Blogger’s Note: Well, well, well – it would seem that the “Black Bloc” (Patriotic Platform) has its origin just up the road from where we live. As I entered a Thai Buddhist Temple yesterday – it struck me that I was entering a place considered “foreign” by most non-Thais – even though many of these Thais are born in the UK and their presence would make Buddhism a unique British attribute. Although I am not Thai – I am a Buddhist. Together we follow an inwardly freeing philosophy that is not dependent on the worship of a theistic entity. Other than a space to practice – there is no other requirement. This got me thinking about Muslims and their right to a “space to practice” – and any other group. Of course, the subject need not be religion – but this does seem to be a highly emotive subject. I know local people protested a Buddhist Temple being opened in the UK in the 1960s. The King of Thailand stepped in and paid a huge amount of money for land in Wimbledon – but even then – the monks are not permitted to walk around the streets begging (only once or twice a year). Begging is normal in Theravada countries. What the far-right does is take away our right to be free and different. Difference can be a challenge – but is this not the very engine of evolution? It would seem odd to frequent a temple, church or synagogue whilst denying Muslims the same right. As for Searchlight and Hope Not Hate – I do not agree with their general reactionary (Trotskyite) attitudes and opinions about certain issues – however – this is a very good article about my local community. I believe we are living amongst the enemy and this places my family at a direct risk. We do not want any artifical sympathy, money, or pseudo-support – as we are all in the same boat. We will face it all with grace as we navigate the “good” and the “bad”. We will prevail through peace and stability. Our strength will be ever-lasting whilst the fascists will dissolve into ashes. We can only hope that the Arch Bishop of Canterbury possesses the wisdom to do something about this Satanic Church existing in the heart of Morden. ACW (27.9.2026)
The Christian church with an open door for the far right
Searchlight – 9 September 2026 – Daniel Katz – reports
Patriot Platform leader, Danny Tommo, epitomises the hijacking of Christian language and symbols by far-right groups in Britain. Faith, or Tommo’s twisted version of faith, is at the forefront of his hate messaging.
His social media biography reads: “Devoted Christian | Proud Dad | Entrepreneur Defender of Faith & Country,” alongside an emoji of a cross. Patriot Platform was created for “white, Christian Englishmen,” he has said.
Tommo might be God-fearing, but he certainly isn’t law-abiding. On Sunday, the far-right agitator was stopped by Met Police officers on his way to church for driving without insurance. His eight-year-old son was in the uninsured vehicle – Tommo isn’t exactly ‘Father of the Year’ material.
Far-right at prayer
The church he was travelling to on September 13 was St Lawrence Church on London Road in Morden, where Tommo has previously been pictured attending with members of the South London Patriots.
Indeed, St Lawrence, a Church of England parish church, in the Diocese of Southwark, is fast gaining a reputation as the church for the far-right at prayer.
Tommy Robinson’s former sidekick, Tommo (real name Daniel Thomas), is a convicted attempted kidnapper and drug dealer. During his two-year stint behind bars in 2016, he claims to have found God. Robinson likewise claims he is now a Christian after one of his prison stints and claims he encountered the Holy Spirit.
(Being a “Christian”, of course, is also a potential good earner, helping the politically ambitious like Tommo and Robinson ingratiate themselves with wealthy right-wing evangelicals and Christian nationalists in the USA).
Tommo and Robinson share this religious prison ‘journey’ with builder Jason Armstrong, a former addict and violent criminal who did time, was born again, and rose to become a churchwarden at St Lawrence.
‘Christ-washing’ bigotry
Armstrong is a firm believer that you can ‘Christ-wash’ anti-immigrant enmity. He is a prominent member of the South London Patriots, whom he charcterises as lads who might be a bit naughty but have hearts of gold, and are getting ready to accept Jesus.
He appears to have been instrumental in making St Lawrence Church a safe space for the sinister group of phony patriots.
In March, on the Christian YouTube channel Tough Talk, which is involved in evangelical work in prisons, Armstrong said the Main Pastor of St Lawrence church, Rev. David Heath-Whyte, had ignored protests by local anti-racist groups complaining about the morally questionable character of some of his congregants.
The open door
“We’ve had this pushback, calling us racists and far right and having a dig at the vicar as well, saying that he’s harbouring far-right activists.
“And as you can imagine, it’s caused him a lot of stress, but he stands firm on the gospel. He says the church is open to anybody, and he means that with all his heart. He opens them doors, and he would never turn anyone away”.
He added: “[Tommo] is a really nice fella and he loves Jesus, and he’s come with the lads, and he loves this church. He said, ‘I really like it. I feel at home here in this church’”.
Rage-baiter
Indeed, Armstrong and the religious leadership at St Lawrence Church appear to have either overlooked or forgiven Tommo’s history of whipping up violent mobs to terrify and attack asylum seekers and Muslims.
Most notoriously, there was Tommo’s role as a lead agitator of the nationwide race riots that erupted in 2024 in the aftermath of the murder of three girls in Southport, when the online rage-baiter told tens of thousands of his gormless followers across social media platforms, “Every city has to go up”.
He reprised the role of rabble-rouser in Epsom earlier this year, where, after a suspected rape, he whipped up a mob that attacked a local hotel and a house where migrants were thought to be living. Windows were broken, residents were threatened, and the police were attacked as they made arrests.
There turned out to have been no rape at all.
Gibberish
By contrast, Armstrong appears spellbound by Tommo.
On Tough Talk, Armstrong said more than 25 members of the South London Patriots were now attending St Lawrence Church and considering getting baptised, and credited Tommo with their ‘conversion’.
“Things are really starting to progress, and Danny Tommo was a massive part in that, and I think God used him to help them get across the line,” said Armstrong.
Ever the ego-maniac, Tommo has embraced this providence-touched gibberish.
On September 6, the day after hundreds of Patriot Platform goons in balaclavas chanting “Christ in King” shut down the Port of Dover, asylum seekers were disembarked in Portsmouth by the RNLI, prompting more far-right unrest. Tommo, who lives in the area, was in full drama queen mode, leading the protests that had suddenly landed on his doorstep.
At one point, he mused with a straight face: “Do you know what it is?” Ask God. Do you know what God’s saying? He said, “He’s made this happen so we could be here. Praise to God”.
Fever dreams
What God thought of the onslaught of far-right intimidation and bullying against the volunteer heroes of the RNLI, whose sole mission is to rescue people in danger of drowning at sea – an absolute good – that Tommo’s Portsmouth protests unleashed remains open to question.
After 90 minutes, Armstrong and the guests on Tough Talk had agreed the “gospel is right wing”, the Crusaders going to war to reclaim the Holy Land from Muslim rule was a good thing, and echoed the far-right’s graphic and obsessive fever dream about the rape of their children or grandchildren. Then they prayed.
“We thank you, Lord, for the healing power, for protection, and for your blessings in Jesus’ name…for Danny Tommo and the guys.”
Another regular congregant along with Tommo and Jason Armstrong, is fellow South London Patriots stalwart, Billy Cooper, who not long ago was pictured having completed a bible course at the church.
Arrested after church
Like Tommo and Armstrong, he has a bit of form – in 2018 he was exposed for a £100,000 insurance fraud, where he had falsely claimed he could not work after a car accident.
We don’t know if he was on his knees beside Tommo at St Lawrence last Sunday, but it would appear that later in the day police turned up at his home and arrested him.
Genuine Christianity
Searchlight reported last year how Christian nationalism was increasingly fuelling far-right racism and neo-nazism, warning that: “Anti-fascists must confront this Christian nationalism head on…exposing how far from genuine Christianity it actually is.
“It means refusing to let ‘Christian values’ be weaponised against marginalised communities.
“It means being alive to how, if it is not opposed, it can drift from the fringes to the mainstream – a process which has already begun.”
Author:
Daniel Katz is a freelance journalist specialising in the extreme right.
Category: News
Keywords: Billy Cooper, Daniel Thomas, Danny Tommo, Jason Armstrong, South London Patriots, St Lawrence Church Morden
