Matthew F. Collins
English activist and author (born 1972)
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Matthew F. Collins (born 1972) is an English activist and author.[1] Born in London, he was previously a member of several British fascist and neo-Nazi organizations, before starting to work as an informant for an anti-fascist magazine. He later became an activist for anti-fascist and anti-racist campaigns.
Far-right politics and role as informant
In his youth, Collins was the South London organizer for the National Front, a volunteer for the British National Party’s head office and a member of the neo-Nazi organization Combat 18.[2]
Collins took part in the Battle of Welling after which he became a paid informant for the anti-fascist Searchlight magazine. Collins was paid in book tokens for his role as an informant.[1] When his role as a Searchlight informant was exposed, Collins went into hiding in Australia.
He returned to the UK as the subject of a BBC documentary Dead Man Walking (2004).[1]
In 2012, Collins wrote a memoir of his youth, entitled Hate: My Life in the British Far Right which included a foreword by Billy Bragg.[3]
Hope Not Hate
Matthew Collins is currently a researcher and Head of Intelligence for the anti-fascist and anti-racist campaign group Hope Not Hate.[4] Hope Not Hate is described as a non-sectarian, nonpartisan third party organisation.[5] He manages Hope Not Hate's intelligence network.[6]
Collins managed Robbie Mullen, a mole in National Action, in foiling a plot to murder Labour MP Rosie Cooper in 2017.[7] In 2019, Matthew Collins wrote his second book, Nazi Terrorist: The Story of National Action with Robbie Mullen,[8] and in 2022, he wrote his third book, The Walk-In: Fascists, Spies & Lies - The True Story Behind the ITV series, with a foreword by political journalist Kevin Maguire associate editor of the Daily Mirror newspaper.
Collins is played by the actor Stephen Graham in the ITV television drama series The Walk-In broadcast in Autumn 2022.[9] He appeared in the documentary Nazi Hunters: The Real Walk-In which was broadcast after the final episode.[10]