About Nick Lowles ‘Codename Arthur’ (2021) With Special Reference To Vile Personal Attacks Therein (Larry O’Hara 4/5/24)
As part of the sequence of events triggered by the then forthcoming Netflix documentary ‘Nail-Bomber Manhunt’ in 2021, Nick Lowles, formerly of Searchlight and now CEO of professional grifters Hope Not Hate, decided to write (or more accurately cobble together) this book. That there was during the period in question no actual Agent/infiltrator called Arthur has been fully explored in The Soho Nail-Bombing Scandal Revisited – Notes From The Borderland so no need to repeat the proofs advanced there, nor criticise that atrocious documentary: covered there too. My focus here is two aspects of the book, plus one arising from Lowles’ recent activities.
- Basic errors of fact/interpretation regarding the Far Right that book contains: hardly surprising as whole chunks have been copied and pasted from old articles in Searchlight, itself in the day a legendary source of misinformation/disinformation and plain factual inaccuracy.
- More seriously, after Nail-Bomber Manhunt was screened, and I contacted the producers pointing out key inaccuracies (putting it mildly) they did not reply to me, but did contact Lowles. He hurriedly (I am not even in the index) inserted outrageous and provable lies about me personally into the book. Every cloud (or maybe just most) has a silver lining, and him doing this provides an opportunity to communicate to a new audience just what Lowles/Searchlight themselves got up to in the 1990’s, along the way showing those lies to be just that.
- Lowles incessantly rattles his begging bowl claiming to be a ‘victim’ of putative fascist violence: it is legitimate therefore to explore by comparison just what violence Searchlight/Lowles had in mind for me, and I suspect still do….
THE MORE GLARING INACCURACIES/OMISSIONS
The ‘Battle of Waterloo’ (Station) where anti-fascists routed Far Right Blood & Honour Supporters was in fact in 1992, not 1991 as stated (p.23)
The British National Party leadership were not behind the intriguing ‘Blue Book’ claiming the Sargent brothers were state assets within C18: it was in fact Will Browning, aided by Searchlight/state asset Darren Wells. Indeed, given Wells was involved, the text may well have originated with MI5 (p.35/102)
The Lead singer in Far Right band ‘Brutal Attack’ is in fact Ken McLellan, not ‘Ken McKellan’ (p.51)
The ‘Mindbenders’ was indeed an anti-Semitic publication Nick Griffin (then of the BNP) was involved with: but interesting the key role of Dr Mark Deavin was not mentioned….(p.67)
Matthew Collins is quoted describing the friendliness of ex-BNP National Organiser Richard Edmonds: but not Tim Hepple (see below) who said much the same things (p.81)
It is claimed Searchlight in 1999 ran up to 20 Far Right Sources, 10 in C18: an internal Searchlight report (cited in the Soho pamphlet) indicates this is a lie (p.85)
US Neo-Nazi Eric Thompson coined the term ZOG (short for Zionist Occupation Government) in 1976, not William Pierce in ‘The Turner Diaries’–published 1978. He used the term but did not originate it (p.99-100)
Hilariously, we are told Mark Collett “hopes one day to lead the party” i.e. the BNP. In fact he has long left what is now a will-chasing shell anyway, and heads up ‘Patriotic Alternative’… (p.148)
One of the assets now called ‘Arthur’ is described as attending a National Socialist Movement (NSM) meeting in Chelmsford November 1997 (p.102). While true, the NSM is also described as having been set up in Summer 1998 (p.101)–incorrect: in fact the NSM was founded June 1997.
There are more, but the above gives a flavour: Lowles is as careless with facts as his now dumped mentor (Gerry Gable of Searchlight) and like him adept at twisting the truth/omitting salient facts. This wouldn’t matter except for the fact some people mistake Lowles for an expert.
THE SERIOUS (AND LIBELLOUS) POISON IN CODENAME ARTHUR
As mentioned at the start of this piece, Lowles hastily inserted numerous falsehoods about me in Code Name Arthur (hereafter CA). Before getting to the detail a bit of background….
1. A Life-long anti-fascist, I first crossed swords with Searchlight when I intervened in (but did not initiate, note) a 1991 debate in Left magazine Labour Briefing.
2. I moved up their hate-list because in 1993 I helped Green Anarchist & Class War expose and undermine the activities of Searchlight/state asset Tim Hepple. This was in two publications: A Lie Too Far; Searchlight Hepple & The Left: largely out of print (we do sell odd copies on Ebay and will put it on this site as a PDF soon) and the definitive ‘At War With The Truth’: follow link for a summary, original still available (just)–At War With The Truth – Notes From The Borderland. This was a direct response to Searchlight’s intervening pamphlet ‘At War With Society’. We had held information back from A Lie Too Far because we feared full early disclosure would mean At War With Society was never published! As it was, once we put out At War With the Truth Searchlight discarded Hepple, explaining why he has vanished from their public record. Confirming thereby that was the right thing to do.
ON THE LEFT IS AWWS WHICH IT WAS HOPED WOULD LAUNCH HEPPLE’S CAREER. ON THE RIGHT IS AWWT WHICH ENDED IT. …
3. For reference, showing fact is stranger than fiction, this Nazi thug changed his name to Tim Matthews and began infiltrating the circle of those interested in UFOs. After pleas for help we exposed him there too: see for an outline At War With The Universe: NFB Pamphlet #1 – Notes From The Borderland
4. For more precise detail on my dealings with Searchlight, Leftist/Anti-Fascist allegiance/activities and the views of others (such as ex-CIA whistleblower the late Philip Agee) on my research check out this (free) item– SEARCHLIGHT FICTION PULPED – ENTIRE TEXT – Notes From The Borderland
The salient point in all the above: none of which Searchlight/Lowles have refuted, is that in the early 1990’s a Searchlight/state asset, Hepple, infiltrated Left/Anarchist circles and set them up for attack by circulating hit-lists. I was instrumental in helping both Green Anarchist and Class War foil those attempts. Appreciating those proven facts will help you see how dishonest lies by Lowles about me in Code Name Arthur really are. They could be seen as, and probably are, a form of transference, whereby Lowles projects his/Searchlight’s own past activities onto me. Not having it.
THE ALLEGATIONS OUTLINED/REFUTED
This background established, taking the allegations in order (all from p.60/61 of CA)
1.There is reference to Paul Ballard (Croydon BNP) having (at some point in the mid-1990’s?) “interactions with Larry O’Hara, a so-called independent researcher who saw spies and conspiracies at every turn“
–needless to say, there were no such ‘interactions’ other than me subscribing (under my own name) to Croydon BNP magazine The Rune for back issues. I was cheekily (as I never disguised my political views) offered the opportunity to write for them which I of course ignored. End of.
–as for spies & conspiracies at every turn, not so: while NFB looks at spooks, conspiracy theorists (eg 9/11 & 7/7 cultists) hate us. We do look at the political fringe in its entirety, as well as spooks, and would not reduce politics to spookery. As my PhD shows for example.
–regarding “so-called independent researcher” I suggest interested parties look at my PhD, on the National Front 1986-90. No ‘so-called’ about it, my research is academically robust. Amusingly, I believe a two page attack on me in Searchlight (January 1997) alleging my “claims..to be writing a PhD thesis on contemporary fascism strain the limits of…academic credibility” was authored by failed PhD student Craig Fowlie (aka Cato) about whom lots more soon! In any event, check out http://borderland.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Lawrence-OHara-PhD-Thesis-1.zip
2. Next, a tiny sliver of truth, mixed with a lie: “O’Hara had asked Searchlight for permission to visit our archive, but on being refused, set out on a mission to destroy us by claiming that we were an MI5 front“
–in my early days of looking into the NF (late 1980’s) I did approach Searchlight, which went nowhere. At the same time, extensive contact with local anti-fascist groups increasingly elicited a common story: Searchlight gathered intelligence, but fed nothing of value back to anti-fascists. This then got me thinking, so I began examining their history which I had paid little attention to before, handily summarised in my Searchlight for Beginners
–I would not say Searchlight were a ‘front’ more a little-trusted and plausibly deniable occasional subcontractor. Who in their right mind could read the infamous 1977 GABLE MEMO: PROVING MI5 LINKS and not come to that conclusion?
3. At this point Lowles really gets carried away, claiming I “even produced a pamphlet claiming that all journalists who had used our information or quoted us in articles were MI5 agents too“
–he really is in La-La Land here, for the publication Turning Up The Heat covered the activities of MI5 after the Cold War: in relation to Scottish Nationalists/Welsh Nationalists/Red Action/Animal Rights Activists/Fascists/Anti-Fascists and so on. Needless to say, that publication said no such thing.
4. “In June 1996, Ballard admitted to the others that he had supplied O’Hara with information on the far right and possible Searchlight moles in return for O’Hara supplying him with information on the anarchist group, Class War“
–I cannot say what Ballard may (or may not) have claimed in a pub, other than to say of course no such information was supplied by me to him, or obtained from him.
–as indicated elsewhere (eg the Soho Nail-Bombing pamphlet) I certainly didn’t then (nor do I now) need fascist help to work out who Searchlight/Hope Not Hate moles are. Indeed, apart from Rushton (who has targeted me for attack) precisely because I am an anti-fascist I have not disclosed the identities of others who may (with the exception of Darren Wells/Tortoise) have genuinely believed themselves to be aiding anti-fascism. As will be disclosed, Wells does not come into that category.
–an indication Lowles is really projecting onto me his own/Searchlight’s activities is reference to Class War. For Class War (CW) were one target of their agent Hepple as outlined in A Lie Too Far/At War With the Truth: hence a little detour…
SEARCHLIGHT, CLASS WAR & ME
For those too young to remember, back in the day Class War were a refreshingly iconoclastic anarchist group, founded 1983. Unlike most anarchists (who spent/spend time scrutinising Proudhon’s dental records/reminiscing about the away defeat in Spain 1936-39) CW were decidedly activist. They organised ‘Bash The Rich’ marches, and a notable feature of their newspaper was ‘Hospitalised Copper’, which rather speaks for itself. In the 1980’s a former (note the word) fascist Tim Scargill became involved in CW. Often under the cosh from the state, Searchlight aided by Met Police/MI6 journalistic mouthpiece David Rose sought to smear the group as fascist, unsuccessfully. For more detail on CW have a look at Ian Bone’s book ‘Bash The Rich…
As part of the complex plot to set up first Green Anarchist and, when that failed, Tim Scargill of CW (for detail see A Lie Too Far/At War With The Truth), in Tim Hepple’s supposed autobiography ‘At War With Society’ (July 1993) Searchlight said this:
“Paul Ballard was a long time friend and comrade of Tim Scargill, alias Wright, who was at that time a leading light in Class War, a member of Militant and an animal rights activist. While playing political footsie with anti-fascist activists Scargill was also urging Ballard to get his people to attack an anarchist bookshop…The story from Croydon BNP, related to me on three separate occasions…is that Scargill meets them regularly and that they are in close contact still, after all these years” (pages 26/27)
–in which case, while I do not believe these claims about Scargill true, if they were, why on earth would Ballard, shortly after, need me to supply information on a group, CW, I have never been a member of? Ludicrous. If untrue, as I believe, those who utter despicable calumnies like this about Scargill thereby render null and void any similar claims about anybody else, me included.
–an important indication these claims by Lowles about me and Ballard are fabrications is the fact an extensive two page Searchlight attack on me in January 1997 (demolished in Searchlight Fiction Pulped) says not a word about my supposed collaboration with Ballard/Griffin etc. Instead has an entirely different cast (Charlie Sargent/Alexander Baron/Mark Taha/Patrick Harrington/Steve Brady/Julius Streicher/Herman Goering etc. etc.). Yet if true I was spying on Class War for fascists, would this not be a rather important thing to mention, if not in print surely to them privately? CW contacts active at the time inform me Searchlight never approached them about what would be, if true, a major security breach. Rather confirming this is mendacious fiction.
–All this makes me believe that, like lies about when he identified Nazi Nail-Bomber David Copeland in 1999, ‘Arthur’ is lying here too, or at the very least, fictitious words are being put into his mouth. Come out of the mythical shadows ‘Arthur’ and do elaborate….
DETOUR OVER…
5. There follows a further account of this supposed conversation between Ballard and others I am obviously not in a position to say happened, referring to Ballard defending “his decision to collude with O’Hara, claiming that the researcher had already exposed two Searchlight moles over the previous few years“
–given there was no such collusion, and our only source for this conversation is a supposed ‘Agent Arthur’ who as such never existed, again lacking credibility.
6. To further double-down on lies, it is claimed that “over the next few months, Arthur was to learn of another south London BNP member who was supplying O’Hara with information on possible Searchlight moles and was present when Nick Griffin also encouraged people to send him information on people they suspected“
–How interesting if this South London member turns out to have been Arthur 3, who sent suspicious unsolicited emails to us, though not concerning ‘moles’.
–more seriously, these lying toads (‘Arthur 2’ and Lowles) here make an allegation about Nick Griffin I have no reason to think is true, and again, rely on the testimony of an anonymous coward (Arthur).
7. The best is last: Lowles claims “armed with the information O’Hara was colluding and even trading information with fascists we understandably had little time for the conspiracy theorist. Fortunately no-one else did either“
–such drivel may impress Vernon/Barr (aka Dumb & Dumber) whose research capacity is exceeded by Muffin the Mule, however in the real world…
–how does this square with the verifiable fact I have featured in Searchlight 25 times now, more than many fascists?
–even better, Lowles does not inform readers he, and colleague Steven Silver, illegally entered my then work-place in September 1993 and took my photograph, which later appeared in both Searchlight and on-line Nazi hitlist Redwatch. On which more below. The last time I saw this cowardly gimp, he and Silver were running away from me as fast as their little hamster legs would carry them.
–the real reason these lies about me were hastily inserted into CA is my critique of the atrocious Netflix Nail-Bomber Manhunt documentary, patently obvious.
–In any event as there was no collusion nobody could therefore have been ‘armed with information’ about it, so this claim is, putting it politely, a non sequitur.
HYPOCRISY WITHOUT LIMIT: LOWLES PLAYS THE VICTIM CARD
Every few months, as part of incessant begging for money from their marks, Hope Not Hate (especially Lowles) play the victim card, claiming to be targets of Far Right violence/surveillance/threats, as a result of which they need money, lots of it, frequently. The latest rattle of the bowl from Lowles dated 26/4/24 refers to one Marco Gill who “targeted me, my family and my colleagues constantly with threatening phone calls, nuisance deliveries and even paid someone to ‘swat’ me. It wasn’t until the police called me to say they apprehended him trying to buy a gun that we knew how dangerous the situation was”. Interestingly, the Hope Not Hate web-site comment the same day Gill was sentenced to 4 years jail for harassment/bomb hoaxes etc admits “the National Crime Agency never discovered why Gill bought a gun” (by post from the US: how stupid is that, but he was 18!), but nonetheless we can infer from the above Lowles thinks political violence against individuals, including the possible use of fire arms, is a bad thing, to be condemned, and I agree.
Contrast this, however, with Lowles/Searchlight actions regarding me personally. Putting to one side attempts by their/CST agent Peter Rushton to get me beaten up, how about what happened following Lowles/Silver taking my photograph at work in September 1993. The passage below is taken verbatim from Searchlight Fiction Pulped, but still relevant given Lowles claims to abhor political violence involving gun-play:
“Searchlight’s depiction of what is incontrovertibly me (a Catholic) in the June/August/September 1994 issues as a courier setting up meetings between Combat 18 and Ulster Loyalists for the purposes of drug-dealing. In June 1994 Searchlight posed the question “If [Charlie] Sargent is such a keen loyalist, why is he using a Catholic, who has posed as an antifascist researcher, as a courier to Ulster for meetings with a key Third Positionist…Our view is that his beliefs take second place to the potential profits from drug-dealing” (p.5). In the August issue they wrote that “Searchlight has heard from Protestant friends that the loyalists are furious with Charlie Sargent for using a Catholic to send his messages to political contacts in Northern Ireland. Their annoyance is not surprising when so many lucrative deals are going wobbly these days” (p.7). This was followed in the September 1994 issue by reference to Sargent “using a Catholic teacher from London to convey messages to a man called Kerr in Ulster…This would not be the first instance of a Catholic being involved with the UDA” (p.3). These lies were printed before an IRA ceasefire had been declared, at the very time ‘unfinished business’ was being undertaken by the IRA in the form of executing drug-dealers under the banner ‘Direct Action Against Drugs’. Thus, more than at any other time before or since, these insinuations were printed at precisely the right moment for them to have been potentially (and fatally for me) acted upon either by the IRA or trigger-happy Loyalist paramilitaries. I pointed out in my futile correspondence with the Press Complaints Commission that the figure referred to in these pieces was unquestionably me, something they refused to even comment on. Happily, that I was the person described was made crystal clear by Searchlight’s Graeme Atkinson in December 1995, who lied that “O’Hara has done occasional favours for Combat 18…His contact with Combat 18 is via its street leader Charlie Sargent, a criminally convicted drugs racketeer and thug…So now we know what O’Hara is: a political errand boy and confidante of nazi thugs, nazi terrorists, nazi drugs racketeers” (Atkinson/Internet p.5/6).
Not only was this a despicable set of lies, to refer again to it would remind Searchlight readers that anybody (especially a Catholic who occasionally visits Ireland) having this said about them is in principle in very real danger of being ‘taken out’. This was patently the purpose of such stories in the first place”
By way of a post-script, Searchlight in January 1997 published the photograph Lowles had taken, and explicitly named my workplace and the fact I lived in East London (where they harassed me too: one particularly choice stunt was giving my ex-directory number to a genuine funeral directors, who then rang me a year to the day after my mother had died about transferring her body to Liverpool. Nice: and I think it trumps 48 unwanted takeaways, don’t you?).
You will now hopefully see the relevance: this piece of excrement, Lowles, affects consternation that an 18 year old ordered a gun (for reasons not fully ascertained), yet he (Lowles) was a fully participating (and as CA shows clearly unrepentant) member of an organisation, Searchlight, that did its level best to set me up as a target for paramilitaries. No need to say more I don’t think. Other than next time those scum at Hope Not Hate beg for money, tell them where to shove it…
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