Tag Archives: Matthew Gill

2013/08/12

New British Union: “ugly extreme right-wing hate group”

By East Midlands Anti-Fascists

You may remember that back in May we published extracts from a story on the New British Union (NBU), a fascist group attempting to follow in the footsteps of Oswald Mosley. That story revealed that the party’s Policy Officer was Matthew Gill from Sudbury in Derbyshire. However, it seems that since we published the story, Gill has seen the light. He wrote an extensive email to us saying he had left the NBU saying he “made a bad decision and I regret it. I will have to live with that for the rest of my life”. He said he did “not want to do anyone any harm” and was working to make sure other people were not lured into fascist and racist politics as he was:

What must be remembered is that the NBU and some of its members are sinister and dangerous, and they have lied to lots of people…[T]he longer I was in the group the more I noticed it was taking a more sinister and dangerous direction and lunging fast towards the extreme far-right. I know that the party has now established links with Ultra White Nationalists across Europe and the world and is, in effect, a front for white supremacists, even some of its new imagery that I have been shown by the police is disturbing.

I finally left at the beginning of May after joining in the back end of March of this year, I am glad that I got out when I did because the party was and is preaching hate against people of race and was and is growing extremely anti-Semitic and anti-Islamic and in some instances aligning itself with groups such as the EDL, something which I find to be abhorrent. However true to their dishonest nature I had to fight to get my name removed from the site and had to resort to threatening them with my lawyers in order for this to be done. After that threat they quickly complied with my wishes. They are dishonest right down to the core and I would describe the NBU as an ugly extreme right-wing hate group and I deeply regret ever having anything to do with them…

I hope to be able to warn youngsters about groups like the NBU and the way they manipulate and use people and use them to further their twisted ideas beliefs.

…I made a mistake and I acknowledge that, but much of what was written in the Sun newspaper was false, and in many places totally made up. I know what I did on my part was stupid and naive but I am glad that I can now do something positive from a very bad decision on my part.

Whilst it is impossible to verify whether this is truly Gill or not, we hope that it is genuine and he has got out. Certainly the accounts of lies, threats and manipulation describe the way that most far right groups operate. Like the EDL and the BNP the NBU is led by a secretive leadership whose true agenda is continually hidden from the masses who would be appalled by it. We hope that Gill will be able to use his first hand knowledge of getting caught up in fascism to prevent others from making his mistake.

 

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2013/05/15

Another blackshirt in Derbyshire

By East Midlands Anti-Fascists

It seems that Paul Hilliard’s not alone in his admiration for Mussloni’s boot boys. The Sun has investigated Oswald Mosley fanciers, the New British Union, and found that a prominent member lives in Sudbury, Derbyshire. Matthew Gill was until recently the NBU’s “Policy Officer”, although he stepped down citing health reasons earlier this month. Here’s an excerpt from the Sun’s piece:

A key Raikes lieutenant is NBU “Policies Officer” Matthew Gill, a charity worker and Doctor Who fan.

On the NBU website is an article on immigration in Gill’s name. It reads: “There are those who will say there is nothing wrong with massive Third World immigration so long as they learn the language, adapt to the local culture and so on. This presupposes that the human being can be intentionally colour blind.”

Gill’s blog posting adds: “The truth, of course, is that even if a Kenyan can speak perfect English, even if he wears English clothes, uses English slang and attends the C of E, none of that makes him English!”

The Derbyshire village of Sudbury, where Gill lives, was mentioned in the Domesday Book, and with its bowling green and friendly village pub, it’s a picture postcard location.

Dad-of-two Gill, 33, and his father Phil are both members of the New British Union.

Answering the door in jeans and T-shirt, Gill Junior soon scuttled back inside to put on his black coat with an NBU badge.

"We're not Nazis! Oh no!"

“We’re not Nazis! Oh no!”

The former mortgage adviser, who says he now works for a Mormon charity, claims the party has “a few thousand” members and said: “We’re not racists. I’m a fascist but I’m not anti-Semitic.”

He added: “Black shirts are a traditional way of making us stand out. We don’t wear them in public.

“It sets us apart. Black was the colour chosen by Mosley.”

However, Gill then defended Mussolini, one of the party’s heroes. In 1938 the Italian fascist dictator passed laws barring Jews from universities and many professions. After 1943, when Germany occupied parts of the country, more than 7,000 Jews were deported to Nazi concentration camps, with many dying at Auschwitz.

Gill insisted: “Mussolini was not anti-Semitic, he got carried away. He got in with the wrong crowd — with Hitler. But you can’t compare us to Nazism — they were National Socialists, I’m not.”

The presence of a fascist in the tiny village — population 180 — has shocked locals.

Vicar John Vickerstaff, 52, said: “Well, I certainly don’t share their views,” while salesman Joe Hagan, 65, said: “The younger man has said some odd things to people so I’m not that surprised. I knew they were Mormons — but not fascists.”

One anti-fascist campaigner who posted NBU activists’ biographies online called them “a few easily led fools” but added: “They’re still fascists who think they can organise openly and as such it seems sensible to cast a wary eye in their direction.”

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