Raise the Colours sabotages migrant boats off the coast of France
Image Credits: Wikimedia Commons
Union Jacks line mile after mile of roadside; red crosses are spray painted onto white mini-roundabouts: it has become all but impossible to ignore the wave of neo-nationalism that has swept through the United Kingdom since mid-July, when the Weoley Warriors set to work fixing flags to lampposts-turned-flagpoles in Birmingham.
The group, which self-describes as the ‘founding figures and master architects of the historic and glorious flag movement’, has amassed £22, 712 in donations to fund their flags, poles, cable ties. However, an undisclosed proportion of their 'materials' is contributed 'to other likeminded individuals'. The Facebook group which has some 3,300 members, has only one rule: no hate speech. The anonymous description warns members that ‘degrading comments about things such as race, religion, culture, sexual orientation, gender or identity will not be tolerated. In the words of the grassroots movement, Raise the Colours, which has emerged in its wake, ‘what started as a few flags on local street[s] has grown into a campaign to cover Britain in symbols of unity and patriotism’. Uploads to X, Instagram, and YouTube, however, which carry a combined following of almost 56,000, reveal that the scope of the campaign is quickly evolving.
On 27th of November, Daniel Thomas, also known as Danny Tomo, launched campaign #OperationOverload by sharing a photo of himself and co-founder Ryan Bridge, dressed in all black, on X. The campaign, a sure reference to the Allied invasion of the Second World War, has seen members of Raise the Colours travel to French shores, scouring the sand for evidence of illegal immigration. The same day, Home Office data revealed that arrivals by small boats had increased by 17% in 2025 compared with 2024. Raise the Colours has added a statement to its website, informing supporters that they ‘do not encourage, endorse, or support anyone travelling to France, approaching migrant vessels, or attempting to intervene in crossings’.
Yet, in recent days their official social media platforms have been inundated with videos of the very vigilante behaviour they condemn: a twenty-second clip with the caption 'another migrant boat destroyed', for example, shows two men holding the St George’s Cross and the Union Flag beside a deflated dinghy that appears to have been dug out from the sand dunes. Likewise, on their official YouTube channel, a crowded migrant boat is filmed leaving the coast of Dover as Raise the Colours 'patriots' wade out towards it. Bridge is filmed shouting at the passengers: 'you're unvetted men!', listing rape and murder as crimes that the men might be responsible for. Raise the Colours has not disclosed that co-founder Danny Tomo was jailed for an attempted kidnapping in 2016.
What began as a response to the unfair treatment a 12-year-old schoolgirl received for wearing a Union Jack dress to Bilton School’s Culture Day in July has transformed into a campaign now operating extra-legally overseas. The next step for the organisation is unknown. What is certain, however, is that with an ever-increasing social media presence and public requests for donations and manpower, Raise the Colours continues to amass support on the UK’s political stage.