Last updated: 27 September 2026
Three hundred men in balaclavas walked into Dover on a Saturday morning in September and brought Britain’s busiest port to a standstill. Most of the country had never heard of the group behind it. By Sunday night, quite a lot of the country had.
Patriot Platform is a far-right network founded in 2026 by Daniel Thomas, better known as Danny Tommo, a long-time organiser for Tommy Robinson. It brings local “Patriots” groups from across England under one banner, focused on small-boat arrivals, and it hit national headlines after masked demonstrations in Dover and Portsmouth on 5 and 6 September 2026.
That’s the short version. The longer version is why we wrote this. A new, uniformed, self-declared army marching through English towns is not something to shrug off. Britain has seen this film before, and we remember how the early scenes looked.
Patriot Platform: key facts
Founded: June 2026 (the PA news agency reports July)
Founder and leader: Daniel Thomas, known as Danny Tommo
Main focus: Small-boat arrivals, wrapped in a self-described Christian “patriot” identity
Structure: An umbrella for regional groups such as Kent Patriots, Essex Patriots and South London Patriots
Best known for: Blockading roads around the Port of Dover (5 September 2026) and a protest at a migrant landing in Portsmouth (6 September 2026)
Table of Contents
1. What is Patriot Platform and what does it want?
Patriot Platform launched in June 2026, according to HOPE not hate (5 September 2026), and The Nerve and Searchlight say the same. The PA news agency reports that Thomas founded it in July. Either way, it is barely a season old.
Its first meeting took place on 19 July at a nature reserve near Basingstoke, followed by a second recruitment day in a Warwickshire country park on 22 August, HOPE not hate reported. (Nothing says “national resistance” quite like a car park with a picnic bench.)
It’s an umbrella, not a brand-new movement. The clever part, if we’re being honest, is that it joins up anti-migrant groups that already existed. HOPE not hate reports that members come from Kent Patriots, Watford Patriots, South London Patriots, South-East Patriots, Essex Patriots, North-West Patriots, Surrey Patriots and Chertsey Patriots, among others. On their own, each of those groups is small and local. Joined together, they can put a few hundred men on a road at short notice. That is the whole idea.
It calls itself a Christian army. According to HOPE not hate, the group presents itself as a Christian force of patriots formed to “reclaim our borders, restore order” and to insist that Britain belongs to the British. Thomas has promoted it as a project to build “a mighty patriotic army”, partly to push back against migrants arriving by small boat, PA reported via LBC. Like many similar groups, it says its main aim is protecting British women and children from what it presents as a foreign threat made worse by immigration, InfoMigrants reported in September.
The stated goal is bigger than boats. In an interview with Dan Wootton, Thomas described the group’s purpose as taking control of the country, compared Patriot Platform to the English Defence League, and stressed that the movement was Christian rather than a gang of thugs, HOPE not hate reported. We’ll come back to that EDL comparison. On that one point, we agree with him.
What does it look like in practice? HOPE not hate describes Patriot Platform as a far-right vigilante unit, ready to mobilise across the country whenever Thomas gives the word. Thomas has claimed that tens of thousands have signed up, according to Searchlight. The numbers anyone has actually counted on a street run to the low hundreds.
Our view, for what it’s worth: when a group calls itself an army, take the word choice seriously. Nobody forms an army to write a strongly worded letter.
2. Who is Danny Tommo (Daniel Thomas)?
Who runs Patriot Platform? Daniel Thomas, who goes by Danny Tommo. He founded it and he leads it. Unlike the men who marched in Dover, he campaigns with his face on show. InfoMigrants noted that he appeared unmasked on his X account, sharing and backing the demonstrations.
He spent years in Tommy Robinson’s shadow. Searchlight reported in September that he was closely attached to Robinson for years, acting as his organiser, bodyguard and political sidekick. The Nerve’s Nick Lowles describes him as Robinson’s right-hand man. InfoMigrants also reports that he was a member of Raise the Colours, the group behind the summer 2025 campaign to put British and English flags up across England. HOPE not hate reported that in late 2025 and early 2026 he helped run trips to Calais where he filmed asylum seekers and the charity workers helping them.
Now he wants his own following. Searchlight describes the last couple of years as his effort to go from loyal lieutenant to far-right leader in his own right, a shift it says has been marked by more and more theatrical anti-migrant stunts and rows with former allies. From bodyguard to self-appointed general is quite a career change. (Our jab, not a job title he has used.)
The unity pitch has already wobbled. Searchlight reported on 13 August that Patriots United Kingdom, a Kent-based group, pulled out only days after announcing it had joined, complaining about its association with “certain members”. For a project built on bringing everyone together, losing a member group in its first summer is not a great look.
He does know how to work a camera. Before Dover, he posted a video of himself recruiting members in the North West, captioned as proof of how a movement grows. Livestreams, short clips and constant posting are how Patriot Platform recruits, and it works fast.
We’ve kept this to his public role and what Patriot Platform has actually done. For his wider background, Searchlight has profiled him in detail.
3. What happened in Dover and Portsmouth?
Dover, Saturday 5 September 2026. The men first gathered in Preston, a village near Canterbury, and arrived in Dover at around 7.30am, Searchlight reported. According to The Nerve (8 September 2026), about 300 men in black balaclavas and black jackets blocked roads around the port for hours, having met at three separate locations. They marched from the Limekiln roundabout through the town to the train station, HOPE not hate reported, and they chanted “Stop the boats” as they went.
A smaller group went to the Western Jet Foil facility, where asylum seekers are processed, and painted “Blood is on your hands” on the road outside its entrance. Thomas posted that the gathering was the group’s warning. One resident told Kent Online that nobody would speak to them, and that the men simply handed out sheets of paper. They left shortly after midday.
The policing questions started straight away. Kent Police described the action as spontaneous, LBC reported. On 7 September, HOPE not hate reported that, contrary to the force’s public statement, Kent Police had been tipped off about the mobilisation. Writing in The Nerve, Lowles argued that the police had been too slow to act against far-right disorder, and that the real problem was not softness on migrants but softness on Patriot Platform.
Portsmouth, Sunday 6 September 2026. The next day, a boat carrying 140 asylum seekers came ashore in Portsmouth. Channel 4 News reported that hundreds of masked protesters blocked roads and clashed with police. Thomas livestreamed from the sea, telling viewers the roads were blocked and the new arrivals would never be able to leave. The asylum seekers were disembarked anyway. There’s a King Canute joke in there somewhere, and we are not proud enough to resist it: at least Canute knew the tide wasn’t listening.
Then came the Reform UK moment. ITV News reported on 7 September that Thomas interrupted Zia Yusuf, Reform UK’s home affairs spokesman, during an interview in the city, telling him to warn Nigel Farage to be careful with his words after Farage had called them “knuckle-draggers”. Yusuf told Thomas there was never any excuse for violence against police officers doing their job.
Thomas insisted there had been no violence in Dover, and said the masks were worn only because “no-one wants to be labelled far right”, according to PA’s reporting in The Irish News. We’d gently point out that if you’re worried about looking far right, three hundred matching balaclavas is a funny way of going about it.
4. Where does Patriot Platform fit in the history of the British far right?
Thomas compared his group to the EDL himself, so let’s take him at his word and look at the family tree. To be clear from the start, this is a comparison of tactics, imagery and organisation. It is not a claim that Patriot Platform has done what any of these groups did.
The Blackshirts. Oswald Mosley founded the British Union of Fascists in 1932. His followers wore black uniforms and marched through the areas they wanted to intimidate. On 4 October 1936, tens of thousands of East End residents and anti-fascists blocked a Blackshirt march at what became known as the Battle of Cable Street. Within months, Parliament passed the Public Order Act 1936, which banned political uniforms in public. We are not saying black jackets and balaclavas break that law. That is a question for the police and the courts. We are saying the law exists because Britain has seen men in matching black marching on a community before, and decided it didn’t like it.
The National Front. The NF, founded in 1967, made marches through immigrant communities its signature move. On 13 August 1977 in Lewisham, south London, thousands of counter-protesters stopped an NF march. The day ended in some of the worst street disorder of the decade, and it is widely remembered as the first time police on mainland Britain used riot shields. The method was simple: pick a place, arrive in numbers, and make the people who live there feel unwelcome in their own streets.
The EDL. Tommy Robinson co-founded the English Defence League in Luton in 2009. It spent years staging demonstrations from town to town, pitching itself as a movement of ordinary patriots while its rallies regularly ended in disorder. Robinson left in 2013. The man now building Patriot Platform spent years as his organiser, and he has openly compared the two groups.
Britain First. Founded in 2011, Britain First leaned heavily on Christian imagery. In 2014 it ran so-called “Christian patrols” in east London and staged confrontational visits to mosques. If Patriot Platform’s mix of crosses, patriotism and street patrols feels familiar, this is where you’ve seen it before.
The 2024 riots. After the Southport murders on 29 July 2024, false claims about the attacker’s identity spread across social media within hours. Riots followed in towns across England, and hotels housing asylum seekers were among the targets. Hundreds of people were later jailed. We’ve written before about how that summer happened. Patriot Platform has not been linked to those riots. The lesson is how fast online anger can turn into people on a street.
Put those side by side and a pattern appears. A leader who wants to be seen as the defender of the nation. Followers in matching clothes. Marches aimed at the places where migrants arrive or live. Talk of armies and resistance. Patriot Platform adds balaclavas, livestreams and a speed of mobilisation that Mosley could only have dreamed of.
5. Why should we be worried, and what can we actually do?
Because of the speed. Patriot Platform went from a meeting at a nature reserve in July to blockading Britain’s busiest port in September. Very few far-right groups in recent memory have scaled up that quickly.
Because of the look. Masks, matching black clothing and the language of armies are deliberate choices. They’re designed to make the people in the group feel powerful and everyone else feel small. Ask anyone who was trying to get to the ferry in Dover that morning how it felt.
Because of the targets. Both of the big demonstrations so far were aimed at the exact places where people seeking asylum arrive. Whatever you think about immigration policy, the people stepping off those boats are not the ones who make it.
Because the grievances are real, even if the answers aren’t. Plenty of people drawn to groups like this are angry about housing, wages, NHS waiting lists and a political class that ignored them for years. Those are fair things to be angry about. Groups like Patriot Platform take that anger and point it at the easiest target available. We’ve written about how misinformation does that job, and it’s worth reading before you next argue with your uncle at Christmas.
So what can the rest of us do?
- Check before you share. If a post about migrants makes you furious, find the original source before you pass it on. The 2024 riots were fuelled by a lie that travelled faster than the truth.
- Don’t boost their livestreams. Sharing their clips to mock them still spreads them. Report them instead.
- Report hate incidents. You can report to the police on 101, or online through True Vision (report-it.org.uk). In an emergency, always call 999.
- Back local groups doing the work. HOPE not hate, local anti-racism groups and refugee charities all need volunteers and funding.
- Show up peacefully. If a counter-demonstration is organised by an established group, turn up, stay safe and follow police advice.
- Talk to people you know. Sneering at people changes nobody’s mind. A calm conversation with someone who trusts you sometimes does.
None of that is glamorous. Neither was stopping the Blackshirts at Cable Street, and that worked out fine.
I started Wokerati Party because politics shouldn’t only happen once every five years in a polling booth. As you can see from our timeline, you can see how the country is moving faster towards repeating history. Raising awareness can be done via multiple methods, laptop lids, tote bags and jackets and even lamp posts, in all the small places where people actually look.
A badge or a sticker won’t stop a march in Dover on its own, and I’m not going to pretend it does. What it does is start conversations: it tells the person next to you on the train that not everyone is buying what the Patriot Platforms of this world are selling. For those that feel like their community is against them, seeing a person walking past proudly wearing a badge that tells them they are safe.
Every design made by Wokerati Party is built on the same idea as this article. Get the facts right, make them impossible to ignore, and if they raise a laugh on the way, even better. Wearing what you believe is one of the oldest forms of protest there is. We just think it should look good and wind up the right people.
Patriot Platform timeline
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| June 2026 | Patriot Platform launched by Daniel Thomas (PA reports July) |
| 19 July 2026 | First meeting, at a nature reserve near Basingstoke |
| August 2026 | Patriots United Kingdom pulls out days after joining (reported 13 August) |
| 22 August 2026 | Second recruitment day, at a Warwickshire country park |
| 1 September 2026 | Recruitment video from the North West posted |
| 5 September 2026 | Around 300 masked men blockade roads around the Port of Dover |
| 6 September 2026 | Protest at the landing of 140 asylum seekers in Portsmouth; Thomas confronts Reform UK’s Zia Yusuf |
| 7 September 2026 | HOPE not hate reports that Kent Police had been tipped off about Dover |
Patriot Platform FAQ
What is Patriot Platform?
Patriot Platform is a far-right network founded in 2026 by Daniel Thomas, known as Danny Tommo. It unites regional “Patriots” groups across England into one organisation focused on small-boat arrivals, and describes itself as a Christian patriotic army. It became widely known after demonstrations in Dover and Portsmouth in September 2026.
Who runs Patriot Platform?
Patriot Platform is run by its founder, Daniel Thomas, who goes by Danny Tommo. He spent years working alongside Tommy Robinson as an organiser and bodyguard before launching his own group in 2026. He promotes it heavily on social media, using livestreams and short videos to recruit members.
Is Patriot Platform far right?
Yes, it is widely described as far-right by national media and anti-racism organisations. HOPE not hate calls it a far-right vigilante unit. Thomas has said members covered their faces because they did not want to be labelled far right, and he has compared the group to the English Defence League.
What did Patriot Platform do in Dover?
On 5 September 2026, around 300 masked men linked to Patriot Platform blocked roads around the Port of Dover for several hours. They marched through the town chanting anti-migrant slogans, and graffiti appeared outside a facility used to process asylum seekers. Kent Police described the action as spontaneous.
What happened with Patriot Platform in Portsmouth?
On 6 September 2026, supporters gathered as a boat carrying 140 asylum seekers landed in Portsmouth. Channel 4 News reported that masked protesters blocked roads and clashed with police. Thomas livestreamed from the sea and confronted Reform UK’s Zia Yusuf, who told him violence against police was never acceptable.
Sources
- HOPE not hate, “Patriot Platform’s masked members march on Dover”, 5 September 2026
- The Nerve, Nick Lowles, “Britain isn’t too soft on migrants; it’s too soft on Patriot Platform”, 8 September 2026
- ITV News Meridian, 7 September 2026
- Channel 4 News, “What we know about Danny Tommo and Patriot Platform”, September 2026
- InfoMigrants, “What is the Patriot Platform?”, September 2026
- LBC (PA), September 2026
- The Irish News (PA), September 2026
- Searchlight, profile of Danny Tommo, September 2026
- Searchlight, “Patriot Platform: Danny Tommo’s latest grift starts to unravel”, 13 August 2026
Update log
- First published 27 September 2026
If this worries you, good. It should. Getting worried is the first step; being seen to disagree comes next. Everything in our Wokerati Party Anti Fascist range is made to say one thing clearly: not here, not again. If you’d rather make the point with a bit more fur, our Cats Against Fascism collection does the same job with better whiskers. Stick one on your laptop, wear one to the next counter-demo, or leave it somewhere your uncle will see it at Christmas.
