The ex-soldier who has raised £30k to fund anti-migrant protests
Richard Donaldson, 33, from Chester, is the leader of the Great British National Protest (GBNP), a group that has claimed to be behind 20 protests around the country.
The group is calling for further protests to take place outside named hotels this Saturday in Liverpool, Canary Wharf, Birmingham, Leeds, Exeter and Bristol.
• Why are we seeing anti-immigration protests again?
It has also shared a list purporting to show the locations of every hotel housing migrants in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland and called on its followers — of which there are almost 150,000 on Facebook — to protest outside them every Saturday 'for the foreseeable future … until they are all deported'.
Through a GoFundMe page, Donaldson has raised £31,000, which he says is used to pay for leaflets, megaphones, banners and lawyers fees 'to keep me out of jail'. He added: 'I never intend to break the law but with what I'm doing, I have no option but to push the boundaries as much as possible without crossing the line.'
In comments to The Times, he said that the money was also being used to fund 'covert investigations inside hotels'. The group claims to have recruited members of staff in migrant hotels who are willing to wear hidden body cameras to 'catch footage and gather intel'.
Neither he nor any members of his team had ever taken 'a penny' of the donated money for personal use, he said. The group is also selling merchandise branded with the GBNP emblem, including caps costing £19.50.
Donaldson served in army logistics for seven years and completed tours of duty to the Middle East. Since leaving the army, which he said had 'got quite woke', he has worked in retail management.
This year, he began uploading videos of himself to TikTok calling for a 'national strike' in protest against the government's policy on asylum, net zero and farming.
A 'strike', whose stated purpose was to 'stop the invasion and get Labour out', was organised in May in 77 towns and cities around the country but failed to attract large numbers.
Donaldson said that he started the movement because he was 'angry at the state of rapid decline' in the country and 'scared for my son's future and for all of our kids in the UK'.
He has voiced support for Nick Tenconi, leader of Ukip, who has made appearances at GBNP events. Since the Brexit referendum in 2016, which was Ukip's original raison d'etre, the party has re-emerged with a more radical agenda and has courted Tommy Robinson, the former leader of the English Defence League, as a potential ally.
Ukip has also been involved in organising anti-migrant protests and is calling for three 'mass deportation marches' to take place over the coming months.
Protests, organised by a variety of groups including far-right parties such as Homeland, have taken place across the country over the past month.
There are concerns that they could spiral out of control as was the case during the race riots of last summer when marauding gangs attempted to set fire to migrant hotels.
The Home Office has said that the number of hotels being used for asylum seekers has decreased from more than 400 in summer 2023 to less than 210.
It also announced plans to end the use of hotels to house migrants by 2029, which the Treasury says will save £1 billion a year.
However, Home Office figures show that more than 25,000 migrants have attempted to cross the Channel to the UK in small boats this year — the earliest the figure has been reached.
• Yvette Cooper's fast-track asylum plan revealed as protests erupt again
Over the weekend, 15 people were arrested when anti-migrant groups and counter-demonstrators clashed at protests in London and Newcastle, and before a march in Manchester city centre.
The protest outside The New Bridge Hotel in Newcastle was organised by GBNP. Four people were arrested and remain in custody, according to Northumbria police.
Asked whether he was concerned that the protests he was organising could result in criminality and the stirring of racial tensions, Donaldson said: 'We support peaceful protesting. We have to be peaceful and we have to be lawful. We absolutely do not support any criminality or any law-breaking.'
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