Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick has attended a demonstration organised by a neo-Nazi party and posted a picture of himself with the founder of a terror organisation.
On Sunday evening, Jenrick attended a rally organised by members of the Homeland Party in Epping. The event was addressed by Callum Barker, a member neo-Nazi group Homeland who have a history of endorsing racism and terrorism.
Jenrick later posted pictures of himself with demonstrators, which included Eddy Butler, one of the founders of neo-Nazi terror gang Combat 18. The numerals in Combat 18 refer to the first and eighth letters of the alphabet, referencing the name of Adolf Hitler.
After the demonstration, Butler posted a picture of himself standing directly behind Jenrick with the text, “At the Bell Hotel riding shotgun for Robert Jenrick.”
A Nazi-led demonstration
The demonstration was organised through the Epping Says No Facebook group, which is administered solely by Callum Barker.
According to police, the demonstration began outside the Bell Hotel at 4pm. Local residents noted that Jenrick was present between around 5pm and 6pm, when he spoke to demonstrators and posed for photos.
Soon after, Jenrick posted a photo showing him talking to a woman holding up a t-shirt with the words “Send them home” on it while former Nazi terror chief Eddy Butler is pictured in the background. Jenrick’s post included the text, “Great to be with peaceful, patriotic protestors in Epping today.”
At 6.10pm, the protest marched into the centre of Epping, where Barker addressed the participants. It is unclear whether Jenrick joined the march.
During his speech, Barker claimed, “In Epping, we’ve been the spearhead of these protests. We’ve been leading the way and leading the charge.” The demonstrators responded by singing, “Callum is a hero! Callum is a hero!”
The involvement of Barker is known to the local Conservative Party, with leading local Tory Holly Whitbread previously condemning Reform councillor Jaymey McIvor for joining one of the previous Sunday demonstrations and “standing next to a neo-Nazi”. Whitbread, who is a councillor and cabinet member on Essex County Council for Epping and Theydon Bois, said, “My grandad and my grandad’s generation fought in a war against these people.” She continued, “These people do not talk for Britain. They’re not British values. I think, quite frankly, anyone who stands side with side with them should hang their heads in shame. It’s disgraceful.”
Barker has posted images that reference the numerical code “1488”. This code was invented by the US neo-Nazi terrorist David Lane, who was involved in the murder of a Jewish radio host in 1984. The “88” represents the phrase “Heil Hitler”, because H is the eighth letter of the alphabet. The “14” refers to 14 words: “We must secure a future for the white race and also for white children.”
Barker’s centrality to the organisation of the demonstrations became well known after it was exposed by Stand Up To Racism in late July. Reporters from The Times went to the demonstrations in Epping to confront Barker on his involvement in Homeland, and the video of this interaction was later published by the newspaper.
Barker was also challenged over pictures he had posted online of himself wearing a leather mask and holding up the manifesto of Ted Kaczynski, a US terrorist who murdered three people during a 17-year reign of terror.
Eddy Butler: senior neo-Nazi and terror group founder
Butler helped to establish Combat 18 as the security detail of the British National Party in the early 1990s. However, he was later allegedly stabbed by Combat 18 members during an internal feud inside the BNP.
Butler was closely associated with a clique of senior figures in the BNP who organised around The Patriot, an internal magazine. The editor of The Patriot was Nazi terrorist Tony Lecomber, who was injured in 1986 while attempting to use a nail bomb. Police later recovered two grenades and seven petrol bombs from his house. He was jailed for three years, but had to go back to prison for an attack on a Jewish schoolteacher in 1991.
Image caption: Robert Jenrick pictured with Eddy Butler, former member of Nazi terror group Combat 18
Butler went on to be National Elections Officer for the BNP after leading the party’s “Rights for Whites” campaign in 1993, which saw it win a council seat on the Isle of Dogs.
In January 2025, the government designated Combat 18 as an alias of the Blood & Honour group, saying there are “reasonable grounds” to suspect it of “being involved in terrorist activities through promoting and encouraging terrorism, seeking to recruit people for that purpose and making funds available for the purposes of its terrorist activities”.
Combat 18 has a long history of involvement in murders and terror. Combat 18 leader Charlie Sargeant was convicted for the murder of Christopher Castle in Harlow in 1997. The organisation also has links to the 1999 London nail-bombing attacks and the assassination of German politician Walter Lübcke in 2019.
The group uses the Totenkopf – the skull symbol associated with Hitler’s SS – as its logo.
Legitimising fascist violence
Jenrick’s attendance at the demonstration legitimises a growing fascist movement that is targeting refugees across the South East and around the country.
Many participants in Sunday’s Epping demonstration had been at a protest earlier in the day in Canary Wharf, where men in balaclavas clashed with police outside asylum-seeker accommodation at the Britannia Hotel.
The demonstrators chanted “Free Channay”, a reference to a woman who was arrested outside the hotel earlier in the week on suspicion of threatening a security guard and possession of a meat cleaver.
The men then blocked a bridge in Canary Wharf and chanted “Spartans”, the name of a group of masked men who attempt to force entry to migrant hotels and put English flags on lampposts under the cover of darkness in East London, Hertfordshire and Essex.
During the protest in Epping, a number of men also chanted “Spartans”, suggesting they had been at both demonstrations that day.
The Epping demonstration was also attended by Liam Gillett – also known as Liam Tuffs – a far-right podcaster and close friend of Tommy Robinson. Gillett is the boss of a security firm and organises security teams for Tommy Robinson’s events.
Image caption: Photos posted by Jenrick show him interacting with demonstrators, including a woman with a t-shirt that says “Send them home”.