The Framing of Tommy Robinson

(Photograph: Anything Goes With James English, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

Keir Starmer’s callous dismissal of legitimate concerns over the Southport murders, was a major contributory factor to the riots we have witnessed over the past week. That view is shared by a wide cross-section of the electorate, including 48% of Conservative voters and 79% of those who voted Reform.

With Britain now in the early stages of civil war, this leaves the Prime Minister with a dilemma: should he take the statesmanlike approach, change tack and acknowledge the problem honesty – i.e. that the public is right to be frightened and frustrated about the consequences of mass immigration, that two-tier policing is undeniable, and that Muslim gangs are taking over large swathes of Britain unchallenged? Or, should he double-down on his ‘far-right’ bogeyman rhetoric, and hope it’s third time lucky?

In-line with every Prime Minister since Blair, Starmer is a leader who prefers treating symptoms rather than causes. But since labelling the majority of the British people ‘far-right thugs’ has thus far not achieved the desired result, the authorities are now casting around for a scapegoat – a secret mastermind, who is coordinating this ‘misplaced’ public anger.

Telling the truth naturally is out of the question: if Starmer were to start talking about the people smugglers, the illegals, the conniving NGO’s, the radical Muslims (who integrate less, not more with every subsequent generation), the grooming gangs and the authorities which cover them up, the media that spins the multicultural narrative, the politicians who accept votes in exchange for turning a blind eye, and of course the rapists and murderers themselves – not only would he alienate his core vote, but crucially he’d have to do something about it!

Many contenders for ‘Far-right-thug-in-Chief’ have been proposed courtesy of the media,  with a particularly egregious smear piece in Monday’s Times: ‘Rogues’ gallery of figures fanning the flames of violence’. Nigel Farage, Andrew Tate and Laurence Fox are all mentioned, but Tommy Robinson is the one they really want – it’s no coincidence that he is depicted in the foreground, nor that his profile is the first they dissect:

The former leader of the English Defence League has been a key figure in promoting plans for the recent rallies, and drumming up anger against the police.

Not true. Robinson has indeed organised peaceful rallies in London recently, but there were no riots, and he specifically made the point of thanking and praising the police:

He is a keen proponent of the theory of “two-tier” policing, the idea that white Britons are policed more harshly than ethnic minorities in the UK.

No doubt, but it’s an opinion shared by senior members of the police!

https://x.com/Frankhaviland/status/1821141212239425621

Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was allowed to return to Twitter/X last year by Elon Musk, meaning he now has increased his reach 20-fold.

Free speech is a bitch, ain’t it?

At a rally in London on July 27, Robinson shouted out “to the football lads”, thanking them for travelling down there. “He didn’t have to do that,” a counterterrorism expert said.

Clutching at straws now, surely?

As for the also-rans, Tate is a Muslim who lives abroad, and arguably resonates with a younger audience than we see on the streets of Britain. Fox has lost some of his audience after being sacked from GB News, and does not have nearly the pull required to be a ‘far-right’ mastermind. Farage would be the ideal candidate to target: thereby not only removing a thorn in the establishment’s side, but also negating an insurgent political force into the bargain. Unfortunately for the Farage-haters, no smears have ever really stuck to Nigel; besides which, it’s not “Oh Farage, Faragey!” the lads are chanting in the streets.

Robinson on the other hand, comes ready-made: White, working-class, a history of run-ins with the police, and a man who has certainly ‘lived a bit’! In other words, Robinson is the arch-villain the Left have spent the last 30 years inculcating into the public consciousness: a Molotov cocktail of white privilege, toxic masculinity, and patriarchy – activating the ‘far-right’ smear without uttering a syllable – and currently being manoeuvred into the witness box in lieu of Axel Rudakubana, faster than you can say ‘mental health issues’.

Let’s be honest, Robinson is not a saint – neither I daresay are you or I – but that’s irrelevant; the truth is not mediated by the identity of the speaker. What’s interesting about him, is that he manages to unify his supporters and his enemies in equal measure. To the working man, he is a hero; to the great and the good, he is invariably persona non grata. Indeed, not only is he more deplored in Britain than Anjem Choudary, he’s also more likely to get his collar felt. That should tell you something.

So toxic is Robinson according to the authorities, a football player is currently being investigated for sharing one of his tweets, while a Reform UK candidate was dropped prior to the general election, merely for ‘liking’ one! MPs are currently calling for his extradition to the UK (Robinson fled in response to a warrant for his arrest), while the Home Office is ramping up sentencing for rioters, including up to seven years for ‘inciting racial hatred’– no prizes for guessing who that is aimed at.

Moreover, as Starmer redoubles his Big Brother clampdown on freedom of expression, there is a palpable fear stalking the centre-right, as politicians desperately attempt to prove they are not ‘involved’ in the riots. Nigel Farage, obviously concerned for his own reputation, decided to throw Robinson under the bus. This was not the first time.

https://x.com/Nigel_Farage/status/1820871075783143813

The framing of Tommy Robinson is the ultimate identity politics con trick – persecuting a man simply for being, rather than for anything he’s actually done. For, contrary to popular opinion, Robinson has done nothing but call for calm from the outset. Besides which, according to the media he’s spent the entirety of the riots ‘seemingly from a sun lounger in Cyprus’. Pretty good going, perhaps we should make him Minister of War?

https://x.com/TRobinsonNewEra/status/1819586612486979660

The reason the authorities want to silence Robinson is not because he’s a ‘far-right’ mastermind, it’s much more prosaic. Like Farage, he is a communicator with the common touch; unlike Farage, he’s been highlighting the dangers of Islam for years – that is his ‘crime’. And while others have pointed to the truth on this issue, they never pay half the price Robinson has. Jack Straw was rebuked for his comments that some Pakistani men view white girls as “easy meat”, but nothing more. Sarah Champion was sacked by Jeremy Corbyn after claiming Britain has “a problem” with British-Pakistani men raping vulnerable white girls, but again, her reputation was left intact. Lord Pearson has regularly been criticised for his dire views on Islam, most recently that “radicals will take us over through the power of the womb”. Once again, however, criticism is as far as it goes.

For Robinson, undoubtedly it is his working-class background that betrays him. To high society, he is simply not ‘allowed’ to make such observations, and should ‘know his place’. What’s worse, is that he documents his work, and thanks to an intervention by Elon Musk has now been restored to full force on X. It is not surprising that some are actually calling for a UK-wide shutdown of the social media site.

Nonetheless, it was not on the back of Tommy’s words that the riots ratcheted up – that was Starmer’s doing. The public knows it too: nearly half believe Starmer has handled the riots poorly, immigration is now the primary issue for voters, and a majority of all voters now considers ‘immigration policy in recent years’ responsible for the unrest.

The establishment fixation with Robinson is about more than simply destroying one man’s life. It’s about the imposition of a narrative most of the country knows to be false, and the authorities deciding who’s guilty on the basis of identity alone. This cannot be allowed to happen.

The fanciful notion that throwing Tommy Robinson into an oubliette will somehow make the baddies disappear, shows just how out of touch the powers that be are. And it proves one more thing: these riots aren’t going anywhere.

 

 

Frank Haviland is the author of Banalysis: The Lie Destroying the West, and writes a Substack here.

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