Epping activist arrest sparks new Homeland spat

NOTE: This article was published on 2 September 2025Former Homeland Party activist Callum Barker, one of the leading figures in the far-right protests at the Bell Hotel in Epping, was arrested in Epping at the weekend. He was later bailed without charge. For the usual legal reasons we cannot comment on the circumstances or potential…

NOTE: This article was published on 2 September 2025
Callum barker
Arrested – Callum Barker

Former Homeland Party activist Callum Barker, one of the leading figures in the far-right protests at the Bell Hotel in Epping, was arrested in Epping at the weekend. He was later bailed without charge.

For the usual legal reasons we cannot comment on the circumstances or potential charges, but we can report that his arrest has sparked even more hysterical accusations between former “comrades” in the Homeland Party.

Barker has been at the forefront of the Epping protests and is one of the co-admins of the main local online organising group.

Major success

Until the recent split Epping was being offered up by Homeland as a major success for Smith’s strategy of ‘sensible nationalism’.

Although he wasn’t one of the core rebels, Barker joined the faction led by hardcore racists and antisemites Steve Laws and Sam Wilkes, who have spent the past two days baiting their former leader Kenny Smith.

Kenny Smith in street brawl
Kenny Smith being restrained in Cheltenham street brawl

The portly duce, now also embroiled in a row about his involvement in a drunken brawl in Cheltenham, is uncomfortably stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Laws and Wilkes demanded that he post some show of support for Barker, but Smith knew that if he did so the same people would condemn him for trying to exploit a man who is no longer a Homeland member.

You’re so fucking cucked holy shit

Sam Wilkes to Kenny Smith

When the official Homeland X account did eventually make a guarded statement about “former member Callum Barker” having been arrested and that they hoped he was “receiving practical support from those around him”, Wilkes’ responded within five minutes with a stream of insults – “You’re so fucking cucked holy shit”.

The barb in Homeland’s post might have some truth. Wilkes and Laws can produce a non-stop output of Holocaust denial and other racist bile, but they haven’t shown much aptitude for practical politics and the chances of their having a viable legal strategy are close to zero.


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