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The focus of this chapter will be on the manifestation of racially motivated hate crime from the start of the twentieth century until the early 1960s. The chapter examines the continuing political activity of Africans and Indians within Britain at the commencement of this period and highlights continuing hostility and discrimination faced by immigrants on British soil and within British vessels. The chapter discusses far-right political efforts to limit Jewish immigration and legislative action taken by the state to achieve immigration and access control alongside residency and citizenship restrictions for ‘undesirable’ migrants. The chapter then addresses the changing fortune of Black and Asian migrants with the onset of war and explores Britain’s history of social and political disorder during this period that prompted the passing of the 1936 Public Order Act. The chapter considers the political action and rising political consciousness of Britain’s black and Asian communities and their readiness to embrace liberal values to pursue equality, democracy, and human rights for all. Against this background, the chapter discusses the creation of the current liberal framework of international order and the gradual embedding of liberal values and human rights. The migration of persons from the New Commonwealth after 1948 witnessed further anti-black rioting and subsequent political action to secure black rights and to improve race relations. A tension was consequently evident between action to counter discrimination and measures to achieve immigration control. The final section of the chapter addresses the penetration of these themes within an evolving politics of hate, where immigration control served as an aspect of political campaigning, labour union agitation, state legislation, and far-right extremism.

Chapter 6 addressed the intensification of Islamophobia that occurred against a historical background of discrimination and prejudice towards Indians, Asians, and Muslims within the United Kingdom. It highlighted how a series of disturbances at the end of the twentieth century and beginning of the twenty-first century underpinned efforts to strengthen social cohesion and develop a new British identity. The present chapter examines the existence of extremist ideologies within Britain. While the government accepted the need to address extremist groups and extremist ideologies within previous policy discourse, here the focus will be extended to include extremist far right and left wing political parties within Britain and also address the penetration of illiberal thought within populist narratives and media discourse. The present chapter consequently feeds into and informs Chapter 8 that will examine the salience of illiberal thought during the lead-up to the 2016 referendum campaign and thereafter.

This chapter details the UK response to hate crime following the change in government from 2010. The chapter addresses continuing social and political unrest within Britain, including the 2011 Riots, the 2016 referendum campaign to leave the European Union and continuing terrorist threats experienced on British soil and internationally.