The man behind a conspiracy theory cited by white supremacists and mass murderers has been booked as a conference speaker by a far right political party led by a Scot.

Renaud Camus - who coined the term "the great replacement" - has top billing at an upcoming Homeland Party conference which will explore the idea of removing "illegal, unintegrated, and unwelcome migrants" from the UK.

The French author first used the term in a 2011 book, arguing it was the "replacement of a people, the indigenous French people, by one or others; of its culture by the loss of its cultural identity through multiculturalism."

Camus' idea of the "great replacement" has since spread beyond France and inspired far right groups who claim Europe's white majority is being replaced with Muslim people of colour in collusion with a left-wing, globalist elite.

Camus is now due to visit Britain next month as a guest of the Homeland Party, a political group active in Scotland that says nationalism should be based on land and the "law of blood" - which means membership of a nation is defined by ancestry rather than political decisions.

Far right group Homeland registers as political party despite objections

Party chair, Kenny Smith, Homeland's de-facto leader, is from the Isle of Lewis and formed Homeland in 2023 after leading a breakaway faction from Patriotic Alternative, another far right group.

Camus' UK trip comes as a report revealed there was a 73 per cent increase in Islamophobic assaults last year in the UK, amid fears the "great replacement" conspiracy theory is spreading.

Critics of the term include anti-racism group Hope not Hate which said it has been "used to justify racism and even terrorism across the globe". The Scottish Greens said the theory has been "pushed by some of the most extreme and racist conspiracy theorists of the fringes" and it is "having a terrible real world impact".

Camus did not reply to a request for a comment but has previously condemned violence. The Homeland Party defended the French author and said he has "consistently promoted peaceful discourse and democratic solutions" and that he "cannot be blamed for the actions of individuals who have cited his work".

In the most extreme cases, the great replacement has been used to justify the murder of non-whites. Converts include the white supremacist who named his manifesto after the theory and killed 51 people during 2019 attacks on New Zealand mosques.

The theory has also been cited by those behind attacks in the US, including the murders of 11 people at a Pennsylvania synagogue in 2018, 23 people at a Texas supermarket in 2019, and 10 people at a New York grocery store in 2022.

While Camus was fined by the French government in 2014 for inciting racial hatred against Muslims and north African immigrants, whom he called "thugs" and "colonisers," he has disavowed terrorism, which he branded as "practices of the occupants".

Whether they are calling themselves Homeland, Patriotic Alternative or anything else for that matter, the vile beliefs they stand for have no place in our politics.

Maggie Chapman MSP, Scottish Greens

Far from being confined to the lexicon of fringe extremists, his theory has been promoted by far right political leaders around the world. They include US president Donald Trump, and the respective Italian and Hungarian prime ministers, Giorgia Meloni and Viktor Orbán. It has also been used by Trump's "special government employee", billionaire Elon Musk.

Closer to home, the great replacement has been embraced by far right groups including the Homeland Party, which opposes "mass immigration" and whose activists delivered leaflets on the issue last month to homes in Glasgow and Inverurie.

The party - which has denounced violence - recently announced its booking of Camus to speak at its "Big Remigration" conference in England in April. The event focuses on its aim to "facilitate and encourage" the return of "illegal, unintegrated, and unwelcome migrants" to thei...