GROUP FOUNDED BY MAN ‘WHO LOVED HITLER’

NATIONAL Action (NA) was founded as an organisation with a membership holding extreme views in August 2013 by Benjamin Raymond and Alex Davies.

Davies was once quoted as saying “I don’t want to say what I’d do to Jews, it’s too extreme”, while Raymond had said: “There are non-whites and Jews in my country who all need to be exterminated”, adding he “loved Hitler”.

The group’s logo borrowed heavily from that of the Second World War Nazi organisation the SA, the Sturmabteilung, who were more widely known as the Brown Shirts.

NA was also known for its slick propaganda on social media, but also leaflets and stickers, with mottos such as “White Jihad” and “Britain is ours – the rest must go”.

It had its own Strategy and Promotion document calling for “extreme forms of racism and anti-Semitism”.

In total, 10 people have now been convicted or admitted membership of the terrorist group.

Its first demonstration was a banner drop in Birmingham in November 2013.

The organisation hit headlines when members voiced support for the murder in June 2016 of Labour MP Jo Cox by Thomas Mair, with its North East division’s Twitter account stating: “Vote Leave - don’t let this man’s sacrifice be in vain.

At its height it had between 70-100 members, recruiting mainly young people aged 15-29, but also trying – and succeeding in at least one case – to attract members of the Armed Forces.

It was banned by Home Secretary Amber Rudd on December 16, 2016 after a series of incidents, including its voicing support for the murder of Jo Cox.

Announcing the ban, Ms Rudd said: “National Action is a racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic organisation, which stirs up hatred, glorifies violence and promotes a vile ideology, and I will not stand for it.

“It has absolutely no place in a Britain that works for everyone.”

After the ban, the group’s membership re-branded and re-organised into several underground regional sub-units with names like Scottish Dawn, and NS131 - both since banned, in a bid to avoid detection.

The group had not carried out any terrorist attacks but was linked to a plot to kill Labour MP Rosie Cooper.