The article explores the personal and political transformation of Sandra, a former care worker and long-time Labour voter who later became involved in marches organised by the English Defence League (EDL).

Her daughter, Nicola Wilding, a television producer, reflects on this shift through a family memoir that traces three generations of her working-class family, moving from rural Cumbria to industrial and suburban Kent.

Sandra had built a career caring for people with chronic memory disorders and was described as compassionate and dedicated, working with individuals from diverse backgrounds.

However, after years of social and economic change, including the impact of austerity, cultural shifts, and anxieties around national identity, she gradually began expressing support for far-right narratives.

A key turning point was the murder of soldier Lee Rigby in 2013, which deeply affected her and those around her due to her close connections with military life through her husband.Shortly afterwards, she attended her first EDL march, eventually continuing to engage with similar activities.

Wilding’s memoir, ‘These Wild English’, examines not only her mother’s political journey but also wider questions about belonging, class identity, and political alienation in Britain.

She reflects on how working-class communities have experienced economic precarity, loss of traditional institutions such as council housing and local industries, and feelings of being politically overlooked.

The narrative avoids simple moral judgement, instead attempting to understand the emotional and social conditions that can lead individuals towards populist or far-right movements.

The article also highlights the complexity of family relationships, including tensions between empathy and disagreement, as well as the difficulty of confronting political radicalisation within intimate settings.

Ultimately, it situates one family’s story within broader national debates about Brexit, multiculturalism, and the changing identity of the British working class.