For almost 20 years Nigel Bromage was a leading member of the British far right, going on to join the openly neo-Nazi organisation Combat 18. After renouncing his hate-filled past, he formed Small Steps, an organisation made up of fellow reformed neo-Nazis, to try and prevent others following a similar route.
April 20 was a special day in Nigel Bromage’s calendar. One to be celebrated with music, drinks and a cake – in the shape of a swastika. It was Adolf Hitler’s birthday, and as regional organiser for the white supremacist group Combat 18, Bromage couldn’t let it pass without raising a glass to the architect of the worst genocide in modern history.
Bromage had been groomed by the far right in the early 1980s while still in school. Aged 15, he was lured into joining an anti-IRA group that was ostensibly committed to opposing terrorism. Free homebrew and tickets to punk gigs proved irresistible bait for a bored teen, and by the time Bromage twigged that he’d unwittingly signed up to a wing of the National Front, it was too late.
Drip-fed racist ideology, Bromage became consumed with hate for the left, for immigrants and for the state, and toured the UK attending marches and demonstrations, which often fared into violence. “There were a few times when I ended up in the police cells,” he recalls. “I’d sit there thinking: ‘What are you doing? This is achieving nothing.’ Then I’d catch up with the others, they’d be patting me on the back telling me how well I’d done, fighting for Britain, and I’d forget all about it. And before long, I was heading off to the next march.”
