A new far-right political party staged its first annual conference at a Scottish family hotel as bemused holiday-makers looked on in disgust. Patriotic Alternative Scotland held the event at the Stirling Highland Hotel after booking the venue without revealing their true identity.
The racist group also held a demonstration at Stirling Castle, with a banner stating: “White lives built Britain.” The presence of the fascist group in Scotland has been condemned for stirring hate.
Stirling MP Alyn Smith said the appearance of the far-right group in Stirling was an abuse of the city’s spirit of welcoming outsiders. He said: “These bams abused our hospitality with their ultra hate-fest and their daft wee stunt.”
Some of the UK’s most notorious racists gathered at events at the hotel and the castle last weekend. A keynote speaker at the event was Sam Melia.
His wife Laura Towler also addressed the group who assembled at the hotel last Saturday.
Another keynote speaker was David Clews, who emerged during the pandemic as one of the UK’s most rabid conspiracy theorists. Also attending was Kenneth McCourt, exposed for membership of extremist groups despite being a petty officer in the Royal Navy.
A Telegram account in McCourt’s name described Ukip as “jewkip” and branded Muslims “muzzies”.
One source said: “Patriotic Alternative try to present themselves as a family values group but it’s a very thin veneer. The gallery of rogues assembled in Stirling adopted the same sick tactics, somehow trying to equate the spirit of Braveheart with white supremacy.
“They soon emerge as a blatantly racist group obsessed with conspiracy theories. Their conference would be seen as an affront by most people in Scotland and that’s why most of them hide behind fake names.”
Patriotic Alternative is regarded as the UK’s most active fascist group, binding a ragbag of Nazi extremists, bigots from anti-immigration Scottish Defence League and a new cohort of anti-vaxxers. The group includes members associated with proscribed Nazi terrorist group National Action, a former member of which plotted to kill a Labour MP.
Its taste for conspiracy theories led to Clews being asked to speak. The group said on its website: “Although David is not a part of PA, it must be stressed that his world view and ours overlap on many issues. He is concerned with what people are trying to force on children in the schools. He was very focused on the horrific lockdowns and the constant efforts to make people take the vaccine.”
Clews uses his Unity News Network to publish conspiracy theories. In February, he was accused of “talking b******s” by Professor Hugh Pennington after claiming giving the vaccine was “committing murder”.
Delegates heard a speech by group “activist of the year” Gordon Freeman about “manhood” which centred on “the rise of drag queens” – an obsession of Patriotic Alternative, whose members stand against LGBT groups.
Last month, SNP MSP Christina McKelvie hit out after sickening Patriotic Alternative propaganda was dropped on doormats in her constituency in Larkhall, Lanarkshire. She urged police to investigate if a hate crime had taken place relating to the pamphlets’ claims about “rapid expansion” of migration causing problems from traffic jams to the rising cost of renting homes. McKelvie called it “the worst type of extreme right-wing propaganda”.
Patriotic Alternative was founded in 2019 by former BNP press officer Mark Collett, an antisemitic conspiracy theorist who is inspired by Hitler’s book Mein Kampf.
David Lawrence, senior researcher at the anti-fascist group Hope Not Hate, said: “Patriotic Alternative is a neo-Nazi group, led by a man who has praised Hitler and recommended Mein Kampf to his followers. The group has promoted former members and supporters of the now-banned terrorist organisation National Action to high-ranking positions, one of whom, Sam Melia, even gave a speech at the Stirling conference.
“We must continue to resist PA and its attempts to inflame tensions in our communities. However, it is important to remember that it exists on the extreme fringes, counting only a few dozen activists across Scotland.”
A spokesperson for Stirling Highland Hotel said: “We were unaware of the nature of the event or the organisation which made this booking, as they provided an acronym at the time of booking. Had we known, we would not have accepted the booking.”
Patriotic Alternative Scotland spokesman Kenny Smith, who chaired the meetings in Scotland, claimed the conference provided proof that “the smears of the anti-whites in the media and politics were being eroded by the positive community focused work that Patriotic Alternative undertakes”.
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A previous version of this article reported that Sam Melia 'admitted attending rallies of the Extreme Action racist group', that he 'admitted pursuing a nazi-inspired, anti-semitic agenda' and that 'he wanted to gas Jews'. Whilst Mr Melia has admitted attending one National Action rally in Darlington, we are unable to demonstrate that any of these claims are correct.
