Exclusive: Far-Left influence on Black Lives Matter and Extinction Rebellion to be probed 

Warning that Britain 'must be vigilant against a blind spot to the prospect of progressive extremism'

	Extinction Rebellion activists gesture next to signs at a makeshift camp, as others occupy tunnels under Euston Square Gardens to protest against the HS2 high-speed railway in London
Extinction Rebellion activists gesture next to signs at a makeshift camp, as others occupy tunnels under Euston Square Gardens to protest against the HS2 high-speed railway in London Credit: Hannah McKay/Reuters

Attempts by far-Left activists to “hijack” movements including Black Lives Matter and Extinction Rebellion are being investigated in a review ordered by Boris Johnson.

John Woodcock, the ex-Labour MP who now sits in the House of Lords as Lord Walney, an unaffiliated peer, has been instructed to probe the extreme fringes of the hard-Left and far-Right in the UK.

Appointed as the Government’s independent adviser on political violence and disruption, he will report on his findings and offer recommendations to Boris Johnson,  the Prime Minister and Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, around May.

Unveiling his probe in an interview with The Telegraph, he warned that the UK must heed the growth of the far-Right in the US, which culminated in the storming of the Capitol last month.

On the other end of the political spectrum, however, he stressed: “We must be vigilant against a similar blind spot in Britain to the prospect of progressive extremism - that is, unacceptable disruption or even violence carried out in the name of progressive causes to which the political establishment and large majority of the population have great sympathy, like climate change and racial injustice.”

His investigation was sparked by ministers’ concerns about a growth in “unacceptable behaviour”, linked to political causes that falls below the traditional threshold of terrorism.

He stressed that there is “not an equivalence of threat between the far-Left and the far-Right” in Britain, pointing out the latter is a significantly bigger problem and that both are dwarfed in scale by Islamism.

However, he voiced alarm that permissive attitudes to intolerable activity on the hard-Left may be more likely because people perceive admirable objectives and are then liable to “submit to a conscious or often unconscious bias in overlooking the strategies to get there”.

Lord Walney went on: “There have been a number of, at the moment isolated, examples of climate change activist groups, particularly Extinction Rebellion, overstepping the mark into antisocial behaviour. I think there’s been a recognition that, even among that movement, they have at times risked undermining their own cause.

“I’m coming at this with an open mind, but with an understanding that there is clearly a potential for groups to develop into increasingly problematic areas.”

He also raised concerns about far-Left entryism, whereby highly-organised Leftist groups attempt to hijack mainstream causes and movements.

“I want to look at the way anti-democracy, anti-capitalist far-Left fringe groups in Britain, like the Socialist Workers Party (SWP), tend to have much more success hijacking important causes and mainstream cultural activity than the far-Right, and the harm that may do," he said.

In his view, British people tend to “see through” sporadic attempts by far-Right groups to broaden their appeal with rock music or bogus community activity.

However, he said “a far greater number of mainstream politicians happily embrace far-Left front organisations like Unite Against Fascism”, which is reportedly linked to the SWP. The Telegraph attempted to put this allegation to UAF last Saturday

Lord Walney warned that MPs’ endorsement of these groups increases the “risk that a far-Left minority could mire noble and essential movements for change in unacceptable violent tactics in the future”.

His intervention comes after the SWP faced allegations, including from a leading racial justice campaigner, a prominent academic and an MP, of trying to hijack the Black Lives Matter movement last summer. The party had placed itself at the heart of protests and hosted Zoom sessions entitled “BLM: Racism, resistance and revolution meetings”.

The SWP denied the allegation at the time, saying it had supported BLM demonstrations in the US, Britain and across the world, but insisting it had “not sought to take over the movement”.

Lord Walney also raised concerns that the leadership of Black Lives Matter UK have “pushed a very hardline and absolutist view” about defunding the police, which he predicted was “a world away from where the vast majority of BLM [supporters] would be”.

That niche agenda “risks taking attention away from really legitimate and urgent debates on reform which may need to be had” about racism and wider society, he said.

Labour and figures on the mainstream-Left have also distanced themselves from some of BLM UK’s calls. Last June, Sir Keir Starmer said it was “a shame” the sentiment behind the movement had become “tangled up with these organisational issues” and branded the demand to defund the police “nonsense”.

Reports have also emerged of communist and socialist cells attempting to use Extinction Rebellion (XR) as a trojan horse to pursue their far-Left aims.

An XR spokesman hit out at “parasitical” organisations staging “worrying” infiltration attempts last September, but said he believed such bids would be unsuccessful and that the environmental group was “bigger than that”.

Lord Walney will examine the entryism allegations as well as the radical tactics deployed by the group, which has the stated aim of using nonviolent civil disobedience to push for government action on climate change.

The Home Secretary has claimed some XR activists are “so-called eco-crusaders turned criminals” who threaten key pillars of national life.

She has described the group as an “emerging threat” that has wrought “anarchy” on the streets, and has heaped scorn on its attempts to interrupt economic activity and “thwart the media’s right to publish without fear nor favour” after besieging newspaper printing sites.

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