “Unite the Kingdom” does not affiliate with a political party, but draws in supporters of several. Many marchers wore turquoise – the color of the hard-right Reform UK party, led by the Nigel Farage, a chief architect of Brexit and an ally of US President Donald Trump. Reform surged in last week’s local elections, sending Starmer’s Labour Party – which had positioned itself as Britain’s best defense against populism – into a tailspin.

But for many marchers, Farage’s party does not go far enough. Analysts attribute Reform’s recent electoral successes to how Farage has tempered his party’s rhetoric and policies. Farage claims to have “professionalized” his party, in part by welcoming in several high-profile figures from the previous Conservative government.

For Pete, from Derbyshire, this has diminished Reform’s appeal. Instead, many at the march waved “Restore Britain” flags, in support of the far-right party led by Rupert Lowe, who was expelled by Reform last year over allegations of workplace bullying. Lowe – who has been publicly backed by Musk as the man who can “save Britain” – maintains he was kicked out because he posed a threat to Farage’s leadership of the party. Restore Britain champions mass deportations and aims to create a “hostile environment” in Britain that encourages illegal immigrants to leave.

London’s Metropolitan Police said it had launched a “significant” policing operation on Saturday, amid fears that the Unite the Kingdom march could clash with a pro-Palestinian demonstration elsewhere in the city. The Met later said it had made 11 arrests for a variety of offenses.

CNN did not see any violent incidents, but the language remained charged with violence. One speaker praised the crowd for “defending our own (Christian) faith in our own land.” He said Britain’s soil was “soaked and saturated with the blood of Christian men and women,” praising previous generations who fought against the Nazis “in the fields of this nation.” (Britain was last invaded in 1797 by troops from France, another Christian nation.)

It was not wholly clear what the protesters wanted, other than to restore a “greatness” that Britain had somehow lost. Standing proud under his bowler hat and in his tailored, three-piece suit, Tom, 19, could not say when Britain was last great, but said the 1930s was his “favorite era.” He could not name a political hero, but said Lowe had “stood up for people” well through his backing of mass deportations. “He’s not an extremist,” he insisted.

Like all movements of this size, it can descend into something of a soup. People carrying Israeli flags marched alongside people carrying signs denigrating Israel. Alongside those calling for mass deportations, a woman waved a Danish flag because she said she wanted Britain to introduce Denmark’s harsher, but more mainstream, immigration laws.

Dozens of people waved Iran’s royal “Lion and Sun” flag in support of the exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, whom many Iranians want to lead their country if the Islamic regime collapses. Hossein Khani, a marcher in his 50s, told CNN he had joined the demonstration because he was angry that Starmer had not joined the US-Israeli strikes against Iran on February 28, which led many Iranian exiles to hope for regime change.

But a common refrain was the desire for stronger leadership in Britain. Many marchers said they had voted for Britain to leave the European Union in 2016, motivated by the Brexit campaign’s vague pledge to “take back control.” In many ways, Saturday’s march felt like another cry to make good on that promise – for some force to take back control of Britain and stamp their authority on it.

Asked which British politician last inspired him, Pete said he would have to choose Margaret Thatcher, even though her Conservative government had decades ago closed the mine in which he used to work. “I didn’t like her, but she had a backbone,” Pete said. “She did cost me my job. But she was strong. She wouldn’t be bullied by Europe. And she didn’t want open borders.”

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.