APPALLING
Far-right group with links to Tory Party invite sinister speakers to conference
A FAR-RIGHT group with links to the Tories have rolled out the red carpet for two parties who have been linked to neo-Nazis.
The Traditional Britain Group, who have called for black people to return to their “natural homelands”, have invited members of the Austrian Freedom Party (FPO) and German Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) to speak at a conference this month.
The FPO were co-founded by a former SS officer, Herbert Schweiger.
They have tried to change their image and are now the junior partner in Austria’s ruling coalition, but a group representing concentration camp victims in Austria claims there have been 38 “extreme right” incidents since the FPO entered government.
AfD have become prominent by exploiting fears over immigration. Activists marched with neo-Nazis recently in the city of Chemnitz, and three members were expelled after claims they visited a festival to mark Hitler’s birthday. AfD and the FPO deny neo-Nazi links and did not respond to requests for comment.
The TBG event in London on October 20 promises “great insights from first-class people”. The FPO are due to send former foreign affairs spokesman Johannes Hubner, while the AfD speaker is yet to be named.
Right-wing mouthpiece Katie Hopkins is also on the bill, along with an academic called Dr James Thompson who has denied that an event he attended promoted eugenics – selective breeding of human beings.
TGB’s vice-president, Gregory Lauder-Frost, is a former vice- chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the Conservative Monday Club, a right-wing group aligned with, but not endorsed by, the Conservative Party.
Hardline Brexiter Jacob Rees-Mogg once attended a black-tie TBG dinner but later said it was a mistake. The Bow Group, a right-wing thinktank with many Tory MPs among their membership, invited TBG to their 65th birthday celebrations last year. The Scottish Conservatives said: “The party have had no direct contact with the Traditional Britain Group.”
TBG support the “heritage and customs” of the British people and oppose mass immigration and multiculturalism. They told the Record they did not necessarily endorse their members’ views and predicted our article would contain “defamations and slurs”.
Scottish Labour MP Paul Sweeney said of the TBG conference: “Given some of the groups invited, I would urge the relevant authorities to investigate whether it is appropriate for this event to go ahead.”