There's this terrible thing though isn't there - the popularisers are despised in the folkscene.

I think your man there must be living on a different planet from me. Or maybe just a different part of the forest. Alright, there are always people who are happy to grouse about anything, and some people who get obsessive about particular specialities, but by and large the folkscene is quite extraordinarily open in a way that other musical genres are not. (I think you'd have a hard job playing a concertina in a hip-hop setting...or in a chamber music consorte.)

One thing that sets folkmusic apart from the rest is that innovation tends to be about adding rather than replacing. The old stuff continues alongside the new stuff.
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And to get back to the thread - it's hardly surprising that the far right should recognise that there's something useful and powerful in English folk music, because it's true.

And the very fact that this music tends to get put down by the music industry and the media actually makes it more attractive for these people - especially since they can tie it in with accusations that the reason for that is because of hostility to it because it is English.