One of the central figures in the most recent split in the Homeland Party has joined the British Democrats, a party he previously described as “geriatric”.

Kai Stephens, also known online as Barkley Walsh, joined the BDs just before Xmas and has since been appointed the party’s Norfolk organiser.

In the last few days he has been leading public activities in the area.

Prominence

Stephens first came to prominence within Patriotic Alternative before leaving in 2023 to join Homeland, a split from PA led by former PA deputy leader Kenny Smith.

Homeland tried to present itself as a more disciplined and electorally focused organisation, the party of “sensible nationalism”, but it all got a bit too sensible for Stephens who jumped ship last August.

Hardliner

At the time, this was unsurprising. Stephens is a hardliner who had become increasingly unhappy with Homeland’s strategy of attempting to launder extremism as a variety of “national conservatism”.

His fallout with Homeland began earlier, though, with an internal row over the appointment of a young gay man as the party’s Northern Ireland organiser.

Detractors

Party leader Kenny Smith fought off an attempt to get him to quit over the issue, and instead forced the resignation of his detractors, ‘Zoomer historian’ Sam Wilkes and his fellow-splitter Steve Laws, the increasingly deranged Dover-based online antisemite and racist.

When Stephens and others left shortly afterwards they quickly linked up with Laws and Wilkes. In fact, Wilkes drafted the open letter that Stephens and co published slagging off Homeland leader Kenny Smith.

Smith loyalists hit out at Stephens, calling him “a troubled young man who acts on impulse with little regard for others”, and claimed that the party had helped him out “during serious personal and legal difficulties”.

This referred to yet another complicated tale of strange sexual hang-ups and offensive online messages which led to a court case during 2023-24. The charges were eventually dropped.

Hardcore

The British Democrats have long acted as a landing ground for activists seeking a more conventional political vehicle without abandoning hardcore nationalist beliefs.

But it’s a bit of a surprise in the case of Stephens. If anything the British Democrats are trying to ‘out sensible’ even Homeland, and in August Stephens and his little group were discounting joining them because they were “too geriatric to be serious”.

But Stephens is said to be obsessed with stories of the early BNP/NF at the moment, and, apparently, “fixated” on the old guard. His most recent video traces the history of British fascism from Mosley to John Tyndall and the National Front.

And the guard doesn’t come any older than BD President Andrew Brons (78).

So Stephens will, we are sure, enjoy being regaled with tales of historic failure from the man who (we never tire of repeating) once described would-be synagogue bombers as “well-intentioned” and has never retracted it.

Realignment

Curiously, in all the talk on the far right about realignment, one of the most common themes is a link up between Homeland and the BDs. Indeed, there have been high level meetings to discuss this.

It is all still very tentative at the moment, and may end up going nowhere, but even so, Stephens may not be over the moon at the prospect – if indeed he knows anything about it.

Different directions

Others involved in the recent Homeland split-offs are moving in different directions.

Alexander Bramham, an out gay right-winger who thought he had found a welcome in a newly-enlightened Homeland only to discover that the members were as homophobic as ever, is now signed up with Alek Yerbury’s National Rebirth Party.

And Steve Laws us still sitting it out, waiting for Rupert Lowe to finally launch a fully-fledged political party, at which point he will sign up.