Royal Navy promoted member of far-right group

A Royal Navy submariner was promoted despite known links to the far right.

Kenneth McCourt was already known to be a member of a white nationalist group with links to a banned terrorist organisation. After a MoD investigation, he remained in the navy and was promoted to the rank of petty officer.

According to new research by anti-facist group Hope not Hate, three months before his promotion, McCourt posted on Telegram that he had joined the Neo-Nazi group Patriotic Alternative.

McCourt was promoted to petty officer as a weapons technician submariner meaning he could work with ballistic missiles and other defence technology. However, McCourt refused to be vaccinated meaning he did not have the necessary security clearance to be deployed on a submarine. A navy source said that he was automatically promoted due to his length of service.

According to a navy source, Police Scotland have been contacted, and it is highly like that McCourt will be removed from the service.

An undercover informant working for Hope Not Hate infiltrated the UK branch of the pan-European Identitarian movement to expose McCourt. David Lawrence, senior researcher at Hope Not Hate said: “The navy’s failure to take disciplinary action against McCourt when we exposed him three years ago sent a message that far-right activism would be tolerated in its ranks."

McCourt had been referred to Prevent after initial claims about his far-right links were raised in 2019. At the time, he was reported to be a member of Generation Identity UK (GI UK). GI UK's "great replacement" ideology has been an influence for the Christchurch attack and other terror attacks.

Since then, McCourt appears to have joined Patriotic Alternative, a more extreme antisemitic organisation. Patriotic Alternative is the UK's most active fascist group, with its leader Mark Collett repeatedly praising Hitler and recommending Mein Kampf to his followers. Other members of the group were previously linked to the now banned National Action. Several posts on McCourt's Telegram account show his links to Patriotic Alternative, showing he attended their Scottish conference and Hogmanay celebration last year. His account has anti-semitic and homophobic content as well as a video of man firing a 3D-printed gun.

This story follows others involving those with far-right links serving in the military. A British soldier, who was a member of National Action, was imprisoned after trying to introduce committed Nazis to the organisation.

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