Dover is once again being lined up as a stage for the far right, with two rival demonstrations called for 23 May 2026. The lack of coordination between organisers is somehow typical of a movement increasingly defined by fragmentation and personal vanity rather than strategy.

The first call came from Shayne Wiskin, a conspiracy‑minded Restore Britain activist standing as an Independent in Newham.

Cockney everyman

Born in Milton Keynes and now styling himself as a Cockney everyman, Wiskin announced simultaneous protests in Dover, Ramsgate and Folkestone.

Although a Restore Britain supporter Wiskin is currently standing as an Independent candidate for Newham Council (in Plaistow West and Canning Town East ward), in east London, where he is deploying a heavy dose of “gor blimey, guvnor” Cockney schtick and has managed to upset West Ham United by using the team’s badge in his campaign material.

His online presence is a jumble of anti‑migrant rhetoric, self‑promotion and AI‑generated “creative” output from his MoonOwl Studios venture.

Then, only days later, prolific agitator Chris “Patriot Smithy” Smithy declared his own event at Dover Port, on the same day but starting at the implausibly early hour of 9am.

Their previous outing on 18 April was a familiar mix of bluster and under‑attendance. Around 20 activists managed to block lorries and throw eggs before police intervened. Wiskin was present at that event.

And the extensive footage posted by participants offers a revealing look at other individuals now orbiting the anti-migrant movement in the south-east.

One of the most prominent was Richard M Strange, a YouTube livestreamer whose personal circumstances are as chaotic as his politics.

Once a qualified electrician with his own business, Strange has spent recent years homeless, living in his car or a tent, relying on food banks and documenting his life as a “homeless stoner”.

His videos combine religious musings, cannabis use and far‑right grievance, with migrants and the government cast as the architects of his misfortune.

His Dover livestream shows marchers being stopped short of the Western Jet Foil landing site by port by‑laws, prompting them to spill into Lord Warden Square to obstruct traffic.

Lecturing police

Also playing a noisy role was Chas Symonds, a scaffolding firm boss, waste-clearance firm owner, glazing contractor, former super-welterweight boxer (nicknamed “the Croydon Bomber”) turned bare-knuckle / MMA (cage) fighter (he recently had a bout in Dubai), recovering substance-abuser and aspiring actor (he was in a film with Vinnie Jones once).

As well as filming himself at length (natch) he recorded himself confronting alleged refugees and lecturing police about supposed national decline.

Narcissist

Symonds’ social media accounts are stuffed to an extraordinary extent with photos of himself, in various states of narcissistic undress. Pride of place, though, goes to the photos of him with Tommy Robinson, Danny Tommo, Ant Middleton, Valentina Gomez and Liam Tuffs.

He does put himself about.

His Dover footage was amplified by social‑media personality “Based and Bougie”, who has become a regular at such events.

Local figure Andy Hood, a stalwart of Dover’s far‑right scene, appeared once again, wearing merchandise from Danny Tommo’s “Raise the Colours” brand.

Hood is involved with the YouTube channel “Real Brits Real Talk” and is Danny Tommo’s faithful oppo in the Dover area.

Terry’s a lovely chap: on the day of the massive far-right mobilisation / riot in Dover a decade ago, he and his equally far-right partner Michelle (“Shellie”) Holly – posted as follows:

One of the most notorious attendees at the recent outing was Terry Maher, instantly noticeable with his trolley, St George’s flag and two dogs.

He was arrested after eggs were thrown at a lorry.

Railway disruption

Maher has a colourful right-wing CV, having previously caused major disruption in 2019 when he climbed onto a railway viaduct near St Pancras wrapped in a St George’s flag, armed with a Stanley knife, and staged a 12‑hour Brexit protest.

The incident halted Eurostar services, led to the cancellation of 88 trains and cost an estimated £1 million. At trial, Maher was said to be experiencing significant mental health difficulties.

Police said that, at the time, it was “the single most expensive incident in the history of high-speed railway in Britain”.

Jail sentence

He was convicted of committing an unlawful act on the railway and of sending a malicious communication to his former partner, receiving a 12‑month jail sentence. He has since been spotted at other anti‑migrant protests, including in Lincolnshire.

Another element in the rich mix at Dover was the chap who managed to get himself arrested after he appeared on a live-stream (speaking to Will Coleshill of Resistance GB) at the Unite the Kingdom march in September 2025 saying that “Keir Starmer needs to be assassinated” and “someone needs to shoot Keir Starmer”.

At the time, he “identified himself as a former criminal from Kent who has spent 26 years in prison”.

‘Stitched up’

The day after the march, police said they had “arrested a 56-year-old man on suspicion of malicious communications. He was taken into custody and later released on bail pending further inquiries.”

The man has not been named, but there he was in Dover, in an Adidas top and sunglasses, complaining over a megaphone that he’d been stitched up (using AI, he rather implausibly suggested) and had never threatened to kill anyone.

He told the crowd that “this has caused my divorce, this has caused me losin’, basically, my whole fuckin’ life – what, and Danny Tommo can’t be arsed to turn up ‘ere?”

Exercising right of reply on Tommo’s behalf, Billy Cooper took to the megaphone to explain that Tommo’s bail conditions barred him from Dover, pleading that “he’s done enough for this country without people slagging him off”.

‘I’m on bail’

At first, this cut no ice with Adidas man, who retorted: “I’m on bail, mate! I shouldn’t be ‘ere! I’m still ‘ere!” But he did later apologise to the absent “Tommy Danno” (sic).

One person conspicuous by his absence was Kent’s most prominent anti-immigration agitator ‘Fash Harry’ Hilden who preferred the more august company of Paul Golding’s Britain First in Manchester, where he was allowed to speak from the platform (such as it was).

Hilden resurfaced in Kent the following weekend leading a poorly-attended St George’s Day ‘March for Kent’ in Maidstone, which morphed into a Restore Britain rally.

What united the cast recently assembled at Dover is less ideology than misfortune – chaotic lives in search of an explanation.

Whether more of them turn out on 23 May is almost beside the point.