It’s believed that the man who killed Labour MP Jo Cox had long-term links with a hard-right London based group who’ve campaigned for years for the United Kingdom to leave the EU.
The Independent reports that Thomas Mair, 52, has been named as a supporter of the infamous white supremacist group the ‘Springbok Club’, an organisation that supported apartheid in South Africa.
Mair’s ten year connection to the Springbok Club was revealed when the group’s online paper, the Springbok Cyber Newsletter, wrote a decade ago asking if anyone knew where ‘Thomas Mair, from Batley in Yorkshire [who] was one of the earliest subscribers and supporters of S.A. Patriot’ had moved to.
It’s unknown whether Mair got back in touch with the Springbok Club or the newsletter.
The Springbok Cyber Newsletter, is currently campaigning to convince its readers that we would be better out of the European Union as they believe it’s important for the nation to ‘regain [its] sovereign independence’.
Their most recent entry declares that the EU was a ‘political project’ which meant the ‘belligerent aggressors from the two World Wars of the 20th century could achieve their goal of domination of the European continent by “peaceful” means after they had failed to achieve the same aim by armed invasions’.
The Springbok club also have links to the Swinton Circle, a far right activist group which campaigns for reductions in immigration and the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.
There are also conflicting reports as to whether Mair shouted ‘Britain First’ or ‘put Britain first’ when he shot and stabbed Ms Cox.
The group Britain First was formed out of the remnants of the BNP and has protested the UK’s levels of immigration and the country’s continued EU membership.
However, Britain First have since condemned the attack and denied that the attacker is associated with them.
Thomas Mair was well known in the community and has been described as a quiet and reserved man who’s believed to have struggled with mental health issues in the past.
More of a concept than a journalist, Tom Percival was forged in the bowels of Salford University from which he emerged grasping a Masters in journalism.
Since then his rise has been described by himself as ‘meteoric’ rising to the esteemed rank of Social Editor at UNILAD as well as working at the BBC, Manchester Evening News, and ITV.
He credits his success to three core techniques, name repetition, personality mirroring, and never breaking off a handshake.