Robert Jenrick Pictured With Neo-Nazi Leader at Anti-Migrant Protest

Shadow justice minister Robert Jenrick was pictured with the founder of a neo-Nazi group at an anti-migrant protest on Sunday.

Jenrick attended the protest in Epping, Essex, where a number of anti-migrant protests have been held outside the Bell hotel which is housing asylum seekers.

Following the event, Jenrick posted on X/Twitter, saying: “Great to be with peaceful, patriotic protesters in Epping today.”

Great to be with peaceful, patriotic protesters in Epping today.

People are right to be fed up of illegal migration. And the crime and billions being wasted because of it.

Starmer should get out of Westminster, listen to people’s concerns, and act to keep us safe. pic.twitter.com/qsEZPXEpoM

— Robert Jenrick (@RobertJenrick) August 17, 2025

The post included an image of Jenrick talking to two protesters holding a T-shirt saying “send them home” as a man in sunglasses looks on. The man has been identified as Eddy Butler, one of the founders of Combat 18, a neo-Nazi group which uses the SS “Totenkopf” as a symbol.

Butler posted a picture of himself at the event on social media, standing directly behind Jenrick with the caption: “At the Bell Hotel riding shotgun for Robert Jenrick, pretender to the Tory party leadership.”

A key BNP organiser in the 1990s and 2000s, Butler has been a far-right figure for decades.

According to anti-extremism research group Hope Not Hate, “in 1992 Butler helped to establish a BNP ‘stewards’ group, made up of skinheads and hooligans, to act as ‘security’ against antifascists. This group became Combat 18, a Nazi terror squad that engaged in a brutal campaign of violence and harassment against minorities and leftwing activists in the 1990s. The gang turned on the BNP, and Butler was attacked with a knife.”

Combat 18 took its name from the numerical position of Adolf Hitler’s initials in the alphabet – “1” standing for A and “8” standing for H – and went on to commit serious acts of violence against its enemies. In 1997, former leader Charlie Sargent was convicted for murdering fellow member Chris Battle in a bitter factional dispute.

Callum Baker, a member of fascist political party Homeland, also spoke at the protest, according to campaign group Stand Up to Racism. Baker is one of the admins of the Facebook group Epping Says No, which was used to organise the protest.

Homeland aims to present a “squeaky clean” image and promote fascist politics by stealth. While there has been some debate over the nature of the protests, with many local protesters rejecting the label “far-right”, members of Homeland have been involved in organising the protests in Epping from the start.

With speculation that Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch won’t last until the next election, Jenrick appears to have been doing an extended audition for the leadership of the party, becoming increasingly vocal on the issue of migration.

Weyman Bennett, co-convenor of Stand Up to Racism, said: “Robert Jenrick is mixing with known fascists and members of Nazi terror organisations. We have repeatedly warned that known fascist thugs are organising the protests outside the Bell hotel in Epping and elsewhere. Now, Tory ministers are happy to keep company with Hitler admirers. Jenrick is chasing the votes of Reform UK, and emboldening fascists in the process.”

Local Conservative politicians have previously criticised politicians who have joined the hotel protests due to the presence of far-right figures. 

During a meeting of Essex council in July, Conservative councillor Holly Whitbread said: “I would never knowingly stand next to neo-Nazis, which is what a member in this chamber did on Sunday.

“My grandad fought in a war against these people. I think quite frankly anyone who stands side by side with them should hang their head in shame.”

Whitbread’s remarks were a swipe at Reform councillor Jaymey McIvor, who joined a previous demonstration.

Jenrick is also being criticised by both Labour and Reform for remarks made when he was immigration minister in 2022, when he said he was “procuring more hotels” to deal with the asylum backlog. The comments were made one week before Epping Forest District Council announced it had “a number of significant concerns” about the use of the Bell to house asylum seekers.

Jenrick is not the only politician to have caused controversy by rubbing shoulders with the far-right at anti-migrant protests. On Sunday, Reform Falkirk councillor for the Upper Braes Claire Mackie-Brown spoke at a protest in Falkirk, Scotland, at which people performed Nazi salutes. Mackie-Brown also spoke on the same stage as a member of Patriotic Alternative.

A Reform spokesperson told the National: “Councillor Claire Brown was there to represent Reform and her concerned constituents, she is not responsible for the other people attending and will continue to stand up for residents on this extremely important issue”.

Jenrick has been approached for comment.