The Labour Party-run British government reportedly provided funding used to train leftist activists to prevent Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party or the Conservatives from coming to power and to stifle the public’s concerns over mass migration.
In the wake of the 2024 Southport Riots, which broke out after a second-generation Rwandan teen went on a mass stabbing at a children’s dance party, leaving three dead and ten others injured, then-Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner announced a £15 million ($20m) “community cohesion” fund supposedly intended to prevent more disorder.
“In the immediate aftermath of the unrest, I was heartened to see the extent to which communities so quickly came together to support one another and their local areas, she said at the time. “This new Community Recovery Fund will support the work that is already under way and ensure that communities have the resources they need to rebuild.”
However, according to a report from London’s Daily Telegraph, some of the money from the fund was channeled through Labour-run city councils into left-wing political projects, including the training of activists by groups such as the School of Organising, which was reportedly founded by former members of the far-left cancel culture Hope Not Hate group.
The broadsheet reported that materials produced for the training sessions included instructions on how to convince voters to reject Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and the “Tory-Right”, while coaching activists up on strategies to shift working-class communities away from voting for right-wing parties.
One training session reportedly told attendees that “our people (the working classes) are voting Reform UK in the belief that migrants are the problem,” while “toxic forces are asserting a narrative that prioritises the interests of straight, white, men.”
The activists were informed of the “vulnerability of working class communities to far-Right, alt-Right and Tory-Right narratives of division and blame” which included claims that “migrants put strain on underfunded services and are willing to work for lower pay”.
Meanwhile, the lectures are said to have taken aim at specific British politicians, including Nigel Farage, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and ex-Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who were described as being “symptoms of the same disease” as President Donald Trump, Dutch Party For Freedom leader Geert Wilders, French National Rally leader Marine Le Pen, Indian PM Modi, and anti-grooming gang activist Tommy Robinson.
Mr Farage was reportedly described in another publicly-funded leftist training effort as “a classic authoritarian populist” who is intent on “undermining democracy”.
Farage’s party, Reform UK, is described as being “hostile to multiculturalism, hostile to LGBTQ+ rights, opposes ‘woke’ in the classroom, wants out of the European Convention of Human Rights, and will rip up our already limited climate change commitments.”
Activists were even trained on to oppose anti-mass migration protests, including on how to form their own counter demonstrations, as well as being coached up on social media campaigns and sloganeering.
In one scenario laid out, trainees were told of a seaside town which has seen a large influx of migrants and that local candidates are preparing to run in an election opposing “giving preferential housing to refugees and asylum seekers, allowing school standards to drop because of the presence of children who have English as a second language, and for giving grants to ethnic and other minority groups”.
“There has been a number of unpleasant stories in the local paper, which has begun to prioritise reporting of petty crimes by migrants (shoplifting, drunkenness etc) and the editorials have begun to suggest that these migrants are unwelcome.”
The training suggested that they set up protests and look to groups like Hope Not Hate for inspiration on “disrupting far-Right candidates at elections”.
The funding for the leftist political organising reportedly came though the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), which Angela Rayner led at the time, prior to her being forced to resign after it was revealed she had not paid full tax on a second home. She has since been brought back into government by Prime Minsiter Andy Burnham.
According to The Telegraph, the £15 million “Community Recovery Fund” was distributed to local councils, which then went on to allocate the money to groups including the School of Organising.
The report found that the then-Labour-run Birmingham City Council funded the initial pilot scheme for the activist training sessions to the tune of £13,450 ($17,814). This was followed by similar efforts by the councils in Blackpool and Sheffield, among others.
Responding to the report, a spokesman for the Housing Ministry said: “Councils are not permitted to use taxpayers’ money to fund partisan issues or party-political activity. Councils must make sure money is spent in line with their responsibilities, and we have powers in place to recoup money if it is found to have been misspent.”