British flag-raising and anti-migrant vigilante group
Ryan Bridge (left) and Elliott Stanley of Raise the Colours, in Stirchley
Raise the Colours is a far-right[1][2][3][4][5] British group whose members attach flags to lampposts and engage in anti-migrant vigilantism. It is one of a number of organisations behind the campaign Operation Raise the Colours, which rose to public prominence in England in autumn 2025. The organisation was co-founded by Ryan Bridge and Elliott Stanley, two businessmen from Birmingham and north Worcestershire, England.
Raise the Colours has collected financial donations, using them to fund the attachment of Union and England flags to lampposts in a number of suburbs in Birmingham and villages in Worcestershire, without the necessary permission of the highways authority. Some residents of these suburbs and villages have experienced intimidation and non-white residents have said that they are scared to leave their homes since the flags went up. In some places, residents have organised to take down the flags. In one Birmingham suburb, Stirchley, Raise the Colours have returned repeatedly to replace flags taken down, leading to confrontations with locals.
In November and December 2025, the group made multiple visits to northern France and Paris, where its members filmed themselves harassing migrants, posting videos on the group's social media pages, stating that the "indigenous white population" is being "replaced in our own country". The group have been joined on some of these visits by Tommy Robinson associate Danny "Tommo" Thomas. They have made appeals to "firms" of British football hooligans to join them in vigilante action against migrants in France. Robinson has shared the groups' social media posts. On one visit to France, the group were joined by former football hooligan Jason Marriner. They have also posed as journalists and offered to pay migrants to interview them.
The group has been criticised by the Bishop of Southwark and the Bishop of Kirkstall for coopting references to Christianity in relation to its vigilante actions.
Founders
Background
Ryan Bridge grew up in Birmingham and has said that he comes from a working-class family. He told the BBC that his grandparents had a tea service featuring the then Prince Charles and Princess Diana, "adding that people waved union jacks for a royal visit to Selly Oak, and as a cub scout he walked down the high street waving the same colours".[6]
During a GB News interview, Bridge stated "We are normal, working class Birmingham businessmen". Bridge owns a house in Bromsgrove that is reported to be worth £600,000.[7] According to the Birmingham Mail, "[Elliott] Stanley's home address is a leafy crescent in Bromsgrove".[8]
In October 2025, Bridge told the BBC that members of Raise the Colours are all fans of Birmingham City F.C.[6]
Business activities
Ryan Bridge has created a number of companies that operate in the area of compensation claims. These include Nationwide Personal Injury Specialists and UK Holiday Claims Ltd. The latter company was registered in 2016 but was dissolved two years later, with no accounts being filed.[7][9] Around this time, Bridge was named by Spanish police as suspected of being involved in a scam that encouraged holidaymakers to submit false compensation claims, in return for a share of any proceeds from the claims. Messages were sent to holidaymakers using a WhatsApp group with the name UK Holiday Claims.[7][10] A court instruction names Bridge amongst those who are alleged to have been involved in processing false claims of food poisoning.[11][12][13][14] As of 3 October 2025, the case was awaiting trial.[7][15]
Elliott Stanley is a former director of Sex Doll Official, which sold and rented out sex dolls.[16] Stanley ran the company with his wife and teenage son from their home in Bromsgrove, but it failed during the COVID-19 pandemic.[17][15] According to Birmingham World, the company provided "the industry’s first rental service and [its] long list of customers included bereaved men who wanted a replica of their late partners".[18] According to The i Paper, Stanley "currently runs a tanning business".[16]
Raise the Colours was co-founded by Bridge and Stanley, who are its directors. The organisation has attached Union and England flags to lampposts in a number of suburbs in Birmingham and villages in Worcestershire, including Stirchley,[7][19]Harborne,[20]Alvechurch,[21]Barnt Green and Blackwell.[6] Stanley has stated that "We want to cover the city centre at some point".[20] Attaching flags to lampposts without the permission of the relevant highways authority is not allowed and people doing so may be committing an offence.[22]
The organisation's fundraising page states that "We are the founding members of this operation, which has taken off all over the UK", although there are a number of other individuals and groups that also claim to be the originators of Operation Raise the Colours, some of which use the same name.[7][15] Stanley told the Telegraph that "I started the movement in south Birmingham and it’s gone national and we have been doing it for a long time".[23] Bridge has claimed that the flag raising originated with remembrance campaigns associated with the Royal British Legion and that the campaign initially "tagged on to the back of that". A Royal British Legion spokesperson quoted by the BBC said, "The Royal British Legion is a non-partisan organisation and is not affiliated with any flag-raising groups".[6]
According to an article published on 3 October 2025 by the Birmingham-based online newspaper The Dispatch, when asked about how donations were being handled, Bridge told a reporter that he was registering the organisation with Companies House, though not under the name Raise the Colours.[7] As of 1 November 2025, no such company had been registered.[15]
Community reactions
According to BBC News, some residents of Worcestershire villages where flags have been erected by Raise the Colours "said non-white people in the area felt scared to walk the streets", with one resident reported as stating, "Some people have been in tears because of the clear far-right racism that these flags represent." Bridge has responded that the flags have "nothing to do with the pigment in anyone's skin" and denies that the group's actions are motivated by racism.[6] He told the BBC that he had "no regrets" over his actions with the group.[6][24]
In some places, including the Birmingham suburb of Stirchley, local residents have organised to take down the flags, but Raise the Colours have returned multiple times to replace them using a cherry picker, leading to confrontations with locals.[25][26][27][28][28] On one of these occasions, officers from West Midlands Police were called to the scene. Asked to stop the men putting flags up, a police officer stated "I understand tensions are running really high, but in the bounds of the law at the moment there isn't an offence". The police stated that they were attending to prevent a breach of the peace. Some local residents argued that the effect was that the police gave Raise the Colours an escort, and asked whether those removing flags would be given a similar "red carpet treatment".[29] A video from the same evening, in which a local businessman argued with one of the group's members and told him "You're trying to intimidate good, hard-working people", went viral on social media.[30]
Signs added to flag bunting by participants at a community event organised to protest against racism and intimidation, Stichley, Birmingham, 18 October 2025
Local businesses in Stirchley have reported experiencing intimidation from the group.[31] In September, two businesses where customers had opposed flags being raised nearby were pelted with flour, eggs and condiments. According to a local newspaper, "locals suspect people connected to the flaggers [were] to blame".[7] Raise the Colours posted on X about a third small business that objected to the flags, with their post being shared by Tommy Robinson and the business subsequently targeted by hundreds of negative reviews on Google.[28]
In late October, local Labour MP Al Carns issued a statement that he was "deeply concerned and disappointed" to learn of reports of intimidation. "These acts are wholly unacceptable and undermine the safety, security and well-being of our residents, visitors and workers", Carns said.[31] Local councillor Mary Locke said, "The people here don't want this. We're welcoming and friendly. We're inclusive".[25] Stanley stated, "I don’t want anyone to be intimidated. I refute that. We’re not trying to intimidate anyone at all".[31]
"Stirchley welcomes all with love" written in chalk on the pavement at a community anti-racism protest
At an October community event in Stirchley, Birmingham, organised to protest against the raising of the flags, Bridge and Stanley showed up, accompanied by Dale Hurd of the American Christian Broadcasting Network.[32] Police were subsequently called to the event.[25] Raise the Colours claimed on their social media that anti-flag protestors in Stirchley included "agitators from Antifa".[31]
Raise the Colours also posted videos on their social media accounts of members of the group arguing with residents of Harborne, where they had put up flags. The video captions included "lefty gets schooled", "we are not the aggressors" and "Harborne lefties think being patriotic makes you racist". A spokesperson for Harborne Village Business Improvement District told the Birmingham Mail, "The installation of these flags was not authorised by the BID, the city council, or any organisation officially connected with the management of Harborne High Street. We would like to reiterate that Harborne is a welcoming and inclusive place for everyone who lives, works, shops and visits here".[33]
After the flags in Harborne were removed, local councillor Jayne Francis responded, "Thanks to those responsible for removing. 99% of people who contacted me last week were uncomfortable with their presence (and were not asked if they wanted them)".[34]
Anti-immigration stance
Elliott Stanley has previously been involved in protests outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Solihull in summer 2025. In interviews with GB News, Stanley and Ryan Bridge have denied that Raise the Colours campaign is politically motivated, with Stanley describing himself as a patriot and "centrist", not "right wing". "This is nothing to do with far-right movements", the pair told GB News. Stanley has said that anyone characterising the pair's politics otherwise was "putting a target on our backs".[8] Interviewed about his participation in the hotel protests, Stanley said that "I'm talking about people who have paid thousands of pounds to get here and are being put up in a hotel who are here illegally and we don't know who they are. ... I'm not going to be ashamed of going to a protest". An anti-racist campaigner said of Stanley's participation: "This is a political movement, led by people who hate migrants. Now we can see that Elliott Stanley was part of the summer protests aimed at targeting and scapegoating migrants. What people like him refuse to accept is that many people do not hold with their political views and not everyone wants their neighbourhoods covered in flags".[35]
The organisation has put up flags with "Unite the Kingdom" text on – a reference to a rally in London organised by Tommy Robinson – and banners reading "Stop the Boats".[8][26] The group was responsible for unfurling a Union flag with "Unite the Kingdom" written on it over the White Cliffs of Dover in September 2025. The group also let off red and blue flares and held signs that read "Stop the boats" and "RIP Charlie Kirk". Bridge was quoted by the Telegraph as stating: "Regarding Charlie Kirk, he was a patriot of his country, we’re a patriot of ours and he’s got Christian beliefs, we live in a Christian country. We just like the way he stood up for his country so we thought we would pay tribute to him on the day we unveiled the White Cliffs of Dover flags".[36]
Anti-migrant vigilantism
In November 2025, members of Raise the Colours visited Gravelines, on the northern French coast. From there, Bridge filmed content for the organisation's social media pages, in which members of the group waded into the sea, "shouting at migrants boarding dinghies" and "speak[ing] in soundbites about the 'hundreds of thousands of undocumented men' committing 'murders', 'gang rapes' and the 'indigenous white population' being 'replaced in our own country'".[37] The group called for volunteers to help with vigilante action against migrants, stating: "Our country is doing nothing. Weak government, weaker borders. They are doing nothing so we need to make a stand boys". This call included reference to "firms", which The i Paper explained is "a phrase that refers to football hooligan groups". Other clips "showed two men saying they were taking matters of illegal migration into their own hands and filming themselves stamping on and smashing a small boat’s engine".[38][39]The i Paper has reported that the group's recruitment efforts "involve pumping out a high volume of videos filmed in France of their confrontations with those in the Calais camps".[2]
On subsequent visits to France, Bridge has been joined by Tommy Robinson associate Danny "Tommo" Thomas, who has a conviction for attempted kidnap[37][40][1][41] and called far-right protests after the 2024 Southport stabbings,[42] and who has been described as "undoubtedly a far-right individual, with a well-established position within the British far-right scene".[16] On one trip, Bridge and Thomas travelled to Paris, where they filmed themselves harassing homeless migrants sleeping on the streets, posting the videos on the Raise the Colours social media pages. According to The i Paper, in the videos "the men repeat several claims commonly used by the far right, such as saying that migrants entering the UK illegally are all 'rapists and murderers… coming to a town near you'". In one video, filmed from their car, the pair "accuse one of the migrants of holding a knife – despite his hands being empty – and make him stand back from the car window". The men also made "a number of unsubstantiated claims and conspiracies informed by their short time in France, including stating gangs are not involved in the movement of migrants over the English Channel". A researcher from Hope Not Hate responded to the footage by saying: “Their behaviour normalises the idea that it is acceptable to approach black and brown people and question them on their residential status, or their travel plans, in the name of ‘patriotism’. The fact that they are not only doing these things themselves, but actively encouraging others to do the same, is very concerning".[43]
Bridge, Thomas and Elliott Stanley are reported to have met over lunch in a pub on Monday 17 November to discuss what they have called on social media "Operation Overlord" (echoing the codename for the Allied invasion of occupied Europe in June 1944). Another customer who overheard their conversation and recognised them from previous media coverage told an i Paper reporter that "Thomas got his phone out and showed the others a Tommy Robinson demo", referring to a march organised by Robinson. "I heard [Thomas] say, 'if you look at the number of people here, and if you take out all the women and children…' They only wanted men involved". The source also told the paper that the group "were planning to do something on the coast... They wanted to set up shifts going backwards and forwards across the Channel" and that Stanley had mentioned the need to buy a "decent boat", suggesting they could get "what was needed for £35,000". Bridge, Thomas and Stanley also reportedly "discussed needing 'some sort of diversion', and appeared to talk about how to evade police while making their actions 'public and visible'", with one of them reportedly stating "The police will be looking in that direction, and then it'll be, 'boom' and we'll be off in the other direction".[16]
After being contacted for comment by the newspaper, the group reportedly "appear to have moved their plans forward", undertaking the trip on Friday 28 November, "putting the accelerated timeline down to weather conditions". On the morning of their trip to France, Thomas shared a photo of himself and Bridge on social media, which showed them wearing a mock military-style outfits with Union flag patches, accompanied by the caption "#OperationOverlord Incoming".[16] The group posted a video filmed by Bridge of him and Thomas fleeing a refugee camp in France.[44] In the video, Bridge and Thomas "[shout] abuse at migrants in a camp" and the video "concludes with Bridge panting and out of breath having run a short distance to a waiting getaway car after a water bottle is thrown at them on camera".[2]
On 5 December, Bridge, Thomas and a third activist visited northern France again, "targeting migrants for harassment and searching for dinghies buried in sand dunes to destroy".[45] They livestreamed a walk around Dunkirk, during which they accused members of Médecins Sans Frontières of supporting an "invasion" of the UK by migrants. Earlier in the day in Gravelines, they had confused journalists for members of a non-governmental organisation (NGO), claiming that they helped migrants reach the UK illegally, that those migrants committed murders and that it was members of the NGO who were smugglers.[46][3] One French association that works with migrants reported Raise the Colours to the police, noting that members of the group "were detained for several hours before being released". The group stated that it had "been monitoring the social media accounts of these various groups daily and reporting them to the public prosecutor and prefecture. However, even though we hear our alerts are taken seriously, to date nothing has been done to prevent them from coming to the beaches along the coast. When the far right advances unchecked, human rights erode". Nine French associations subsequently issued a statement condemining the UK and French governments for "encouraging violent and xenophobic practices" by failing to stop anti-migrant activists engaging in vigilantism on the French coast.[45]
In one video posted on social media, a French police officer asks members of the group whether they have a press pass. When the group visited France again the following week, videos show Bridge "brandishing what appears to be a homemade press card printed out on white paper". In one video, Bridge "asks a migrant if he would be interviewed, falsely telling the man he is 'from the press association'", and later "from 'a press association called Raise the Colours'". In one video, a member of Raise the Colours asks whether a migrant wants to be interviewed in exchange for money: "Do you want to speak to us for money? Do you want some money? Do you want some euro?".[2]
During a visit to France in early December 2025, Thomas and two other Raise the Colours members said that they had been arrested, with their passports seized by French authorities. They were apparently later released without charge. Members of aid groups have attempted to report Raise the Colours to their local prefecture, but have said "It seems like they are waiting for something bad to happen before they press charges of direct violence".[5]
On one of the group's visits to France, Raise the Colours were joined by former Chelsea Headhunters leader[47] Jason Marriner.[46][3]
The group has claimed on social media that 5,500 people have offered to travel to France to "stop the boats". It has "circulated appeals for stab-proof vests, plate carriers, high-powered torches, thermal cameras, drones and encrypted radios" and called itself a "true professional civilian border control force, ready to take control of the beaches".[45] Journalist Sanya Burgess has noted that the group's claims about having recruited 5,500 people to engage in vigilantism contrast with "there not being a large amount of traction online around their chosen hashtag '#OperationOverlord'". Data analysed by Institute for Strategic Dialogue shows that the hashtag's daily peak was around 4,800 mentions on 28 November, when the group first used it, dropping to only 100 posts on 1 December.[2]
Bridge and Thomas launched a website for their "Operation Overlord" campaign, but according to The Independent, the website no longer appears to be live as of 10 December 2025.[1]
Criticism from religious figures
The group have sought to "[position] their activities as the actions of English Christians protecting the Christian faith", with Thomas stating at the beginning of one video "Christianity is at the forefront of everything we do". Members of the group have "share[d] images featuring Christian symbols of the cross and crucifix as well as pictures suggesting they are religious soldiers". The Bishop of Southwark, Christopher Chessun, and the Bishop of Kirkstall, Arun Arora, issued statements criticising Raise the Colours. Arora stated: "Christ’s call to love your neighbour is a hallmark and authenticator for all of those who would seek to follow his teachings or act in His name. “It is a non-negotiable teaching which is glaringly absent in the actions of these men". Chessun stated that "Any co-opting or corrupting of the Christian faith to exclude others is unacceptable, and I am gravely concerned about the use of Christian symbols and rhetoric to apparently justify racism, violence and anti-migrant behaviours".[2]
Relationship with the media
Ryan Bridge and Elliott Stanley have been interviewed several times on GB News.[8] When a journalist from the Birmingham Dispatch challenged Bridge's claim that his trial in Spain had already happened, Bridge reportedly grew frustrated, saying “well, that’s nothing to do with what y–you either want to talk about flags or that, I mean this is mental. So you’re obviously from left-wing, and you’re trying to make something that’s not…”, before trailing off.[7]
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