Tommy Robinson (activist)

Tommy Robinson
Born	Stephen Christopher Yaxley (1982-11-27) 27 November 1982 Luton, England
Nationality	English
Occupation	Tanning salon owner
Years active	2009 – present
Known for	Former leader of the English Defence League and European Defence League
Political party	British National Party (2004-05) British Freedom Party (2012)
Children	Three children

Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (born 27 November 1982), known by the pseudonym Tommy Robinson and also going by Andrew McMaster and Paul Harris, was the co-founder, spokesman and leader of the English Defence League (EDL) "street protest" movement. He led the EDL from 2009 until he left the group in October 2013. For a short time in 2012 Robinson was joint Party Vice Chairman of the British Freedom Party. He also founded the European Defence League.

Background

Robinson was born Stephen Christopher Yaxley in Luton to an English father and an Irish mother. His mother, who worked at a local bakery, re-married when Stephen was still young to his stepfather, Thomas Lennon, who worked at the local Vauxhall car plant.

According to Robinson, after he left school he applied to study aircraft engineering at Luton Airport: "I got an apprenticeship six hundred people applied for, and they took four people on." He qualified in 2003 after five years' study, but then was convicted for drunken assault of an off-duty police officer who, according to Searchlight magazine, had intervened to stop a domestic incident between Robinson (then called Lennon) and his girlfriend Jenna Vowles. Robinson served a twelve-month prison sentence, and promptly lost his job at Luton Airport due to security measures imposed since the September 11 attacks.

He joined the British National Party in 2004: when questioned about this by the BBC's Andrew Neil in June 2013, Robinson claimed he had left after one year, telling Neil "I didn't know Nick Griffin was in the National Front, I didn't know non-whites couldn't join the organization. I joined, I saw what it was about, it was not for me."

He married in 2011 and is the father of three children. Lennon owns a sunbed shop in Luton. As leader of the EDL, Robinson regularly wore a bullet-proof vest when appearing in public, telling the BBC he has had his business and his home attacked, and has been personally attacked by armed Muslims.

English Defence League

Main article: English Defence League

Lennon uses the alias "Tommy Robinson", taking the name of a prominent member of the "Men In Gear" (MIG) football hooligan crew, which follows Luton Town Football Club. The real Robinson wrote two books, published in 2006 and 2007, which give an inside perspective of his own life and of those around him. Using the Robinson pseudonym, Lennon was involved in the group United Peoples of Luton, formed in response to a March 2009 protest against Royal Anglian Regiment troops returning from the Afghan War organised by the Islamist group Al-Muhajiroun and including members of the group Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaah. In August 2009, he became the leading figure of the newly established English Defence League. He has appeared masked in protests. He also founded the European Defence League, a co-ordination of groups similar to the EDL operating in different European countries.

It was reported on 8 October 2013 that he had left the group, a move he had been considering for a long time, saying he had concerns over the "dangers of far-right extremism". Robinson said it was still his aim to "counter Islamist ideology ... not with violence but with democratic ideas". No replacement for him has yet been found, as eleven senior figures left with Robinson, including deputy Kevin Carroll. Robinson's decision followed discussions with the Quilliam group, which describes itself as a "counter-extremism think tank".

Jamie Bartlett, head of the Violence and Extremism Programme at Demos, wrote an opinion piece, published in the Huffington Post on 11 October, saying that from his several interviews with Tommy Robinson he believed Robinson had "always been a 'moderate'" within the EDL. He added that Robinson had "struggled to contain more radical fringe elements, such as the National Front and Combat 18". He however noted that "The not-stupid counter to my cautious welcome is a legitimate one: that he wants to legitimise an Islamophobic world view, working with a think-tank to make it more palatable."

Just a few hours later Salma Yaqoob, former RESPECT councillor and aide of George Galloway, published her views in the Huffington Post. She said she "met Robinson a month ago as part of a documentary [for the BBC]" and "what struck me was how demoralised he was...He was finding it difficult to mobilise on the streets...and told me it was actually quite hard to get people to 'protest' by trying to whip up hate in the face of strong opposition". She also stated that he "was running out of money". She added that "those of us wanting to see the best motivations in Robinson's departure from the EDL were very quickly disabused of that hope...He chose instead to portray himself as merely 'misundersood' and 'misrepresented'. This from someone, who despite the pleas of Lee Rigby's family, cynically exploited his brutal and tragic killing to mobilise angry mobs against Muslims". Describing Quilliam as "widely discredited within the Muslim community" and claiming the think tank had compiled a "dodgy dossier of dangerous 'Islamist sympathisers'...including myself", Yaqoob noted that Quilliam had lost its government funding, and said that its "new found alliance with Tommy Robinson to bolster their anti-extremism credentials smacks of a desperate gamble".

On 18 October, in an interview with The Telegraph, Robinson explained that the turning point came when he met Maajid Nawaz of Quilliam in September while filming a BBC documentary. Nawaz had told Robinson how, though he had once been a leading member of the Islamist Hizb al-Tahrir, he had turned his back on extremism while in prison in Egypt. According to Robinson, "He said to me, 'Tommy, if you ever think about leaving the EDL, and you want to chat, I'm here for you.'"

On 19 October The Guardian published an article by Mohammed Ansar and his experience of meeting the leader of the EDL in April 2012 on the set of a religious-debates show, and about their subsequent meetings over the following 18 months. Early in their meetings, Ansar noticed that Robinson "seemed happiest when slotted into his groove – a well-rehearsed hustings tirade conflating Islam with terrorism, paedophilia and sharia." He also noted that despite Robinson protesting about halal meat on camera and at far-right rallies, "he eats it at Nandos and his favourite Turkish kebab shop". However Ansar recognised that over the next few months Robinson "had certainly softened on some of his views of Islam" since meeting him at the start and "that he was better educated, but it was a question of whether he could leave the politics of prejudice behind and face the public and his tribe".

British Freedom Party

In 2012 Robinson announced he had joined the British Freedom Party and was appointed joint vice chairman along with fellow English Defence League member Kevin Carroll after the two groups agreed an electoral pact in 2011. On 11 October 2012, Robinson resigned from the BFP to concentrate on EDL activities.

Criminal record

Robinson has been convicted for drug offences, and in 2005 for assault.

On 24 August 2010, Robinson was involved in a fight between supporters of Luton Town and Newport County in Luton, on the evening the two clubs played at Kenilworth Road. Lennon reportedly led the group of Luton fans, and played an integral part in starting the 100-man brawl, during which he chanted "EDL till I die". Eleven months later, in July 2011, he was convicted of having used "threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour" on the night of the incident. He was given a 12-month community rehabilitation order and a three-year ban from attending football matches. He was also sentenced to 150 hours' unpaid work, and ordered to pay £650 in costs.

Robinson was arrested after an EDL demonstration in Tower Hamlets on 3 September 2011 for breach of bail conditions, as he had been banned from attending the demonstration. After his arrest, Robinson began a hunger strike in custody in Bedford Prison, saying he was a "political prisoner of the state" and refused to eat what he believed was halal meat. A local paper reported that Bedford Prison sources said the hunger strike lasted less than 24 hours. A handful of EDL supporters protested outside the prison in support of Robinson during his incarceration, peaking in a turnout of 100 protesters on 10 September. Robinson was released from prison on 12 September.

On 29 September 2011 he was convicted of common assault after headbutting a fellow EDL member at a rally in Blackburn in April that year. He was given a 12-week jail term, suspended for 12 months.

On 8 November 2011, Robinson held a protest against the ban on wearing a poppy for the England team on the rooftop of the FIFA building in Zurich. He was fined £3000 and jailed for three days.

On 28 November 2012, Robinson was charged with three counts of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation in relation to a mortgage application.

On 7 January 2013 Robinson pleaded guilty at Southwark Crown Court to using someone else's passport—"possession of a false identity document with improper intention"—to travel to the United States in September 2012, and was sentenced to 10 months imprisonment. He was sentenced under the name of Stephen Lennon, but the judge added that he suspected it was not his true name, in the sense that it was not the name on his own passport (not the borrowed one), Paul Harris. Robinson was released on electronic tag on 22 February 2013.

On 29 June 2013 Robinson was arrested for allegedly obstructing police after attempting to do a charity walk dedicated to the Death of Lee Rigby; the charges were subsequently dropped due to a lack of evidence.

Assaults on Robinson

Robinson was assaulted on 22 December 2011 after pulling over his car due to another car flashing its lights at him. He said that a group of three men attacked and beat him, until they were stopped by the arrival of a 'good Samaritan'. Robinson said that the attackers were of Asian appearance. A CT scan revealed "bruising on his brain".

On 11 October 2013, whilst filming a documentary, Robinson was allegedly attacked by three men in Luton.

Bibliography

• Copsey, Nigel (2010). The English Defence League: Challenging our Country and our Values of Social Inclusion, Fairness and Equality (pdf). Faith Matters.