{"id":465,"date":"2017-04-03T11:37:08","date_gmt":"2017-04-03T10:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/iprblog\/?p=465"},"modified":"2026-02-25T09:49:03","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T09:49:03","slug":"brexit-and-trump-on-racism-the-far-right-and-violence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/iprblog\/2017\/04\/03\/brexit-and-trump-on-racism-the-far-right-and-violence\/","title":{"rendered":"Brexit and Trump: On Racism, the Far Right and Violence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr Aaron Winter<\/a> is Senior Lecturer\u00a0in Criminology\u00a0and Criminal Justice at the\u00a0University of East London<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

When Labour MP for Batley and Spen Jo Cox was murdered by Thomas Mair in Birstall, West Yorkshire on 16 June 2016, I thought it could be seen as a symbolic culmination of all the hateful, polarised, scapegoating rhetoric of the EU referendum, and a watershed moment when a nation and electorate divided, and particularly the Leave or \u2018Brexit\u2019 campaigns, reflected on themselves. The context of the killing, and the fact that Mair allegedly shouted\u202f\u2018Britain first, this is for Britain, Britain will always come first\u2019<\/a>[1]\u202fas he confronted, stabbed and shot Cox \u2013 a Remain campaigner and champion of refugees \u2013 seemed to confirm the link to the Referendum, and particularly Brexit rhetoric. The use of \u2018Britain First\u2019\u202fled the far-right group of the same name to deny links<\/a>,[2] yet\u202fan image of Mair campaigning for the organisation soon emerged<\/a>.[3] He was also found to have a range of white supremacist and neo-Nazi materials in his home<\/a>,[4]\u202fand\u202fis alleged to have purchased material from the US-based white nationalist group National Alliance<\/a>.[5] This is an organisation that was led by the late William Pierce, who wrote The<\/em>\u202fTurner Diaries<\/em>, a novel which influenced the Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh. The book has returned to the spotlight in the wake of the Trump campaign and revival of the far right in the US. This revival has been linked to wider right-wing populism, racialised nationalism, mobilisation of white (allegedly working-class) anger, normalisation of racism and xenophobia, and convergence of the mainstream and far right in the country, which were also features of Brexit in the UK. Trump would link the two<\/a>, calling Brexit \u2018great\u2019 and attributing it to the British people\u2019s desire for their own identity and opposition to refugees.[6] Farage would also make the link<\/a> from an inauguration party in Washington DC, stating \u2018Trump becoming President of the USA is Brexit plus plus plus\u2019.[7] They also both thought Farage would make a good ambassador to the US<\/a>.[8]<\/p>\n

Yet little or nothing was reflected on or changed following the murder of Jo Cox. As is often the case, the link to the far right was used to confirm political, ideological and discursive preconceptions and fulfil corresponding functions. When far-right violence occurs, many are quick to paint a picture of an individual (or fringe movement) that has stepped outside the boundaries of reasonable, rational democratic discourse and practice to espouse extremist views and use violence, and who is thus definitely not linked to any particular campaign, political party or popular sentiment. Often the perpetrator is described as a mentally unstable loner, as Mair was by UKIP and Leave.EU leader Nigel Farage\u202f(\u2018one man with serious mental health issues<\/a>\u2019[9]);\u202fSpiked!<\/em>\u2019s Brendan O\u2019Neill (\u2018warped killer<\/a>\u2019[10]); The Daily Mail<\/em> (\u2018loner\u2019 seeking counselling<\/a>[11]); and others. This depoliticises the actor and act, distancing them from the far right and mainstream, as well as from wider social-political forces and structures. Yet, Mair had far-right beliefs and identified as a\u202f\u2018political activist\u2019<\/a>.[12] He was deemed mentally competent for the trial, where he articulated his political views, and was convicted and sentenced on 23 November 2016 to a whole-life term. Even though the political superseded the psychological, however, the focus was on Mair\u2019s individual beliefs, as opposed to his links to a movement, organisation or social group. This individualisation and exceptionalism, whether through mental illness or its political parallel the \u2018lone wolf\u2019, also deracialises the actor and act, allowing those like him to not have to identify, nor provide a collective alibi and even apologise \u2013 as Muslims are asked to do after a terrorist attack.\u202fAs Mair\u2019s act was committed in the name of Britain \u2013 in the context of a campaign where Muslims have been targeted as refugees for an alleged failure to integrate and, ironically, as extremists and terrorists \u2013 and he had an association with Britain First, the racist double standard is obvious. In an unironic and confused example of the double standard, when\u202fBritain First distanced themselves from the Mair shooting (as if they think collective guilt by association with terrorism is a bad thing) leader Paul Golding actually linked his statement, but not the group, to the wider Brexit campaign<\/a> and context: \u2018Was he referring to an organisation? Was he referring to a slogan? Was he just shouting out in the middle of an EU debate: 'Putting Britain first'? You know, I've heard this almost every day\u2019.[13] Unlike in Britain, neither Trump nor his supporters thought it important to strongly deny links or distance his campaign when he received endorsements from Rocky Suhayda of the American Nazi Party, Don Black of Stormfront, \u2018alt right\u2019 figurehead Richard Spencer and former Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan David Duke<\/a>,[14] as well as gateway figures from Breitbart such as Steve Bannon (now Trump\u2019s chief strategist) and Milo Yiannopoulos. Trump\u2019s response to the Duke endorsement<\/a> was: \u2018I don't know \u2013 did he endorse me, or what's going on? Because I know nothing about David Duke; I know nothing about white supremacists\u2019.[15]<\/p>\n

In Britain, the response from some Brexiter commentators was not only to disavow Mair, but also those making links. One example of this was Polly Toynbee, who argued<\/a> that\u202f\u2018this campaign has stirred up anti-migrant sentiment that used to be confined to outbursts from the far fringes of British politics\u2019.[16] Daniel Trilling similarly contended<\/a> that \u2018Far-right politics cannot be as easily cordoned off from the mainstream as people would like to believe. Fascists attach themselves to popular causes and drag the debate in their direction. Populists and parties of the centre take note and then try to appeal to voters susceptible to the far right\u2019s messages by taking xenophobic positions of their own\u2019.[17] In response to such arguments, Brendan O\u2019Neill argued<\/a> that \u2018The spirit of democracy was dealt two blows yesterday.\u2019 The first, he said, \u2018came from a warped killer, Thomas Mair\u2019 \u2013 and the second was \u2018from ghouls in the media and political classes\u2019, who \u2018swiftly blamed the murder on the Brexit lobby\u2019 and \u2018marshalled Cox\u2019s death to the cause of sanitising political speech and insisting that certain views no longer be openly expressed\u2019.[18]<\/p>\n

This argument seems to at once displace hate, and justify its expression. In fact, the argument that free speech and thus democracy are being repressed echoes those arguments that say that it was political correctness and the repression of free speech about immigration that led to Brexit. Moreover, in some circles it seems free speech is defined by hate speech. Five days prior to the vote, Spiked!<\/em> claimed that\u202f\u2018Hate Speech is Free Speech\u2019<\/a>,[19] and post-referendum O\u2019Neill asserted that \u2018hate speech must be\u202ffree speech\u2019<\/a>.[20] I would argue that the tone of the campaign, far-right violence, and links between them can also be seen in the context of the wider normalisation of racism, anti-immigrant xenophobia, and racialised nationalism in \u2018mainstream\u2019 politics, media and public discourse that fed into the referendum and has been intensified by it. What we have seen is the mainstreaming of the extreme, informing an emboldening and radicalisation of the mainstream, and further emboldening and radicalisation of the far right. Britain has produced an American-style paramilitary far right \u2013 and someone, even if only inspired by it, has taken a life.\u202fJust prior to the murder, Britain First ran a paramilitary survival training camp in Wales<\/a>,[21] and\u202fa day after the murder, they issued a threat against London Mayor Sadiq Khan<\/a> (whom Jobling lost to) and \u2018all Muslim elected officials\u2019.[22] So they were not overly concerned with the stigma of violence.<\/p>\n

While Farage tweeted his condolences for Cox, there was no hint of the apology, condemnation or disassociation that is expected of Muslims following a terror attack. Farage probably cannot see the racial or national identities he and his targeted constituency share with Mair in negative terms, does not consider the consequences of his own fear and hate mongering, and appears to consider far-right groups either a potential support base or representative of one. He definitely appealed to fascism and fascists; his Leave.EU campaign targeted the far right on social media<\/a>,[23]\u202fand\u202fhe posed with English Defence League members<\/a> under a pro-Brexit banner and tweeted the image.[24] For a campaign poster, Leave.EU used\u202fa Nazi-esque image<\/a> of refugees crossing from Croatia to Slovenia in 2015 with a banner reading \u2018Breaking Point: the EU has failed us all\u2019.[25]\u202fIn a May 2016 BBC interview<\/a>, Farage said:\u202f\u2018It\u2019s legitimate to say that if people feel they\u2019ve lost control completely, and we have lost control of our borders completely as members of the EU, and if people feel voting doesn\u2019t change anything, then violence is the next step\u2019.[26] Returning to the opposition painted earlier between the individual extremist who commits violence and reasonable, rational democratic discourse and practice, what is clear here is that not only is the line blurred, but a democratic election or referendum is presented as a way of preventing or just delaying violence \u2013 which will occur should democracy not find in favour of one side. Farage would later claim<\/a> that Brexit victory was achieved\u202f\u2018without a single bullet being fired\u2019.[27] There was no mention of Jo Cox. Yet violence is not the only harm; the campaign harmed the targets and social relations. This scapegoating and dehumanisation of refugees and others has also already costs lives, as supporting refugees fleeing danger has become seen as an electoral liability and opposition to refugees a necessity or currency. Labour even sold control immigration mugs<\/a> to raise money in the 2015 election,[28] and now has a leader who supports Brexit<\/a>.[29]<\/p>\n

Despite some openness to immigration and multiculturalism in the early years of New Labour, since 7\/7 the Labour Party has attempted to appeal to increasing anti-immigrant sentiment and voters being targeted by the BNP and later UKIP. The country has become less welcoming, inclusive, egalitarian and progressive, and it isn\u2019t only immigrants and refugees \u2013 Tory austerity policies have demonstrated that the poor and vulnerable in general are unworthy and disposable. Yet we were told during the campaign that even that is the fault of the EU, immigrants and refugees.\u202fRacism, xenophobia and scapegoating, as well as a \u2018divide and rule\u2019 approach (as if austerity only affected working-class whites), have become acceptable and normalised. Toynbee highlights<\/a>\u202f\u2018how recklessly the decades of careful work and anti-racist laws to make those sentiments unacceptable have been overturned\u2019.[30]\u202fIt is a retreat back to the small-island nationalism, racism and post-colonial melancholia of Powellism for some, and nostalgia for the age of Empire itself for others \u2013 as evidenced by appeals to commonwealth relations, trade and immigration and Liam Fox\u2019s call for \u2018Empire 2.0\u2019<\/a>.[31] For Toynbee,\u202fwriting prior to Cox\u2019s murder<\/a>, \u2018this is the sound of Britain breaking. Here ends our \u201cmoderate, tolerant\u201d self-image\u2019.[32] But it is not all about the \u2018self\u2019 (the liberal-left version of \u2018the people\u2019 that excludes foreigners). The referendum debate has focused largely on the \u2018self\u2019. It is something that many of us, our friends, colleagues and family members who are not from here, who are racialised, or who are otherwise excluded, are forced to listen to and endure from politicians, media and public as they speak to each other (including about us, in terms of borders, \u2018Britishness\u2019 and tolerance). The message throughout, from Brexiters specifically, has been that democracy does not include us, except as a barrier to self-realisation, and we are no longer welcome here; our fate is theirs to decide, and it matters no more than a power struggle on the right (and left).<\/p>\n

On the eve of the vote I worried that, if we stayed, the immigrants, refugees and Muslims scapegoated already would find themselves in the firing line \u2013 and if we left, those thinking that these groups are to blame for all the problems (including Tory-led austerity, cuts to public services and unemployment \u2013 or neoliberalism in general) would be disappointed, and blame the scapegoats that had already been established. We didn\u2019t have to wait that long; people were emboldened, their hate legitimised. In the wake of the Leave vote of 52% to 48%<\/a> (with 72% turnout) on 23 June 2016,[33] we have seen a rise in hate crimes against not only Europeans, but Muslims and other racial and ethnic minorities.\u202fAccording to Met Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe<\/a>, in the 38 days following the referendum there were more than 2,300 recorded race-hate offences in London, compared with 1,400 in the 38 days before. He connected this increase to the referendum campaign and vote.[34] According to the National\u202fPolice Chiefs\u2019 Council<\/a>, hate crime increased 49% in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in the month after the referendum compared with same month the previous year.[35] These figures were used in the Institute of Race Relations report Racial Violence and the Brexit State<\/em><\/a> by Jon Burnett, which examined the role of the campaign and media in whipping up hate and even showed that racist language used during attacks echoed or repeated government rhetoric and policies.[36] In the US, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) reported a spike in hate-based harassment and attacks<\/a> against various groups post-election. Between 9 November, the day after the presidential election, and 14 November, they collected 437 reports of hate incidents[37] \u2013 and this rose to 1,094 by mid-December<\/a>.[38] The SPLC linked the rise in such incidents to Trump\u2019s campaign<\/a> and victory, and noted graffiti on targets reading \u2018Make America White Again\u2019 and \u2018Vote Trump\u2019.[39]<\/p>\n

There seems to be growing evidence of a link between the racism the campaigns legitimised and normalised, the emboldening of racists, and violence. This cannot be dismissed, as Mair was, with the assertion that it comes from an individual or far-right extremist, but was dismissed nonetheless; the response from some Brexiters has been threefold.<\/p>\n

Firstly, deny and denigrate:\u202fThe Daily Mail<\/em>\u00a0reported the same statistics<\/a>, but\u00a0rejected them because they claim that Britain is tolerant (citing Sadiq Khan\u2019s election), and hate crime is a \u2018cynical industry' where \u2018dishonesty and hysteria reign\u2019[40] \u2013 while Brenden O\u2019Neill referred to it<\/a> as \u2018hate crime hysteria\u2019, arguing that it is based on\u202f\u2018officialdom\u2019s active trawling for such crimes \u2026 To the explicitly political end of demonising the choice made by voters in the referendum\u2019.[41]<\/p>\n

Secondly, sophistry and selective time travel: if you claim these attacks are post-Brexit, it means you deny hate existed previously \u2013 as \u202fSpiked!<\/em>\u2019s Luke Gittos argued in \u2018Britain has not become racist overnight<\/a>\u2019.[42] In The Spectator<\/em>, Joanna Williams claimed<\/a> \u2013 as if exposing a lie \u2013 that\u202f\u2018the EU referendum hadn\u2019t even happened before it was linked to an increase in hate crime\u2019.[43] Yet, scapegoating and hate were factors in pressure for the referendum in the first place, and racists have become emboldened to express it more freely and intimately. You would think Gittos was highlighting pre-existing and ongoing structural and institutional racism. For years Spiked!<\/em> has been arguing that anti-racism is not needed like it was in the 1980s, ignoring all forms of racism unless it wears a swastika. As O\u2019Neill argued<\/a> in The Spectator<\/em>: \u2018there is a great disparity between the handwringing over hate crime and what Britain is actually like. The open racism even I can remember in the 1980s has all but vanished \u2026 The likes of the BNP and EDL have withered due to lack of interest\u2019.[44] Farage denied any responsibility for hate crime<\/a> and argued without a hint of irony: \u2018I destroyed the British National Party \u2013 we had a far-right party in this country who genuinely were anti-Jew, anti-Black, all of those things, and I came along, and said to their voters, if you're holding your nose and voting for this party as a protest, don't. Come and vote for me \u2013 I'm not against anybody, I just want us to start putting British people first, and I, almost single-handedly, destroyed the far right in British politics\u2019.[45] In 2014, BNP leader Nick Griffin stated<\/a> \u2018I will hold nose & vote UKIP because it will help break up the Westminster system & hold Cameron's feet to referendum fire\u2019.[46] Neither Farage nor O\u2019Neill seem to recognise that Brexit was aided by the far right \u2013 including UKIP, and the normalisation and mainstreaming of their ideas \u2013 as well as playing a role in the resurgence of such groups. In addition to an increase in hate incidents and attacks, the UK also saw far-right terror threats and arrests double in 2016<\/a>.[47] In the US, the SPLC has reported a rise in hate groups<\/a>, which they attribute to Trump\u2019s campaign and victory.[48]<\/p>\n

Thirdly, racialise the working class and reverse the racism: Gittos claimed that<\/a> \u2018the onset of panic has revealed how the very publications and commentators who once claimed to stand up for the working class in fact view working-class people as a violent, racist horde\u2019.[49]\u202fIt seems that every time someone claims racism or the far right is on the rise (and\/or evokes them when criticising Brexit), commentators assume that it is the working class being accused, that the working class is white, that a racist and xenophobic campaign speaks to them (because they have been \u2018left behind\u2019 by capitalism, repressed by anti-racism and political correctness and\/or abandoned by establishment parties and democracy), attribute the success of such campaigns to them, and then attack others for allegedly making the links they constructed. This argument or narrative follows from, accepts the terms of, or even draws upon the racialised and populist construction of the working class as white and the rightful inhabitants of the nation (if not embodiment of the nation) and, like it, under siege by foreigners and the forces of political correctness, perpetuated and mobilised by Leave.EU and UKIP (as the BNP had before them) and tied to the wider racialised nationalism that underpinned much Brexit racism. We see this narrative in criminologist Steve Hall\u2019s analysis of how UKIP and the wider far right have made inroads into the working class<\/a>, where Labour and the left used to be. He argues that UKIP \u2018publically dismissed the political correctness that the liberal middle class uses to censor the working class\u2019 and \u2018echoes the working class fear that immigrants are taking their jobs and undercutting their wages\u2019. He goes on to say \u2018the \u201canti-fascist\u201d left hurls abuse at them in the street, and the liberal press hasn\u2019t stopped calling them racists, misogynists, homophobes and knuckle-dragging Neanderthals for three decades. Some of the commentary after Brexit was positively eugenicist\u2014calling for the white working class to be bred out\u2019.[50] In terms of Brexit specifically, O\u2019Neill claims that the bigotry is from the elites against the demos<\/em><\/a>[51] and argues that \u2018Brexit Voters are not thick, not racist: just poor<\/a>\u2019, and that\u202f\u2018Britain\u2019s poor and workless have risen up\u2019.[52] He fails, like others, to consider the racial and political heterogeneity of the working class, poor and workless, or the class heterogeneity of Brexiters. According to research by Danny Dorling<\/a>, 52% of people who voted Leave lived in the southern half of England, and 59% were middle class, while the proportion of Leave voters in the lowest two social classes was 24%.[53] The argument about a populist working class insurgency represented not only Brexit but UKIP is also challenged by the latter\u2019s electoral loss to Labour<\/a> in the solidly 70% \u2018Leave\u2019 Stoke-on-Trent in the February 2017 byelection[54] (followed by losing their only MP<\/a>, when Douglas Carswell left the party the next month, but kept the Clacton seat he had held previously as a Tory before defecting to UKIP)[55]. In the US, it has been shown that Clinton actually lost more \u2018white working class\u2019 votes on Obama than Trump gained on Romney in 2012<\/a>.[56] Milo Yiannopoulos claimed that<\/a> \u2018Liberals have lots of theories for why working class whites abandoned them. The most obvious of which is their old standby, \u201cthey are racist\u201d\u2019.[57] Yet, Trump got the majority of white professional males with a college education<\/a> and over 40% of white professional females with a college education,[58] which points to race over class as a factor. Moreover, while Trump won the electoral college, he lost the popular vote<\/a> 46.4% to 48.5%,[59] and the voter turnout was only 55.4%<\/a> with Trump at 26.3%.[60]<\/p>\n

In addition to hate-crimes, in post-referendum Britain the government has been embracing or rewarding such politics with measures that resemble or signal fascism \u2013 including the proposal that employers hand over lists of foreigners<\/a>[61] and child refugees be subjected to medical tests<\/a>.[62] In the US, it is a border wall<\/a>,[63] deportations<\/a>,[64] and an attempted Muslim travel ban<\/a>.[65] There is also the ever-increasing list of those not considered \u2018people\u2019 based on a Brexit and Trump-only democracy test. The Daily Mail<\/em> ran the headline<\/a>: \u2018Whingeing. Contemptuous. Unpatriotic. Damn the Bremoaners and their plot to subvert the will of the British people\u2019.[66] Following the ruling that brought the triggering of Article 50 to that sovereign and democratic body Parliament, The Daily Mail<\/em>\u2019s headline was \u2018Enemies of the People\u2019 and The Sun<\/em>\u2019s \u2018Loaded foreign elite defy will of British people\u2019. The ruling followed a court case pursued by Gina Miller who was, as Rod Liddle noted in The Sunday Times<\/em>, \u2018not born in Britain\u2019 but \u2018British Guyana\u2019, adding \u2018although I suppose as \u201cleavers\u201d this is something we should gloss over in case we get called racist\u2019.[67] In the US, Trump labelled the media the \u2018enemy of the people\u2019<\/a> for criticising his administration.[68] In post-referendum Britain and Trump-era America, the category of \u2018people\u2019 is being narrowed further: not foreigners, Muslims, those deemed not British or American enough, those who did not vote for Brexit or Trump, critics, the media nor the judiciary.<\/p>\n

This blog post is part of an IPR series focused on the rise of racism and the far right. This collection of commissioned blog posts will be published as an IPR Policy Brief in summer 2017. Sign up to the IPR blog to get the latest blog posts, or join our mailing list<\/a> to receive invitations to our events and copies of our Policy Briefs<\/a>. This piece is based on an earlier article<\/a> by Dr Aaron Winter, published June 2016 on <\/em>Open Democracy.<\/em><\/p>\n

References<\/strong><\/p>\n

[1] Cobain, Ian. 2016, 14 Nov. \u2018Jo Cox killed in \u2018brutal, cowardly\u2019 and politically motivated murder, trial hears\u2019. The Guardian. https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/uk-news\/2016\/nov\/14\/jo-cox-killed-in-politically-motivated-murder-trial-thomas-mair-hears
\n[2] Bartlett, Evan. 2016, 17 June. \u2018Britain First is angry the entire group is being tarnished by one man, fail to see the irony\u2019. Indy100. https:\/\/www.indy100.com\/article\/britain-first-is-angry-the-entire-group-is-being-tarnished-by-one-man-fail-to-see-the-irony--bylAyAGqI4Z
\n[3] Pride, Tom. 2016, June. 18. \u2018Photograph of Jo Cox murder suspect campaigning with far-right group Britain\u00a0First\u2019. Pride\u2019s Purge. https:\/\/tompride.wordpress.com\/2016\/06\/18\/photograph-of-jo-cox-murder-suspect-campaigning-with-far-right-group-britain-first\/
\n[4] Gardner, Tony. 2016, 21 Nov. \u2018Images of inside home of man accused of killing Jo Cox shown to jury\u2019. Yorkshire Evening Post. http:\/\/www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk\/news\/crime\/photos-images-of-inside-home-of-man-accused-of-killing-jo-cox-shown-to-jury-1-8249792
\n[5] Stone, Ian 2016, 17 June. \u2018Jo Cox death: Alleged killer Tommy Mair \u2018bought gun-making manual from far-right neo-Nazi group\u2019\u2019. The Independent. http:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/uk\/politics\/alleged-killer-of-mp-jo-cox-bought-gun-making-manual-from-far-right-neo-nazi-group-a7086911.html
\n[6] Stewart, Heather, Yuhas, Alan and Walker, Peter. 2017, 16 Jan. \u2018Donald Trump's first UK post-election interview: Brexit a \u2018great thing\u2019\u2019. The Guardian. https:\/\/amp.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2017\/jan\/15\/trumps-first-uk-post-election-interview-brexit-a-great-thing
\n[7] Oppenheim, Maya. 2017, 20 Jan. \u2018Nigel Farage praises Donald Trump at his inauguration party: \u2018President Trump is Brexit plus plus plus\u2019\u2019. The Independent. http:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/americas\/nigel-farage-donald-trump-inauguration-party-praise-brexit-plus-introvert-larger-than-life-a7537606.html
\n[8] Woolf, Nicky and Elgot, Jessica. 2016, 22 Nov. \u2018Nigel Farage would be great UK ambassador to US, says Donald Trump\u2019. The Guardian. https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/politics\/2016\/nov\/22\/nigel-farage-uk-ambassador-us-donald-trump
\n[9] Wright, Oliver. 2016, 19 June. \u2018Nigel Farage says he is a victim of political hatred in response to Jo Cox question\u2019. The Independent. http:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/uk\/politics\/nigel-farage-jo-cox-dead-murdered-peston-brexit-eu-referendum-ukip-political-hatred-a7089996.html
\n[10] O\u2019Neill, Brendan. 2016, 19 June. \u2018Jo Cox: don\u2019t use this tragedy to tame democracy\u2019. Spiked!. http:\/\/www.spiked-online.com\/newsite\/article\/jo-cox-dont-use-this-tragedy-to-tame-democracy\/18470#.WCBlafmLRPY:
\n[11] Greenwood, Chris and Brooke, Chris. 2016, 17 June. \u2018Police probe MP killer's mental care: Loner suspected of murdering Jo Cox was 'in crisis' and sought help from health counsellor just 24 hours before attack\u2019.\u00a0Daily Mail. http:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-3647461\/Loner-suspected-murdering-MP-Jo-Cox-crisis-sought-help-health-counsellor-just-24-hours-attack.html#ixzz4bPOeksdU
\n[12] Slawson, Nicola. 2016, 18 June. \u2018Jo Cox murder accused gives name as \u2018death to traitors, freedom for Britain\u2019\u2019. The Guardian. https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/uk-news\/2016\/jun\/18\/jo-cox-murder-suspect-thomas-mair-told-police-he-was-political-activist?CMP=share_btn_tw
\n[13] Barlett, Evan. 2016, 17 June.
\n[14] Neiwert, David and Posner, Sarah. 2016, 21 Sept. \u2018Meet the Horde of Neo-Nazis, Klansmen, and Other Extremist Leaders Endorsing Donald Trump\u2019. Mother Jones. http:\/\/www.motherjones.com\/politics\/2016\/09\/trump-supporters-neo-nazis-white-nationalists-kkk-militias-racism-hate
\n[15] Bradner, Eric. 2016, 29 Feb. \u2018Donald Trump stumbles on David Duke, KKK\u2019. CNN. http:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2016\/02\/28\/politics\/donald-trump-white-supremacists\/
\n[16] Toynbee, Polly. 2016, 17 June. \u2018The mood is ugly, and an MP is dead\u2019. The Guardian. https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/2016\/jun\/16\/mood-ugly-mp-dead-jo-cox
\n[17] Trilling, Daniel. 2016, 17 June. \u2018Jo Cox, Brexit and the Politics of Hate\u2019. The New York Times. https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2016\/06\/17\/opinion\/jo-cox-brexit-and-the-politics-of-hate.html?_r=1
\n[18] O\u2019Neill, Brendan. 2017, 17 June.
\n[19] Spiked!. 2016, 12 June. \u2018Hate speech is\u00a0free\u00a0speech\u2019. Spiked! http:\/\/www.spiked-online.com\/newsite\/article\/hate-speech-is-free-speech\/18444#.WMlpL4XXLAx
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Dr Aaron Winter is Senior Lecturer\u00a0in Criminology\u00a0and Criminal Justice at the\u00a0University of East London. When Labour MP for Batley and Spen Jo Cox was murdered by Thomas Mair in Birstall, West Yorkshire on 16 June 2016, I thought it could...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":738,"featured_media":651,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[132,125,129],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-law","category-racism-and-the-far-right","category-uk-politics"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/iprblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/115\/2017\/04\/guns-1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/iprblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/iprblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/iprblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/iprblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/738"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/iprblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/iprblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/iprblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/iprblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/iprblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/iprblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}