Mark Collett

{{short description|Neo-Nazi and former chairman of the Young BNP}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| office = Leader of Patriotic Alternative

| term_start = July 2019

| image =

| caption =

| name = Mark Collett

| birth_name = Mark Adrian Collett

| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1980|10}}{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/bnp-official-arrested-over-claims-he-threatened-to-kill-nick-griffin-1936014.html|title=BNP official arrested over claims he threatened to kill Nick Griffin|work=The Independent|author=Nigel Morris and Tom Peck|date=5 April 2010|access-date=15 August 2020}}

| birth_place = Rothley, England

| education = Loughborough Grammar School

| nationality = British

| occupation = Political activist

| alma_mater = University of Leeds

| party = Patriotic Alternative (2019–present)
British National Party (2002–2010)

| known_for = Former chairman of Youth BNP, founder and leader of Patriotic Alternative

}}

Mark Adrian Collett ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|ɒ|l|ɪ|t}}; born October 1980) is a British far right political activist.{{cite news |title=YouTube cashes in on neo-Nazi's hate videos |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/history/article/youtube-cashes-in-on-neo-nazis-hate-videos-9gg0nbvd6 |access-date=12 November 2019 |work=The Sunday Times |date=11 August 2019}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.adl.org/blog/mark-collett-britains-alt-right-social-media-propagandist|title=Mark Collett: Britain's Alt Right Social Media Propagandist|publisher=Anti-Defamation League|access-date=16 September 2018}} He was formerly chairman of the Young BNP, the youth division of the British National Party (BNP), and was director of publicity for the party.

Collett first drew media attention after his appearance in a 2002 British TV documentary, where, in his role as a representative of the BNP, he made statements celebrating the death of Africans and homosexuals from HIV-AIDS, specifically referring to them as "AIDS monkeys". After the documentary was aired on Channel 4, resulting in negative publicity for the BNP, Collett was briefly expelled from the party. He later rejoined the BNP, until his membership was suspended in 2010, following an internal conflict with party leadership.

Since 2010, Collett has concentrated on his online political commentary, in which he promotes white nationalism, and conspiracy theories about Jews.{{cite news|url=https://jewishnews.timesofisrael.com/patriotic-alternative-hnh-report/|title=Anti-fascists warn of new antisemitic group with neo-Nazi adherents|work=Jewish News|date=17 August 2020}} In 2019, he founded a far-right and white nationalist group called Patriotic Alternative.Townsend, Mark (2021). [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/14/how-far-right-uses-video-games-tech-lure-radicalise-teenage-recruits-white-supremacists "How far right uses video games and tech to lure and radicalise teenage recruits"]. The Guardian. Retrieved 18 March 2021.{{Cite web|title=British far right 'becoming more racist' after Black Lives Matter protests, report finds|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/far-right-black-lives-matter-protests-racism-patriotic-alternative-hope-not-hate-a9672401.html|access-date=11 September 2020|website=The Independent|date=15 August 2020}}

In 2020, he was suspended from Twitter.{{Cite web |last=Collett |first=Mark |title=Mark Collett Banned on Twitter |url=https://www.patrioticalternative.org.uk/mark_collett_banned_on_twitter |access-date=24 January 2021 |publisher=Patriotic Alternative}}

Early life and education

From Rothley, Collett was educated at Loughborough Grammar School and the University of Leeds, where he received a lower second-class honours degree in business economics.Channel 4 documentary [http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dispatches/4od#2973748 Dispatches: Young, Nazi and Proud (2002)]

Media appearances

=Channel 4 documentary=

Collett featured in a Channel 4 documentary on the BNP, Young, Nazi and Proud, broadcast in 2002 which concentrated almost exclusively on Collett. He declared his admiration for Adolf Hitler and said that he considered AIDS a "friendly disease because blacks, drug users and gays have it", unaware he was being recorded.{{cite news|last1=Morris|first1=Nigel|last2=Peck|first2=Tom|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/bnp-official-arrested-over-claims-he-threatened-to-kill-nick-griffin-1936014.html|title=BNP official arrested over claims he threatened to kill Nick Griffin|work=The Independent on Sunday|date=4 April 2010|access-date=29 June 2017}} Collett made similar remarks while on Russell Brand's 2002 TV show RE:Brand, in which he described homosexuals as "AIDS Monkeys", "bum bandits" and "faggots".{{cite episode|title=Naziboy|series=RE:Brand|network=UK Play|series-link=RE:Brand}} Collett was sacked from his position in the party and expelled days after the Channel 4 documentary was broadcast, although party leaders continued to share speaking platforms with him. However he was allowed to rejoin a few days later with chairman Nick Griffin saying that he must change his views on the subject. Collett was the party's head of publicity and produced its monthly magazine, Identity.[http://www.identitymagazine.org.uk/editorial.html Editorial team] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090107022944/http://www.identitymagazine.org.uk/editorial.html |date=7 January 2009}}, Identity website, accessed 26 November 2008

=BBC documentary and subsequent trial=

As a result of a police investigation into another documentary, BBC One's The Secret Agent, which in July 2004 broadcast secret footage of Collett making derogatory remarks about asylum seekers, whom he called "cockroaches", Collett, then aged 24, was bailed on race hate offences at Leeds magistrates' court on 7 April 2005 alongside party founder John Tyndall and party leader Nick Griffin. The trial ended on 2 February 2006 after a jury acquitted Collett of two charges of using words or behaviour intended to stir up racial hatred, and two alternative charges of using words likely to stir up racial hatred. The jury failed to reach a verdict in respect of a further four charges.

The Crown Prosecution Service subsequently announced that Collett and Griffin would face a retrial on the remaining charges of using words or behaviour intended to stir up racial hatred. This retrial began at Leeds Crown Court on 1 November 2006 and he and Griffin were found not guilty.{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/bradford/6135060.stm | work=BBC News | title=BNP leader cleared of race hate | date=10 November 2006 | access-date=12 May 2010}}

=''Newsbeat'' interview=

In October 2009, Collett and the BNP's record label executive Joseph Barber were interviewed on BBC Radio 1's Newsbeat bulletin, being introduced only as "Mark and Joey, two young guys who are members of the BNP". They said that the England international footballer Ashley Cole was not "ethnically British" due to having black heritage.{{cite news |last1=Davies |first1=Caroline |title=BBC faces inquiry calls after BNP comment on Ashley Cole on Radio 1 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2009/oct/11/bbc-bnp-ashley-cole-comment-row |work=The Guardian online|access-date=3 August 2018 |date=11 October 2009}} An internal inquiry at the BBC criticised the interviewers for not identifying the pair by their full names and positions in the BNP, and for not sufficiently challenging their remarks about Cole.{{cite news |title=BBC's Radio 1 rapped for BNP's Ashley Cole interview |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/6975714/BBCs-Radio-1-rapped-for-BNPs-Ashley-Cole-interview.html |access-date=3 August 2018 |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=12 January 2010}}

Political activities

=BNP leadership bid=

In April 2010, Collett was sacked from his job as BNP publicity chief and suspended from the party for being supportive of a leadership bid against Griffin, and was subsequently arrested by Humberside police, who questioned him over alleged threats to kill Griffin.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2010/apr/04/bnp-mark-collett-nick-griffin|title=BNP official Mark Collett questioned over alleged threat to kill Nick Griffin|work=The Guardian|author=Adam Gabbatt and Matthew Taylor|date=4 April 2010}} Despite the reinstatement of Collett's party membership he did not stand for the party in the May 2010 general election. He had previously been selected as BNP candidate in Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough, to challenge the then-Home Secretary David Blunkett.{{Cite news|url=https://www.thestar.co.uk/whats-on/out-and-about/we-won-t-be-voting-for-hitler-fan-1-311425|title='We won't be voting for Hitler fan'|work=Sheffield Star|date=28 January 2010|access-date=19 June 2018|archive-date=20 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180620024338/https://www.thestar.co.uk/whats-on/out-and-about/we-won-t-be-voting-for-hitler-fan-1-311425|url-status=dead}}

Humberside Police did not bring charges against Collett over the allegations of threats to kill, formally dismissing them later in 2010.{{cite news | url=http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/police-to-take-no-further-action-250114 | location=Birmingham | work=Sunday Mercury | title=Police to take no further action over plot to kill head of BNP Nick Griffin | date=14 November 2010 |access-date=1 January 2018 }}

=Involvement in EU referendum campaign, 2016=

During the 2016 EU referendum campaign, Collett was seen campaigning for Vote Leave and was featured in news articles by daily newspapers, alongside his neo-Nazi partner Eva Van Housen. BBC News later reported that Vote Leave demanded Collett and Van Housen stop using their Brexit campaign materials.{{cite news| url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-36390378 | location=London | work=BBC News | title=Vote Leave tell ex-BNP official Mark Collett to stop using their material | date=27 May 2016}}

=Patriotic Alternative=

In 2019, Collett formed a group called Patriotic Alternative, of which he is currently the leader.{{cite news |last1=Holt |first1=Jared |title=White Nationalist YouTuber Goes Dark After Allegations of Sexual Misconduct |url=https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/white-nationalist-youtuber-goes-dark-after-allegations-of-sexual-misconduct/ |access-date=13 June 2020 |work=Right Wing Watch |publisher=People for the American Way |date=5 May 2020}} The Times revealed in October 2021 that Collett attended combat training with former members of the now-proscribed Neo-Nazi organisation National Action.{{Cite news|last=Kennedy|first=Dominic|date=9 October 2021|title=At the gym, in the hills, the far-right fight clubs where men train to make Britain white|work=The Times|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/article/at-the-gym-in-the-hills-the-far-right-fight-clubs-where-men-train-to-make-britain-white-7kq6pp2sk|access-date=13 October 2021|url-access=subscription}}

=Reform Uk=

In 2025, Collett called for supporters to "infiltrate" Reform UK following its recent success to push their own "pro-white" and anti-immigration agenda.{{Cite web |first=Billy |last=Kember |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clygr52dn1ro |title=Far-right leaders attempting to hijack success of Reform |date=18 May 2025 |website=BBC News |publisher=BBC |accessdate=18 May 2025}} In 2024, Collett endorsed Reform in the 2024 United Kingdom general election.{{cite news |last= Cheshire |first= Tom |date= 10 July 2024 |title= Conspiracy theory and nationalist groups embraced Reform UK at general election |url= https://news.sky.com/story/conspiracy-theory-and-nationalist-groups-backed-reform-uk-at-general-election-13175679 |work= Sky News |access-date= 13 July 2024}}

Political views

According to the Anti-Defamation League, Collett is a white supremacist with close ties to other white supremacists.

Collett has expressed admiration for Russian president Vladimir Putin, believing him to be a bulwark against Western "feminism, the LGBT agenda, attacks on the traditional family and of course, anti-white rhetoric". He defended the Russian invasion of Ukraine and blamed it on NATO.{{cite web |title=Patriotic Alternative: Putin's Fascist Sympathisers |url=https://hopenothate.org.uk/2022/03/25/patriotic-alternative-putins-fascist-sympathisers/ |website=Hope not Hate |date=25 March 2022}}

Elections contested

=General elections=

class="wikitable"

! Date of election !! Constituency !! Party !! Votes !! %

2005

Leeds Central

BNP

1,201

4.1{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/vote2005/html/356.stm|title=Election 2005 Result: Leeds Central|website=BBC News |date=6 May 2005|accessdate=25 August 2022}}

=Local elections=

class="wikitable" ! Date of election !! Council !! Ward !! Party !! Votes !! %
2002	rowspan=5 \|Leeds City Council	Harehills	rowspan=5 \|BNP	209	3.8
2004	rowspan=4 \|Burmantofts & Richmond Hill	949	15.8
2006	1,124	21.8
2007	898	18.5
2008	919	20.7