Top dog-whistler: Tommy Robinson and Britain’s far right
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What is the background and recent controversy surrounding Tommy Robinson?
The Economist. Hello and welcome to the Intelligence from The Economist. I'm Jason Polmer.
And I'm Rosie Bloor.
Today on the show, an uplifting merger in the elevator industry and a tribute to Rahu Rai, India's most famous photojournalist.
First up though.
The stream is live!
Let's Go!
It's really been quite the year for Stephen Yaxley Lennon, the far right activist, better known to many as Tommy Robinson.
George Abanjo is a Britain correspondent for The Economist.
Live streaming from his car in San Diego, he described the previous twelve months.
I was on solitary confinement this time last year. Yeah? I've come out, we've had a million on the streets, I'm here meeting highest ranking members of government, we're spreading our message, we're forming partnerships and friendships.
Robinson had spent time in prison because he'd been found in contempt of court for repeatedly libeling a Syrian schoolboy. And that claim that he brought a million people onto the streets, that was for a rally in London last September, though police say it was 150,000. During that event he beamed Elon Musk on two giant screens to give a speech.
The essence of democracy is it should be a government for the people, by the people. Ан іс інфакт, всю говмент against the people. And not for the people. This is why everyone is gathered here today. Is Something's gotta be done. This is unacceptable.
Robinson does have a long criminal record, but despite that, he was still able to enter America. Where he visited the State Department that had given him a waiver, he spent lots of time with congressmen, and he also did the podcast rounds warning Americans of the dangers of radical Islam, which he says has destroyed Britain.
What are you actually hoping that the will will happen instantly? We have the equivalent of an ICE organisation who are tracking down, hunting down and removing criminals and illegal aliens who are in this country illegally. Who shouldn't be it?
And on Saturday He will be back on the streets of London. Hosting, what he's calling. The biggest patriotic gathering the country has ever seen.
So Georgia, first of all, tell me how Mr. Robinson, Mr. Yakshley Lennon, is perceived in Britain these days.
Yeah, so we actually looked into this. The Economist commissioned a survey from More and Common and it found that only fourteen percent of Brits support Tommy Robinson. Now he is more popular with British men. A different survey by Ugov, another poster found that twenty nine percent of British men like him, and that's up from nine percent in twenty twenty one. So you might be able to see there, Jason, that Robinson has long been a controversial figure. To his critics, he's a bigot. He posts messages on X, Musk's social media platform, implying that Muslims poison dogs in parks. You only need to look at the speakers invited to his rally, such as Valentina Gomez, an American influencer who's most famous or notorious for burning a Quran with a flamethrower.
How did the Economist’s survey reveal British public support for Tommy Robinson?
Mainstream politicians shun him. Commentators dismiss him as marginal, and he's too toxic even for Nigel Farage, who leads the right wing populist party Reform UK. That said though, he has other forms of influence. On X he's got one point nine million followers, and that's more than almost any other British political figure.
But it's very clear he's very, very popular also in America.
Yeah, so he gets lots of donations from Americans who agree with what he's doing. and powerful people who are invested in his narrative. So for over a decade, Robinson has sold this quite distorted vision of Britain that's recently gone global. It's this cautionary tale of a nation that's been overrun by Islamic invaders or betrayed by a wake liberal elite. And some people who seem invested in that narrative are Steve Bannon, who is Donald Trump's former chief strategist, has called him the backbone of Britain before. Elon Musk retweets him and has paid his legal fees. He did that last year when Robinson stood trial for what at the time seemed to be quite shaky terror charges.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the background and recent controversy surrounding Tommy Robinson?
0:03–3:49
2
How did the Economist’s survey reveal British public support for Tommy Robinson?
3:49–8:18
3
Why is Tommy Robinson gaining influence among American far‑right figures and donors?
8:18–13:04
4
What can we expect from the upcoming London rally and who will be speaking?
13:04–17:57
5
Why did two of the world’s biggest lift manufacturers decide to merge?
17:57–21:21
6
What are the financial details and market implications of the lift industry merger?
21:21–23:37
7
Are there concerns about consolidation and competition in the global lift market?
23:37–23:51
8
How did Raghu Rai’s photography capture India’s most tragic moments?
23:51–23:53