London, England (CNN) -- If you believe the mood music, the Tea Party's rise may mark a political watershed in the U.S.
The conservative grassroots movement, which has capitalized on right-wing frustration with Barack Obama's administration and the political establishment, is already shaping the agenda of American politics.
Tuesday's midterm elections could herald its arrival on Capitol Hill with Tea Party candidates such Rand Paul, Sharron Angle and Christine O'Donnell, having beaten more moderate Republicans in earlier primaries, all seeking election to the Senate.
But while the Tea Party's fiscal and social conservatism has chimed a populist chord with a growing army of American supporters, its popularity risks being hijacked by far-right groups in Europe with a more extremist agenda.
At a rally outside the Israeli Embassy in London on October 24, supporters of the English Defence League march through the streets waving union flags and the red and white cross of St. George, chanting: "I'm England 'til I die!".
The hardline group pushes an anti-Islamic message with provocative marches through neighborhoods with large Muslim populations. It has cultivated links with European far-right groups with a similar agenda, such as controversial Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders' anti-Muslim Party for Freedom.
English Defence League leader Stephen Lennon is open about the nascent links between the group and a handful of Tea Party activists in the U.S.
"Individuals from their movement have contacted individuals from our movement supporting what we're doing, in the same way members from our group are supporting what they're doing," Lennon told CNN.
Lennon said EDL and Tea Party activists shared the common goal of fighting for freedom.
"Freedom is worth fighting for. And you'll see people fight back for freedom," he said. "That's what you're seeing in the U.S., you're seeing in Britain, you're seeing in Europe; the more Islam we have the less freedom we have, we're opposed to it".
Tea Party activist Rabbi Nachum Shifren, a surfing, hard-line Jewish politician from California who preaches a message of fear about Islamic extremism, is one of those who has embraced the EDL. Addressing the rally in London, Shifren said the group had "started the liberation of England".
Shifren told CNN that a lot of people in the Tea Party movement were concerned by radical Islam, and said he had established some "outrageously beautiful relationships" with EDL members.
CNN
