Category Archives: Tommy Robinson

Liz Truss Says Far-Right Activist Tommy Robinson Has Been ‘Unfairly Demonised’

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Liz Truss has claimed that far-right leader and anti-Islam activist Tommy Robinson has been “unfairly demonised”.

The former Conservative prime minister has been drifting further to the right ever since she was kicked out of Downing Street in 2022 – after just 49 days in office – for crashing the economy with her disastrous mini-Budget.

Truss, who also lost her seat in parliament in last July’s general election, has made her support for US president Donald Trump and his controversial former adviser Elon Musk clear since.

She was also accused of starting the “far-right bandwagon” over grooming gangs by Labour minister Jess Phillips.

Now she is speaking up in support of Robinson, who recently led a march of 150,000 people through London claiming to be in favour of free speech when the Metropolitan Police said 26 officers were injured.

Discussing Robinson’s past focus on the grooming gangs scandal, Truss said: “I think it is correct that Tommy Robinson drew attention to a problem and a heinous issue that has been brushed under the carpet by many people.”

Asked by Newsweek if thought Robinson had been “unfairly demonised”, she said: “Yes, I do.”

It comes after Truss already attracted criticism in 2024 for refusing to speak up when she chose not to speak up as former Trump adviser Steve Bannon called Robinson a “hero” while they were both on a podcast.

Former Tory foreign secretary Sajid Javid said at the time that “Liz should really know better”.

When asked by Newsweek if she might try to return to Westminster, she did not completely rule it out.

Truss said: “I’m getting my ideas and thoughts out there, because the problem with being a government minister for so long is you’re very constrained in what you can say.

“You’re very constrained in what you can do and think about and who you can talk to.

“And I think the problems are so big in Britain that we do need a revolution, and I want to work to achieve that.”

Truss is still currently part of the Conservative Party, despite previously clashing with Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, but this interview sparked calls for her to be removed as a member.

As former No.10 chief of staff Gavin Barwell wrote on X: “Rishi Sunak should have thrown Truss out of the Conservative Party when he became leader; Kemi Badenoch should definitely do so now.”

The Liberal Democrats’ deputy leader Daisy Cooper also said: “This should be the end of the road for Liz Truss in the Conservative Party.

“Kemi Badenoch needs to disavow this defence of a far-right racist and kick Truss out of her party for good.”

The Conservative Party has been approached for comment.

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Russia – And Possibly Farage – May Be Looked At By Security Services In Riots Probe, Ex-MI6 Head Says

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The former head of MI6 claimed the intelligence services will be investigating Russia, Tommy Robinson and possibly even Nigel Farage in their probe into how the far-right riots started.

The UK was hit by a wave of far-right extremism and violence earlier this month, triggered by social media disinformation around the suspect in the Southport stabbings, where three young girls were killed.

Various accounts falsely claimed the person behind the horrific incident was an asylum seeker and on the MI6 watchlist – allegations which then acted as a catalyst for the anti-immigration riots.

Former MI6 spy, Christopher Steele, previously put together a dossier on Donald Trump’s relations with Russia.

He worked for MI6 between 1987 and 2009, and believes intelligence services will now be looking at who evoked the riots.

He told Times Radio on Sunday he believes Russia was involved, while also noting that English Defence League (EDL) founder Robinson, and Reform Party leader, MP Farage, could also be under the spotlight.

Steele said: “I think the Security Service will be looking very carefully at the instigators of these activities, including people like Tommy Robinson, even conceivably Nigel Farage, who incidentally said that we were being misinformed by the government about Southport.”

Farage falsely claimed the police were not telling the whole truth around the tragedies in Southport shortly after the stabbings first happened, and suggested the suspect was already known to the security services.

Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, has been encouraging the riots online while on holiday in Cyprus.

Steele continued: “The Security Services require warrants, obviously, to do some of that.

“But I think essentially, looking at communications, looking at travel, looking at financial transfers is the heart of this problem.

“And if we’re going to get to the bottom of it, certainly the government should be doing those things in terms of the instigators. Now, whether Nigel Farage in the end is defined as an instigator of this, I don’t know.”

He added: “They’ll be looking at things like their travel movements, who they’ve been in touch with, monetary transfers, and so on, because that will reveal or not, as the case may be a pattern of behaviour, which can lead to some conclusions about the degree to which Russia has been interfering in this situation.”

Steele explained that he thinks think it’s “clear” there is some Russian involvement, but added: “The degree to which that’s happened and the effectiveness I think is still out for question.

“I mean, when you look at the original disinformation that surrounded the Southport killings, that does seem to have come from a Russian linked website.

“It’s in very much Russia’s interest to destabilise countries like Britain and the United States.”

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Tories Urged To Expel Election Candidate Who ‘Endorsed’ Far-Right Leader

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TOLGA AKMEN via Getty Images

Founder and former leader of the anti-Islam English Defence League (EDL), Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, aka Tommy Robinson, arrives at the Old Bailey, London’s Central Criminal Court, in central London on July 5, 2019

The Conservatives have been urged to expel a local election candidate who “endorsed” far-right leader Tommy Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, on social media.

The Tories were also asked to explain whether it was “incompetence or malice” that led to the candidate being readmitted to the party after reportedly resigning in 2018 when the post was first flagged with the party’s central office.

In the Facebook post first reported by the Lancashire Telegraph, Andrew Walker, a Tory candidate for Blackburn with Darwen Council, appeared to share a “meme” featuring a photo of Robinson which was headlined: “Tommy Robinson has done nothing but expose the truth behind radical Islam.”

Above the post, Walker wrote: “Cant be easy preaching what we all think !!!” [sic]

The Lancashire Telegraph also published screenshots showing Walker had once said on Facebook that “stabbing [Jeremy] Corbyn would get you knighted in my book”.

Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner urged the Conservatives to “reassure the public” that far-right supporters are not standing for the party in local elections.

“The Conservatives must explain whether it was incompetence or malice that led them to not only readmit this person into the party but then to select him as a candidate,” she told HuffPost UK.

“They must also set out what steps they are taking to reassure the public that no other far right […] supporters are standing for them in the local elections.”

Rayner said the Tories were facing “serious questions” over a “failure to tackle racism in their party”, pointing out that its inquiry into Islamophobia has still not published a report and in any case was “watered down before it even began”. 

Anti-racism campaigners Hope Not Hate also raised concerns over the Islamophobia report and said there was no doubt that “endorsing” a convicted criminal like Yaxley-Lennon was “utterly unacceptable”.

The English Defence League (EDL) founder is currently being sued for libel by a Syrian teenager Jamal Hijazi, 17, over comments he made when the boy was attacked at his Huddersfield school in October 2018.

In 2019, Robinson was jailed for contempt of court after live-streaming on Facebook a video that featured defendants in a sexual exploitation trial and put the case at risk of collapse.

In the past, he has been convicted of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, mortgage fraud and travelling on another man’s passport to the United States, among other offences.

A Hope Not Hate spokesperson said: “During the Conservative Party leadership contest, Boris Johnson and all other candidates committed to holding a specific inquiry into Islamophobia affecting the party. Many months later and that commitment has been watered down, we’re still waiting for the results of the resulting Singh inquiry, and we still have Conservative Party candidates sharing far-right memes and hatred against Muslims.

“In this day and age, no one can be in any doubt about the far-right rabble rouser ‘Tommy Robinson’, a multiply convicted violent criminal and fraudster, and it’s utterly unacceptable for any member of a political party – yet alone the party of government – to be enthusiastically endorsing his extremism.

“The Conservative Party must remove this candidate immediately, and expedite publishing the results of the inquiry into prejudice in the party.”

Walker’s election agent for the Darwen South seat said they could not comment as the matter is under investigation by Tory central office.

HuffPost UK has contacted Tory central office for comment.

The local elections take place on May 6.

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Tommy Robinson Election Result Sees Activist Receive 38,908 Votes

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