\n<\/p>\n
Robert Jenrick has been severely criticised by Labour after the shadow justice secretary was pictured at an anti-asylum rally in Essex attended by a veteran far-right activist.<\/p>\n
Jenrick posted photos on X showing himself visiting the protest outside the Bell hotel in Epping, where police have been attacked and police vehicles vandalised by groups of men taking part in the demonstration. The MP met protesters including a woman with a T-shirt bearing the message: \u201cSend them home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eddy Butler, a well-known figure in far-right circles who was a key strategist in the rise of the British National party (BNP), can be seen wearing sunglasses in the background of one of the photos Jenrick shared after the visit.<\/p>\n
It is not clear whether Jenrick met Butler, but the photo was seized on by far-right figures eager to exploit the protest, which they have heavily promoted.<\/p>\n
Butler boasted to friends about Jenrick\u2019s appearance in a post on his Facebook account: \u201cAt the Bell Hotel, riding shotgun for Robert Jenrick, pretender to the Tory leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Labour party spokesperson described Jenrick as \u201ca disgrace\u201d for attending a protest \u201corganised by a far-right party\u201d, which was also attended by someone with \u201ca long history of involvement with neo-Nazi groups\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cJenrick once proudly boasted about ramping up the procurement of asylum hotels when he was immigration minister. It shows, at best, a staggering lack of judgment,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
\u201cKemi Badenoch must show some leadership, explain what action she\u2019s going to take against her shadow justice secretary, and demonstrate that she is strong enough to stand up against this challenge to her authority and to basic decency.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jenrick said in his post on X: \u201cGreat to be with peaceful, patriotic protesters in Epping today.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are right to be fed up of illegal migration. And the crime and billions being wasted because of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lewis Nielsen, a spokesperson for Stand Up to Racism, which has been organising counter-protests in Epping, said Jenrick was willing to go on protests attended by far-right activists.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese aren\u2019t \u2018concerned parents or local residents\u2019. Jenrick is fanning the flames of the far right by chasing Reform UK votes \u2013 and he\u2019s giving confidence to known fascists.\u201d<\/p>\n
Butler, a former member of the National Front, has been a prominent figure in the British far right for decades, helping to guide the BNP during the 1990s and 2000s.<\/p>\n
In 1992 he helped establish a BNP \u201cstewards\u201d group, made up of skinheads and hooligans, to act as \u201csecurity\u201d against antifascists. This group became the neo-Nazi terrorist group Combat 18, according to Hope Not Hate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Robert Jenrick has been severely criticised by Labour after the shadow justice secretary was pictured at an anti-asylum rally in Essex attended by a veteran far-right activist. Jenrick posted photos on X showing himself visiting the protest outside the Bell hotel in Epping, where police have been attacked and police vehicles vandalised by groups of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16487,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[4935,9829,5143,8305,9321,9828,134,7696,2324,1774],"class_list":{"0":"post-16486","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics","8":"tag-activist","9":"tag-attended","10":"tag-condemns","11":"tag-farright","12":"tag-jenrick","13":"tag-jenricks","14":"tag-labour","15":"tag-rally","16":"tag-robert","17":"tag-visit"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16486\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}