ROBERT FIORE, TWO FASCIST CHARITIES & THE NEW CHARITY COMMISSION CHAIR DAME JULIA UNWIN by Larry O’Hara 4/12/25
BACKGROUND
Notes from the Borderland #1 (hereafter NFB) p.3-5 (PDF here) exclusively revealed now defunct fascist group the International Third Position (ITP) had ‘religious’ charity shops which were mere fronts, aiding a racist Spanish village project. The ITP were a fragmentary spin-off from the Official National Front, which dissolved in 1990: for an outline of who they were see p.6 issue 1.
We have covered this complicated web of subterfuge and dissimulation since: in #2 and more substantially #4 p.3-4 here. A recent Sunday Telegraph article (23/11/25)–see here–raked (selected) embers of this story, notably Forza Nueva head Fiore’s past involvement with both the National Front & ITP, especially the St George Educational Trust (hereafter SGET) racket, and thereby piqued our interest. Fiore has always been media box office here and in Italy, not least because he initially fled to England because wanted for questioning over the 1980 Bologna bombing (now commonly accepted he was not involved) and more recently for fascist violence during Italy’s Covid lock-down: see NFB 12 p.61: here. Those more recently running the SGET (not Fiore himself as far as is known) used the organisation to hoard gold bullion (£30,000) and make fraudulent grant aid claims (£80,455). Covered in an interim Charity Commission Report (May 2025)–see here.
We found it particularly amusing the Sunday Telegraph should publish this new spin, not least because back in the day this same paper subsequently ran our exclusive, myself credited as doing the research, but no mention of NFB magazine of course. This microscopic credit did not go un-remarked by the ITP: Final Conflict magazine subscriber’s bulletin commented “we noticed that Larry O’Hara had a hand in this smear job…this vermin…is now dishing out disinformation on the nationalist movement, and not for the first time either”.
Fascinating to connoisseurs of the obscure (like us) this story may be, the big question: why has this tale hit the headlines now? After all the May 2025 report of SGET skulduggery barely created a ripple in the media pond, never mind a major splash. There are two answers to this question, one general the other specific.
As regards the general reason, the Charity Commission (hereafter mostly CC) has been criticised for three things over the years. Firstly, it tends to prioritise investigating and censuring Islamic charities: about which this current government couldn’t care less, except for the fact that in key constituencies they are threatened by an organised Muslim vote: hence the need to appear concerned about such things. Secondly, that the CC turns a blind eye to ultra-Zionist genocide facilitators like the misnamed ‘Campaign Against Anti-Semitism’, who (of course) falsely claim they are victims of CC over-reach: see here. That of course will bother the government even less, not least because the CC is overseen by Labour Together plotter/Labour Friend of Israel, Lisa Nandy. Third point is that CC ‘investigations’ (such as they are) often move at a pace that would make a snail blush, if that were possible: see here for example.
A specific reason for this article, and the timing, is Nandy has recently announced a new CC Chair, Dame Julia Unwin (of impeccably pseudo-Leftist Joseph Rowntree Trust among others), and (would you believe it) her pre-appointment hearing before the Culture Media & Sport Select Committee was on 25/11/25, a mere two days after this article: see here. Fancy That, as Heidi would say. It seems almost beyond dispute that this article was intended to generate a ‘feel good’ vibe about the embattled CC (after all nobody likes fascists) thereby smoothing the way for Dame Julia’s taking over (and £62,500 pa for 2.5 days ‘work’ per week isn’t a bad little earner). Her appointment as Chair was confirmed yesterday (3/12/25): see here. As for the willing journalist, Patrick Sawer, a free story was thrust into his grubby paws. Win-Win all round. Or was it? Read on.
THE RECENT STORY REVIEWED
The article has glaring omissions/errors: while some may be accidental or even incidental, all certainly aren’t. To be precise, Sawer:
- Does not mention who actually fronted the bogus charity shops, yet they were integral to the scam. It was not the SGET, headed originally by Fiore until ex-Norwich NF member Michael Fishwick took over in 1999 (it was primarily a propaganda/publishing arm) but a related ITP Charity, The Trust of St Michael the Archangel (hereafter TSMA). Thus, SGET literature was sold in them, but the TSMA ran the four English premises, plus one in Ireland.
- Seems totally unaware the death of veteran Nazi John Gaster was believed by at least one witness to be a direct result of him being assaulted as a presumed source for NFB magazine’s coverage (he wasn’t) and some facts appearing in the Sunday Telegraph (he was). The assault, and motives, were mentioned at his 1998 inquest but ignored by the coroner, who was far more interested in finding out who the people were who raised the issue than what they actually said. Not normal coroner protocol in my (extensive) experience. That very frightened witness (who did not dare attend) made a number of statements. We have seen them, were Sawer diligent, he should have too. Or was he directed to leave that can of worms unopened? Certainly, when I spoke to the coroner’s officer before the Gaster inquest, he spontaneously brought up Fiore’s name, though wouldn’t provide his own. Yet at the inquest, to incredulity from some present, the coroner denied any connection between Fiore and Gaster. A lie.
- Not mentioning the TSMA, always associated in past coverage with the SGET (see for example front page London Evening Standard piece ‘Charity Shops Are Front For Fascists’ Colin Adamson 12/8/99), allows Sawer to avoid delving into Gaster’s death (as the original Sunday Telegraph piece only covered the TSMA), it also means Sawer (disgracefully) covers up the Charity Commission’s connivance for many years that allowed Fiore and associates to continue using the charities for far right/nefarious purposes.
- In case you think that an exaggeration consider this Charity Commission report (one of a number) into both the TSMA & SGET dating from as far back as 2/6/01. It concludes by saying “in view of the previous association between the charities and ITP, the Charity Commission will be monitoring the activities of both charities very closely in the future and ITP as a very serious issue and take action accordingly”. Dissociation did not happen, nor did meaningful ‘action’. Contrast it with Sawer’s weasel words: after stating Fishwick became SGET Chairman in 1999 replacing Fiore and (another ITP/ex-NF member) Colin Todd, his article immediately leaps forward over 20 years to say “But it was Fiore’s continued influence and activities within this far-Right milieu which eventually proved to be the downfall of the charity he founded. In April 2025 the Charity Commission (CC) finally wound up SGET and banned the trustees from holding such a position again”. The final investigation (if we can call it that) by the CC was very tardy, launched in October 2022 because “behind the scenes…[Fiore] was suspected of continuing to benefit from the work of the SGET”.
- In reality therefore, both charities were ones the CC effectively turned a blind eye to, including the question of Fiore involvement, over so many years that the CC gave them a de facto license to continue operating unhindered by anything so tedious as regulation (see for example David Pallister ‘Neo-fascist clear to resume charity role’ The Guardian 6/8/99, and for TSMA Elizabeth Nash/Kim Sengupta ‘Neo-Nazi group sets up camp in Spanish Village’ The Independent 15/11/99). In one respect, like a stopped clock being right at least once a day, Sawer does hit the nail on the head, quoting one Joshua Farbridge, head of the laughably named CC Compliance Visits and Inspection Unit as saying “I have no doubt the public will be shocked”. I agree, but not particularly by the bullion/fraudulent Gift Aid claims, but at the Charity Commission pretending they have been anything other than complicit in allowing this type of activity and fascist proselytising to flourish unchecked for so many years.
- All the above means while Sawer covers in passing the allegation undercover cop Carlo Soracchi (cover name Carlo Neri: HN104 in Undercover Police Inquiry nomenclature) incited two Socialist Party members to firebomb the Maida Vale Charity shop, owned by Fiore (See here and here), he does not disclose that this shop (while owned by Fiore) was not run by the SGET but rather the TSMA (headed by another former NF member Alan Rowland). The TSMA was itself closed in 2016 but extraordinarily (or maybe not) it does not feature. Yet it was the crucial initial role played by NF (and later ITP) strategist Derek Holland in the Trust of St Michael The Archangel under an assumed name that was central to our obtaining hard evidence both were ITP fronts in the first place: which then led to Fiore. And it was our story that provided (unintentionally) Soracchi with his pretext.
- Perhaps a minor point, but Sawer does not seem to have grasped the real reasons for the antagonism between former Trustee (and NF/ITP member) Colin Todd and those later in control of the SGET.
THE FIORE AS MI6 ASSET QUESTION
A prominent theme in the article is recycling yet again the allegation Fiore may have been an MI6 asset: though this fact would hardly worry Sunday Telegraph readers, would it? Quite possibly he was, but as reported in the latest Notes From the Borderland #12 p.61: see here, hardly news, the sealing of relevant state files concerning Fiore was disclosed by an Italian journalist following an FOI request in 2023. 1980’s Tory governments were certainly capable of colluding with spooks to avoid extraditing Fiore (remember Agent Stakeknife). This would not, however, explain why extradition (consistently requested by Italian governments until their statute of limitations prevented it) did not happen when New Labour were in power 1997-2010. There was an intense propaganda campaign once Blair took office seeking Fiore’s extradition (e.g. see Gerry Gable ‘Safe Haven’ The Guardian 4/8/98). This so worried Fiore he sent a letter (31/9/99) pleading aggrieved innocence far & wide: let’s hope they weren’t delivered by Italian skinhead rent collectors…
However, having reviewed relevant correspondence I am not totally convinced of the collusion argument (yet)—letters to Alf (now Baron) Dubs MP from Leon Brittan (22/7/85) and Douglas Hurd (29/10/85) seem plausible on the surface. As Hurd put it “the Italian government’s request that Mr Fiore be extradited failed [in 1981 NFB] because the Bow Street magistrate concluded that the prima facie requirement in the Extradition Act 1870 had not been satisfied. This was because the Italian evidence was inadmissible, either because it was hearsay or, in the case of evidence from accomplices, because the magistrate was not satisfied that such witnesses were obliged by Italian law to tell the truth…the crime of which Mr Fiore was convicted is not one which is likely to correspond to our law. It may not therefore, be a sound basis for extradition”. That of course was then, 1985: now, in 2025, octogenarians opposing genocide are called terrorist just for holding up placards.
Returning to the Fiore as MI6 asset hypothesis, are we seeing a rerun of that eternal conflict between MI5/SO15 (formerly Special Branch) and MI6? A potential indicator is another recent Sawer activity: harassing anti-genocide activists and journalists on their doorstep at the apparent behest of Zionist ‘Charity’ Stop the Hate UK: see here. Sawer harassing one man who has lost 80 family members in the Gaza genocide is, all things considered, a journalistic depth it is impossible to sink any lower than. A proper journalist would investigate ‘Stop The Hate UK’s’ charitable status, but of course Sawer won’t: see also here
OUR INTERIM CONCLUSION
The most likely motive for this trip down Memory Lane, and it’s timing, isn’t inter-agency rivalry (for why now?) but to place a positive spin (by airbrushing out the facts) on the Charity Commission’s chronic dereliction of their regulatory duty, despite them having for so long determinedly looked the other way regarding Fiore and his fascist friends. Thus, while pre-emptively trying to dampen down any criticism that might arise when their final report into SGET is published, under the new Chair, if the whole matter is scrutinised properly, the CC will, and should, be cast in a bad light. Though given the poor state of British journalism, highly unlikely. Is Sawer just spoon-fed stories by spooks/selected interest groups/state agencies, without either the ability or will to investigate for himself? If so, he will no doubt rise to an even more elevated position than Sunday Telegraph ‘Senior Reporter’. Next!
As stated, NFB will return to this subject in print. When it suits us….
| .. |
About The Author
