A GAGGLE of far-right transphobes descended upon my town in south-east London a couple of weeks ago to protest against Magical Storytelling, a drag queen storytelling event for kids at the Honor Oak pub.

The protest was organised by the uber-conservative, so-called “student movement” Turning Point UK (TPUK) — though few, if any, of their mob that I saw resemble the fresh-faced youngsters used in the organisation’s online paraphernalia.

And the same morons are planning another ruckus for this Friday morning (March 10) at 11am at The Great Exhibition pub in East Dulwich, south London. Strangely, though, the pub says there isn’t and never has been a drag queen storytelling event scheduled to take place at the pub on that date. Still, the locals and London-based anti-racists are planning to oppose them.

TPUK is the British franchise of Turning Point USA and is apparently backed by Tory backbench MP Marco Longhi. It claims to be the largest conservative activist movement in this country. Well, I hope it is, because it only managed to muster up about 30 people for this crusade against drag queens reading books to children. 

“It’s wigs and make-up, what’re you so afraid of?” I chanted with the roughly 300 anti-fascist counter-protesters who blocked the far-right goons from getting anywhere near my local.

TPUK’s raison d'être, it seems, is to provide fuel for the culture war and to make sure that the piss of GB News viewers and The S*n readers never stops boiling.

Its latest tactic is to drum up fear of the far-right folk devil du jour: trans, non-binary and genderfluid people. 

[[{"fid":"50258","view_mode":"inlineright","fields":{"format":"inlineright","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"An image cicurlated by TPUK showing an unrelated drag act next to information about its protest in Honor Oak","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false},"link_text":null,"type":"media","field_deltas":{"2":{"format":"inlineright","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"An image cicurlated by TPUK showing an unrelated drag act next to information about its protest in Honor Oak","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false}},"attributes":{"alt":"An image cicurlated by TPUK showing an unrelated drag act next to information about its protest in Honor Oak","class":"media-element file-inlineright","data-delta":"2"}}]]In the run-up to the protest, and most days since, TPUK has shared racy images of drag queens performing at totally different and unconnected events, and claimed that this is what is happening at pubs, nurseries and schools everywhere. 

All it takes is a little googling of Magical Storytelling or Drag Time Story Hour to see that TPUK is spreading misinformation. These events are clearly not strip shows nor whatever nonsense TPUK says they are. They are about helping kids learn about diversity and inclusivity, and that being different is no bad thing. 

TPUK hates being referred to as the far-right. It claims that because it has prominent black and Asian members, it can’t possibly be on the far right. Yet it does what all far-right organisations do: sow hatred, scapegoat minorities, spew conspiracy theories and divert attention away from the real causes of oppression in order to advance its own group’s power.

It is obsessed with the idea that Britain, or the West in general, is under threat from an amorphous enemy, “the woke,” which is basically anyone or anything to the left of Nigel Farage.

Why am I even writing about TPUK? They are, after all, a pathetically small, though well-funded, far-right fringe group. And reading about themselves in a left-wing publication will likely get them all damp in their underpants. They may even see the publication of this story as some kind of victory.

Well, back at the counter-protest I was shocked to find that I recognised the face of one of TPUK’s speakers. Fortunately, I couldn’t hear what he or any of the others had to say over the anti-fascists’ chants of “are you not embarrassed?”

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His mug was bugging me all the way home afterwards. I knew I’d seen him somewhere but the more I tried to figure out where, the further away the answer appeared.

I knew that if I was ever going to stop my brain from fixating on where I’d seen this guy before, I was going to have to delve into the depths of alt-right Twitter. 

Turns out the guy I recognised is called Jack Ross, and he claims to be TPUK’s chief executive officer.

But I recognise him from another organisation he runs, called Vans Without Borders.

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I don’t think I’ll ever get over the cosmic irony of a far-right figure running an organisation with the words “without borders” in its name. 

Just the other week, Ross’s TPUK shared a post on its Twitter feed that said: “At least 58 illegal migrants have drowned off the coast of Italy. 

“Their blood is on the left-wing’s hands [sic]. 

“Proper border control saves lives. If you want to stop illegal crossings, those who arrive must be sent back.”

TPUK is genuinely or deliberately ignorant of the fact that many of the people who cross the Mediterranean in unseaworthy boats have tried and failed to do so multiple times. 

“Sending them back,” — as Greece, Malta, Italy, Poland, Lithuania, and other states have done — leads only to more deaths. 

So what does Vans Without Borders (VWB) actually do? 

Well, here’s where things get a little strange and kind of uncomfortable, because what they do seems incredibly noble and undeniably brave. 

VWB delivers humanitarian aid to civilians caught up in Russia’s horrific invasion of Ukraine. The Telegraph and The S*n have produced a series of Youtube videos on their missions. 

To be clear, this article is not an attack on solidarity efforts with the people of Ukraine nor on the country’s right to defend itself. 

The VWB crew has travelled to some of the most devastated areas in the war, like Kiev, Kherson, Kharkiv, Irpin and Bucha. They have delivered food, medical aid and other essential supplies to areas that were recently occupied by Russian troops. 

In one of the videos, they deliver aid to a Down’s syndrome charity. They take toys to a children's hospital in another. They reach areas that other aid agencies haven’t been to yet. 

A heartwarming moment in one of the videos shows Ross fist bumping a disabled Ukrainian man, before VWB provides him with a new wheelchair. 

In a tense scene in another episode, one of VWB’s vans breaks down twice as Russian shells explode over the horizon, and an unidentified drone hovers above them as they frantically screw a wheel back on. 

Ross is currently raising money on the online fundraising platform Crowdfunder for VWB’s next mission. He says he needs the money to “cover the costs associated with driving Ukrainian refugees to the Polish border and taking back supplies to others.”

That. Is. Unbelievable. 

Read that TPUK post quoted above again about the dead asylum-seekers in Italy. WTF?!

Last Thursday morning, Ross appeared in a photograph shared on TPUK’s Twitter feed with Tory Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick and some bald guy. 

“Rob [Jenrick] reassured us that he and the government will be tackling illegal migration head on with their new immigration Bill,” TPUK said above the picture, “and that clamping down on illegal immigration is a main focus of the government.”

You would think that a man who is openly planning to bus people to borders to reach safety in Europe would have sympathy for others doing exactly the same thing. 

What if that disabled Ukrainian lad he gave a wheelchair to was forced to cross the Channel in a dinghy? Would Ross’s TPUK demand he was sent back to France?

How can someone who has had his life threatened by Russian missiles care if people he doesn’t know take their kids (who he also doesn’t know) to a Drag Time Story Hour in a pub where he doesn’t live?

Why would this anti-cancel culture warrior — who laid flowers at a memorial to a four-year-old girl with Down’s syndrome who was killed by Russian bombs — bring 30 far-right hoodlums to cancel an event for children in my or anyone else’s neighbourhood? 

Ross has six fundraising projects running for VWB on Crowdfunder at the moment, and has raised well over £75,000 at the time of writing. 

Unsurprisingly for an organisation that appears to stand against borders, none of his Crowdfunder posts mention his leadership role in a far-right organisation.

The Telegraph and The S*n’s videos on VWB don’t mention Ross’s role with TPUK either.

To be fair to Ross, Crowdfunder does not require him, or anyone else, to state this kind of information. He is under no legal obligation to declare where he spends the money raised either.

VWB is not listed on the Charity Commission’s website, and is therefore not obliged to be open about the money it receives and what it does with it. 

Delivering aid to people whose lives have been destroyed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is an incredibly righteous thing to do — as is helping people flee that situation.

Honestly, I hope VWB continues to do that and I wish it success in providing aid to the people of Ukraine. 

I feel bad for dragging VWB’s other activists into all of this. I have no idea if they’re aware of Ross’s connection to TPUK, or if they’ve even heard of them. 

Using the words “Without Borders” in an organisation’s name carries with it certain expectations, ones that I suspect VWB’s donors won’t associate with coming to my local pub to accuse drag queens, trans, non-binary, genderfluid and LGBTQIA+ people of grooming children, of being paedophiles or of corrupting society. 

Nor do they expect you to moonlight in a far-right organisation that spreads conspiracy theories and acts as a sort of gateway drug to even worse far-right groups.

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In response to this article, Jack Ross said:

"I find it bizarre that I have been targeted in this manner when all I have done in Ukraine is try and help people. I am responding to this while I am en route to Ukraine to further help the Ukrainian people - taking unpaid time off of work to do so.

"You are incorrect myself and Turning Point are not anti-refugee we believe Britain should support genuine refugees. In a personal capacity I also help support a Pakistani refugee family in Britain.

"It is because I have helped genuine refugees who are in need that I am opposed to illegal migrants who are pretending to be refugees entering Britain illegally as it stretches funding and means those who need help aren’t receiving it. It breaks my heart that our asylum system is being abused and as a consequence genuine refugees suffer.

"I’m very surprised and disappointed that the Morning Star is trying to politicise my humanitarian efforts in Ukraine from the safety of Britain in an effort to directly negatively effect the good work going on. I would also like to take this opportunity to invite one of your reporters out with us to see the vital work that we do.

"In regards to the Drag Queen Story Hour, we are not opposed to it in itself, what we are opposed to is children being exposed to adult performers who are age inappropriate role models. We wouldn’t want Cardi B or Frankie Boyle reading books to kids either!"

Vans Without Borders said:

“Vans Without Borders welcomes a range of people to our team from a variety of different political backgrounds who put politics aside to help Ukrainian refugees.

“We don’t comment on individual team members, however, it seems contradictory to suggest someone who has dedicated months of his time as well as thousands of pounds and been awarded medals by the Ukrainian armed forces for his charitable efforts to help refugees is against Britain helping refugees.”