Is the Unite the Kingdom rally far-right? I spoke to protestors and was at more risk of being hugged to death - Nana Akua

It is characterised primarily by extreme nationalism, nativism, and authoritarian tendencies.

I thought, why not? I went to the United Kingdom rally in search of the far right.

One attendee told me: “I'm a Church of England clergy, so I'm here to be amongst the English people and support them and get to know people and witness the resurrection of Jesus Christ and how he can change people's lives.

“I would encourage people to come down and see and meet people, and you'll find out that it's not far-right.

Another said to me: “Just come down to, you know, support the march. Um, not for any reason to cause any trouble."

A third rally-goer told me he was there because he was “losing faith in our political leaders”.

“They have no integrity. They're not honest, and they're a bunch of charlatans.

“If you have a manifesto, do what you say in your manifesto. Don't bring in things that are close to your heart, like digital ID, open borders and uncontrolled immigration."

I also asked a pair of ladies holding flags aloft: “So why have you come down here?”

“Well, we just want to have a lovely future for our children, our grandchildren. And, you know, this government has not done us any favours.

“It's just going from bad to worse. So we're just, you know, our culture, our patriotism. We want to keep it British.

I asked: “How do you feel about them sort of referring to people who are coming here as far right?”

“Well, that is ridiculous. Everybody is in a very good, positive mood today. There's no trouble. Nobody's far-right here. We're just all on the same page, and we all want to have, you know, a good future for our children.”

“If you could fix one thing about this country, what would it be?”

“Control the borders. Absolutely. Control the borders. That would be the main thing. Yeah. To control the borders.”

“And do you feel that makes you far right?

“Absolutely not!” She said, adding, “There's nothing wrong with wanting to control your borders."

Right, so did any of those people seem far-right to you?

Let's be clear. If they were, I wouldn't have been welcome there, would I? I was at more risk of being hugged to death.

Look, nobody wants extremes of anything. But most people on that March were people passionate about this country who wanted the government to take control of our borders and look after the interests of the people of this country, and keep that at the heart.

There is nothing far right about that.