Matthew Collins is an activist and author born in London in 1972.

Far Right politics and role as informant

In his youth, Collins was the South London organizer for the National Front, a volunteer for the

British National Party The British National Party (BNP) is a far-right, fascist political party in the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in Wigton, Cumbria, and its leader is Adam Walker. A minor party, it has no elected representatives at any level of UK gover ...

’s head office and a member of

Combat 18 Combat 18 (C18 or 318) is a neo-Nazi terrorist organisation that was founded in 1992. It originated in the United Kingdom, with ties to movements in Canada and the United States. Since then it has spread to other countries, including Germany. ...

. Collins took part in the Battle of Welling after which he became a mole for the anti-fascist ''

Searchlight A searchlight (or spotlight) is an apparatus that combines an extremely bright source (traditionally a carbon arc lamp) with a mirrored parabolic reflector to project a powerful beam of light of approximately parallel rays in a particular direc ...

'' magazine. Collins was paid in book tokens for his role as an informant. When his role as a Searchlight informant was exposed, Collins went into hiding in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

from 1993 to 2003 with the assistance of

Special Branch Special Branch is a label customarily used to identify units responsible for matters of national security and Intelligence (information gathering), intelligence in Policing in the United Kingdom, British, Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, ...

. He returned to the UK as the subject of a

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

documentary ''Dead Man Walking'' (2004). In 2012, Collins wrote a memoir of his youth, entitled ''Hate: My Life in the British Far Right'' which included a foreword by

Billy Bragg Stephen William Bragg (born 20 December 1957) is an English singer-songwriter and left-wing activist. His music blends elements of folk music, punk rock and protest songs, with lyrics that mostly span political or romantic themes. His music is ...

Hope Not Hate

Matthew Collins is currently a researcher and Head of Intelligence for the anti-fascist and anti-racist campaign group

Hope Not Hate Hope not Hate (stylized as HOPE not hate) is an advocacy group based in the United Kingdom which campaigns against racism and fascism. It has also mounted campaigns against Islamic extremism and antisemitism. It is self-described as a "non-par ...

. Hope Not Hate is described as a non-sectarian, nonpartisan third party organisation. He manages Hope Not Hate's intelligence network. Collins managed Robbie Mullen, a mole in National Action, in foiling a plot to murder

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

Rosie Cooper Rosemary Elizabeth Cooper (born 5 September 1950) is a British health official and former Labour Party politician who has served as the chair of Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust since November 2022. Previously, she served as the Member of Parli ...

in 2017. In 2019, Matthew Collins wrote his second book, ''Nazi Terrorist: The Story of National Action'' with Robbie Mullen, and in 2022, he wrote his third book, ''The Walk-In: Fascists, Spies & Lies - The True Story Behind the ITV series'', with a foreword by political journalist Kevin Maguire associate editor of the

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print ...

newspaper. Collins is played by the actor

Stephen Graham Stephen Joseph Graham (born 3 August 1973) is a British actor. He is best known for playing Andrew "Combo" Gascoigne in the film ''This Is England'' (2006) and its television sequels ''This Is England '86'' (2010), '' This Is England '88'' ( ...

in the

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

television drama series '' The Walk-In'' broadcast in Autumn 2022. He appeared in the documentary ''Nazi Hunters: The Real Walk-In'' which was broadcast after the final episode.

References

External links

Matthew Collins' Twitter pageHope Not Hate websiteMatthew Collins' ''Nazi Terrorist'' book websiteMatthew Collins' ''The Walk-In: Fascists, Spies & Lies'' book websiteMatthew Collins interviewed with Robbie Mullins on the ''JOE'' UK channelMatthew Collins interviewed by Rosie Boycott on the ''Life etc'' BBC programme
{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Matthew F. British fascists 1972 births Living people English memoirists