'I was brainwashed by a Nazi as a child - now I worry for kids like me'

The rise of the far-right has become mainstream, from so-called ‘manosphere’ influencers like Andrew Tate to the hit-series Adolescence, and it's appealing to Britain’s young men and boys, as a YouGov poll reports that 1 in 6 boys have a positive outlook on Tate. These two examples share one thing in common - the digital , a virtual space where young people are preyed upon as their vulnerability is exploited. But young men are still being exploited offline, as far-right groomers target young men within their communities.

The Mirror spoke exclusively with deradicalised far-right member, Tom*, who was groomed by the group as a child, with special insight into how he ended up down that path and how he sees the world now.

Years on since his radicalisation, he has renounced far-right ideologies and wishes to speak out about the grooming of children into extreme hate-filled groups. Tom says from the outset that he is “not an isolated case,” but part of a larger issue that is happening regularly. In an exclusive conversation, Tom discusses how he was groomed into the far-right, class A drugs, extremist ideologies, and coming out the other side.

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From Class A drugs to indoctrination

Tom was only a schoolboy when he was first approached. He was the sort of child who regularly got into trouble in school. A turbulent at-home situation caused him to act out, so he was often scolded by teachers for his behaviour, with Tom explaining that he was “completely directionless in [his] life” at that point. It's these cross-roads that far-right recruiters exploit, offering a path and a community that all young people are searching for.

Every kid dreams of fitting in, of finding their group who will support them through thick and thin. The far-right know this, and prey on boys looking for their community at a time in their lives that is, by nature of being a child, filled with natural insecurity in themselves. Tom says: “I never left my house thinking I'm going to seek out far-right ideologies. It was never an intentional thing to come across these beliefs”. But rather he “went looking for something and got the exact opposite of what [he] was looking for.”

But unlike Netflix's Adolescence, Tom’s first-contact with a recruiter took place in person as opposed to online, and not by his peers, but an older man. The first meeting was a chance encounter that would go on to change the course of his life. Tom says that this man appeared charismatic. He brought Tom back to his house and gave him Class A drugs before indoctrinating him into his way of thinking.

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Tom tells The that he was searching for community at a difficult period in his life when he met the person who would recruit him into the far-right. “For the majority of knowing this person I just felt like I had just a mate who was interested in my life," he says. "I was just under the impression I've just got these mates who were real [and] they like me.”

At the recruiters house, the group would regularly hang-out as teenagers do, but at these meetings they would share extreme racist, homophobic, misogynistic, and anti-Semitic views with discussions initially shared and led by the groomer. There was one group that the hatred crystalised around, which Tom explains is "the case with a lot of these extremist groups, they centred around a specific group - that was the most hated group."

His group echoed Nazi ideologies, in that "the root of all of those beliefs was very deep anti-Semitism,” he says. Looking back on his time in the far-right, he said that it was startling that these extreme ideologies were persuasive. At the time, Tom was impressionable and easily influenced by these beliefs. Now deradicalised, he comments on "how strange it can be that you can wholeheartedly be made to believe something that isn't true."

'It was hard to find extreme material online, now it just pops up'

It was after these seeds of hatred had been sown in person that the online world began to play a role within his radicalisation. Videos and posts that reinforced extreme ideologies were pirated from subscription-only international websites to be disseminated locally.

When Tom was radicalised, he said that it was much more difficult to find the extreme material online. “You couldn't find them [on mainstream ]. It was hard to find websites. Someone had to tell you about [the websites] to find out about them… You had to go out of your way to access it whereas now it just pops up.”

Tom says that while figureheads like Andrew Tate may have some sway with young men, there are a raft of other far-right commentators who are banned from mainstream social media sites such as or . The fact that they are blacklisted from posting content on these apps plays directly into their playbook; they tell their followers that they are being silenced, as opposed to being held accountable for their hateful actions.

He explains that these figureheads and their far-right followers argue that “they're just trying to silence him" and "they don't want his truth out there.” As a young lad, he felt that he “knew something [other people] didn't know,” especially when confronted with facts that discredited far-right ideologies.

Any justice or equality that's being brought to these far-right commentators’ doors is turned on its head and used as evidence to support them in their belief that they are being censored. It’s a particular form of performative victimhood used to mask hatred and oppression of minority groups. Tom says that this was a particular tactic of theirs: “Everything that you saw in the news you'd find it recycled on these websites painted in a very conspiratorial way… anything that happened they would recycle to fit their [far-right] narrative.”

Showing Adolescence in schools is 'more harm than good'

Tom speaks now from a deradicalised perspective and how young boys can protect themselves online, but Tom notes that this is not a 'young boy' issue. This is an issue for those who should be in charge of them: politicians, parents, care-takers, teachers. To these people he says: “We should be as a society more concerned with what we're not doing that's leading [young men and boys] to be vulnerable to these online and in person spaces.”

Prime Minister recently said that he supports plans to show the hit series, Adolescence, in schools as a deterrent for far-right ideologies taking hold with young people. But Tom warns that without the infrastructure in place to support young people it will “add fuel to the fire”.

He says that once this direct dialogue with children is opened, “you need to have already thought about how you're going to make this conversation a positive one. I think that with very little guidance, showing people the TV show and just leaving it there is probably more harmful than it is good.”

For the year 2023-24, just under 7,000 cases were referred to , a multi-organisational programme between police forces and various local authorities, including schools. Prevent aims to protect vulnerable people from being exploited by extremist ideologies. Of the cases referred in 2023-24, 19% of those referred were for far-right extremist ideologies, amounting to.

The Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Officers work with Prevent to deter the growing threat of radicalisation. A spokesperson for the force told The Mirror: "The scale of the extreme right wing terrorist threat has steadily evolved over the past two decades and it is a threat we share with our international partners. Our increasing casework in this area is driven by the rising numbers of young people being drawn into the ideology, through social media and online platforms."

To ensure that young men and boys are protected, there needs to be safe spaces for young men to speak freely about their mental wellbeing and beliefs, Tom argues, with positive action and after care readily available to tackle extreme beliefs head on.

There is much to be learned from Tom's story, not least as it is not an anomaly. Youth services and schools are on the front-line of this masculinity crisis, and require all the support they can receive from Government to tackle the rise of the far right in boys and young men. This is a burgeoning safeguarding issue that, if not addressed now, will have long-term effects on British society.

*For his safety, a pseudonym is used throughout to protect his identity, as far-right groups remain active across the United Kingdom.