ANTI-FASCISTS have mobilised in London tonight after a disgraced former Tory MP hosted a visit to Parliament by the far-right German party Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD).

The invitation by North West Leicestershire MP Andrew Bridgen follows more than a month of protests in Germany, which saw hundreds of thousands mobilise when AfD was revealed to have held secret meetings with openly fascist and neonazi organisations to discuss mass deportations of immigrants from Germany.

Mr Bridgen sits as an independent MP after being expelled from the Conservatives over comments made about Covid and the Holocaust.

He had also breached rules over paid lobbying and declaring interests.

Mr Bridgen said tonight’s meeting at Portcullis House will be addressed by the AfD Euro-MP Christine Anderson, accompanied by two other party figures.

The invitation was condemned by MPs as well as anti-racist and anti-fascist campaigners, and in particular for coming so soon after Holocaust Memorial Day on January 27 — the day in 1945 when soldiers of the Soviet Red Army liberated Auschwitz extermination camp in Poland.

Stand Up To Racism co-convener Sabby Dhalu said: “Only nine days ago we marked Holocaust Memorial Day, remembered 11 million people that died including six million Jews, and said ‘never again.’

“Yet shamefully Parliament is allowing disgraced former Tory MP Andrew Bridgen to give a platform to Christine Anderson MEP for the AfD when its deal with neonazis promising mass deportations in the event of its election, is well known.

“Never again means stopping fascists and their collaborators in their tracks, not building them up.

“We say solidarity with over a million German people that have taken to the streets in recent weeks, opposing the AfD. We say ‘no platform’ for Nazi collaborators in Parliament.”

Ian Lavery, Labour MP for Wansbeck in north-east England and former president of the National Union of Mineworkers, told the Morning Star: “Nothing should surprise us about anything that comes from Andrew Bridgen. The man speaks for himself.

“These actions are deplorable after Holocaust Memorial Day.

“We should not be surprised but we should also, at every opportunity, oppose the policies these people stand for and should push back.”

Mr Bridgen’s event was billed as a meeting of Save Our Sovereignty, a crackpot campaign group which promotes conspiracy theories ranging from the Covid vaccine issues to attempts to wipe out the identity of European nations.

The rise of the AfD in Germany is part of a continuing resurgence of far-right and fascist parties in Europe.

They include Giorgia Meloni’s fascist Brothers of Italy who are seen as direct heirs of Mussolini, Marine Le Pen’s fascist National Rally in France, Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party in Holland, and in Finland Prime Minister Petteri Orpo and his National Coalition Party are seen as the most right-wing in the country’s history.

Golden Dawn continues to be active in Greece.

Speakers billed alongside AfD at tonight’s Westminster meeting include Meryl Nass from the United States, a doctor who was suspended for sharing misinformation about Covid-19, and Philipp Kruse, a Swiss lawyer associated with an anti-vaccine group.

Protests continued across Germany at the weekend, including in Berlin where thousands mobilised, four weeks after it emerged AfD members had attended a meeting with neonazis and other extremists to discuss the mass deportation of migrants, asylum-seekers and German citizens of foreign origin deemed to have failed to integrate.