Far-right extremism and rhetoric is coming from activists and unvetted councillors, but party leaders who peddle fear and rage can’t escape blame

Who are the hate preachers radicalising rightwing extremists? As the head of MI5 warns that anti-migrant haters are increasingly considering terrorist attacks, it is surely a question we must ask. After all, the role of hate preachers in Islamist terrorism has long been debated.

After the London Bridge Islamist terrorist attack in 2017, Nigel Farage demanded that Sadiq Khan – “as the first Muslim mayor of London” – declare that he would do all he could “to work with the Muslim community to drive out the extremist preachers from our mosques” and to fight radicalisation in schools and prisons. More recently, he suggested that Muslim parents in the United Arab Emirates feared sending their children to study in British universities “given the risk of radicalisation here”. His colleague Suella Braverman agrees. “There should be zero tolerance for hate preachers in mosques or radicalising imams in prisons,” she says.

Owen Jones is a Guardian columnist. His latest book, The Fall of the West, is out now. To support the Guardian, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.

He arrived in the UK aged 12, but for the last 14 years Hall has been under threat of being sent back to Barbados – a country he doesn’t remember and where he has no surviving relatives

When Tony Hall was released from detention in 2012, his family rallied around to support him. One of his five older sisters said he could stay with her for a while. A nephew printed business cards and designed a website for him so he could advertise his services as a painter and decorator, to make the most of the vocational training he received while he served his prison sentence.

But for 14 years he has been unable to make use of the cards because of a Home Office decision that he should be deported. All this time he has been kept on a deportation list, which means he cannot work, rent somewhere to live, receive benefits or do anything that would allow him to start rebuilding his life. Instead, he remains on the edge of destitution, reliant on the kindness of family and friends to survive.