IT IS hardly an exaggeration to say that the spirit of Mosleyism is stalking our streets. Events over the last week in Dover, Portsmouth and Birmingham make that plain.

Oswald Mosley was the most significant fascist in Britain’s political history. His threat to democracy in the 1930s was backed by major sections of the Establishment — not to mention Nazi Germany and Mussolini’s Italy — and only seen off by mass working-class agitation and mobilisation.

Today, his heirs operate explicitly in his spirit. Just as the British Union of Fascists liked to parade in black uniforms — hence the “Blackshirts” once beloved of the Daily Mail — so now we see hundreds of black-clad thugs marching through Dover with the additional feature of balaclava face-coverings.

Despite both the uniforms and the face-coverings being illegal, no arrests were made.

The next day the same organisation — Patriot Platform, founded by “Tommy Robinson” associate “Danny Tommo” — turned up in force in Portsmouth to besiege a boatful of asylum-seekers arriving in that port.

This time there was no attempt to disguise the violent intent.

We can assume the mixture of black clothing and rampant intimidation, evoking Mosley to the tee, is not accidental. 

Reform UK is not explicitly fascist, although it is clearly home to far-right agitators and rhetoric. Its conference in Birmingham exhibited both features once more.

It also recalled the Mosley rally in Earl’s Court in 1934, when anti-fascist protesters organised by the Communist Party were savagely beaten by Blackshirt goons.

In 2026, young women heckling Nigel Farage over his indifference to the climate crisis were dragged by the hair and belaboured with sticks by Reform members.

Farage’s sinister side-kick Robert Jenrick could not bring himself to utter a word of condemnation of the assailants. This is the same Jenrick who, while still a Tory front bencher, proposed sacking judges who disagreed with him and appointing his own preferred replacements.

Thus the far-right menace in Britain becomes ever-clearer. “Robinson” has already displayed his capacity to get more than a hundred thousand people onto the streets of London.

Racist and chauvinist rhetoric is now common currency among mainstream parties. The days when the Tories removed Enoch Powell from the front bench for his “rivers of blood” speech are a world away.

And now we see organised, disciplined — when told to be — and masked gangs attempting to impose their will on communities.

Decent society needs to wake up. The police seemed caught on the hop in Dover, although “Tommo” had been broadcasting his broad intentions on social media for some considerable time and the action was very far from spontaneous.

We might wish for a stronger response from the state, but it is not going to save us and in any case any restrictions imposed would be turned against the left at least as sharply.

The answer must lie, as it did in the 1930s, in mass counter-mobilisation by the labour movement and its allies.

The Together Alliance, which unites anti-racist and trade union organisations, organised a mass demonstration against the far right, larger than anything “Robinson” could turn out, at the end of March.

Since then it has not been heard from, which is hardly satisfactory. It needs to speak out now, and embed itself in communities across the country. Stand Up to Racism also needs to be supported in its efforts.

The 90th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street, the landmark confrontation with Mosley’s fascists, is also due on October 4. Its message of “They shall not pass” could not be more relevant. A mass turnout would tell today’s mini-Mosleys that they too will be seen off.