Nigel Farage was quick to condemn them.
When masked members of Danny Tommo’s newly formed Patriot Platform descended on Dover on 2 September, blocking roads while wearing balaclavas, the Reform UK leader declared the spectacle “disgusting”.
“Nobody, at any political protest, whether they’re on the left or right, should be wearing balaclavas,” Farage said. “It is wrong, it’s horrible.”
It was a remarkably unequivocal statement.
But the problem for Farage is that the evidence emerging since then suggests that the relationship between Reform UK and the people behind Patriot Platform is considerably less clear-cut than his condemnation might suggest.
An investigation by HOPE Not Hate has uncovered links between the Patriot Platform network and a Reform UK activist in Gateshead.
Mark Thorn describes himself on social media as a Reform UK Representative/Campaigner for Gateshead Central & Whickham. According to HOPE not hate, he established the North East Patriot Platform and Tyneside Patriots Facebook pages, parts of the network involved in the masked protests at Dover and Portsmouth.
And Thorn’s own online activity reportedly contains a mixture of pro-Reform and pro-Patriot Platform material.
More revealing still is his apparent scepticism about Farage’s condemnation of the balaclava-wearing protesters.
According to HOPE not hate, Thorn suggested that Farage’s public criticism could be motivated by political necessity rather than representing his “secretly and privately personal opinions”.
If that really is the view circulating among Reform activists, Farage has a serious problem.
Because this is no longer simply about people outside mainstream politics shouting abuse at politicians.
HOPE not hate reports that five Reform councillors joined the Patriot Platform group after an invitation from Thorn: Kent County Council’s Trevor Shonk; Gateshead councillors Sandra Pickering and James Wright; and Solihull councillors Paul Goldingay and Jamie Campbell.
Three subsequently left after their membership was questioned.
Gateshead councillor James Wright said he had joined the group to monitor its activity, had subsequently left and did not endorse it or any unlawful or disruptive activity.
That distinction is important. Joining a social media group does not automatically establish endorsement of everything associated with it.
But it does leave Reform UK with a very uncomfortable question.
Why are its elected representatives and activists getting anywhere near a movement whose public activities have involved masked protesters, road blockades and confrontations with police?
The question became even more serious when Patriot Platform activists appeared in Portsmouth the day after Dover.
The protest surrounding asylum seekers being transported from the area descended into disorder. Hampshire Police subsequently appealed for information about six men in connection with the disturbances, following reports of violence and damage and injuries to police officers.
This is not an argument against peaceful protest.
People have every right to demonstrate against immigration policy, just as others have every right to demonstrate in support of refugees and asylum seekers.
But there is a fundamental difference between political protest and masked groups taking matters into their own hands, blocking roads and confronting police.
That distinction should be obvious to any political party claiming to operate within democratic politics.
And it places an uncomfortable spotlight on Reform UK.
Farage cannot simultaneously present himself as the respectable face of an insurgent political movement while members of his own party and activist network are reportedly forming links with groups associated with increasingly confrontational street activism.
If Reform genuinely believes Patriot Platform has crossed a line, it should say so unequivocally.
Not merely condemn balaclavas when television cameras are watching.
Not merely distance itself from individual incidents when they become embarrassing.
It should make clear that its elected representatives and activists have no business participating in organisations whose activities involve intimidation, vigilantism, unlawful disruption or violence.
Otherwise, the suspicion will remain that Reform’s relationship with the far-right street movement is not quite as straightforward as Farage’s carefully chosen words suggest.
The balaclavas may be worn by somebody else.
But the political consequences are landing squarely on Reform’s doorstep.
