The Britain First organisation, which has invaded mosques and handed out Bibles to Muslims, is masterminded by a religious zealot with a criminal record for violence.
Although usually described as a splinter group of the far-right British National Party, its roots go deeper into the hardline Christian fundamentalist, anti-abortion movement.
Britain First has begun training followers in martial arts and has adopted a green-jacketed uniform. Five police forces have launched investigations into the party over allegations including public disorder and racial hatred. The East London Mosque, which it invaded on Monday, is to ask for an antisocial behaviour order on the group.
The organisation was founded by Jim Dowson, 49, a born-again Christian who was once a successful fundraiser for the BNP, amassing millions of pounds for the party. The chairman is Paul Golding, 32, a lorry driver and one-time BNP councillor who has spent much of this year being arrested in connection with the group’s publicity-seeking stunts.
Britain First said: “Mr Golding has not been charged with any offences.” Mr Golding last night strongly denied the allegations and insisted that none of the material he had distributed had a racial element.
To the distress of the family of the murdered soldier Lee Rigby, Mr Golding used the slogan “Remember Lee Rigby” on ballot papers for the European elections in Wales. Election day was the first anniversary of the killing and dozens of Britain First supporters commemorated it by marching through Brick Lane in east London, an area with a large Muslim population.
A second evangelical minister has publicly condemned Islam, comparing Muslim fundamentalists to Adolf Hitler. Pastor Paul Burns of Adullam Christian Fellowship Church in Sandy Row, south Belfast, contacted the Belfast Telegraph yesterday to voice support for 
Police have launched a probe into a a potential hate crime after an outspoken evangelical pastor defended describing the Islamic faith as “satanic” and a “doctrine spawned in hell”.
People Before Profit have condemned as “outrageous” the vandalism of a party member’s posters in north Dublin.
A judge has caused outrage after saying he thinks “Muslims feel they can actually beat their wives” during the trial of a Somali man accused of burglary at his former wife’s house.
