Tommy Robinson has been released – and here’s the powerful international far-right network that’s behind him

Backed by overseas figures with deep pockets, yet portraying himself as a man of the people: it’s time we woke up to the real Tommy

There has been a predictable media furore today surrounding the release on bail of the violent criminal and anti-Muslim extremist, Tommy Robinson – or as we should call him, Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – following his appeal against two contempt of court convictions.

Yet many of his supporters, those who celebrate the man who once ran the English Defence League, may not realise the powerful international network of anti-Muslim figures that lie behind him. These are forces hostile to Muslims, to liberal democracy and embodied by those like Donald Trump’s former right-hand man (and ex-Breitbart boss) Steve Bannon, who want to push the far-right to the very fore of European politics.

So far from a very English revolution, Robinson is leading one that is at least partly cooked up abroad – and the fact of the matter is that he has received help and assistance from a coterie of anti-Muslim extremists for a long time.

As Hope not Hate revealed in its various reports on the international anti-Muslim scene known as the “counter-jihad” movement, he has co-operated and received support from notorious figures such as Pamela Geller in the US, who runs Stop Islamization of Nations and has provided “Tommy” with financial support (her network is infamous for running inflammatory anti-Muslim ads on US public transport networks).

That was before it was revealed that Daniel Pipes’ Middle East Forum was paying his legal bills and flying in Arizona Congressman Paul Gosar to speak at a Free Tommy rally. Or before Breitbart was alleged to have pushed Trump’s ambassador for religious affairs, Sam Brownback, to lobby our UK ambassador in the USA on Robinson’s behalf. Ezra Levant, of the far-right Rebel Media outlet (for whom Robinson used to work, and which now employs Katie Hopkins) also raised funds for the ex-EDL leader’s legal travails.

In fact, just 40 per cent of those who were tweeting the #FreeTommy hashtag between 25 May and 11 June, in the wake of the initial judgement, were from UK accounts: a full 35 per cent of those using #FreeTommyRobinson were from the US. A change.org petition, erroneously lionising Robinson for his actions, received well over 600,000 signatures, nearly 10 per cent of which came from the States, another near-10 per cent from Australia, and others drawn from many other countries. Supported by figures in the alt-right movement and far-right, anti-Muslim “identitarian” figures across Europe, a troll army pushes, manipulates and enables these messages, ensuring maximum visibility. Figures like Paul Joseph Watson of conspiracy site Infowars are key in this, with huge social media footprints which cross international boundaries.

Oblivious to his multiple convictions for violence, drug possession, mortgage fraud, or the apparent trail of thuggery in Robinson’s wake (he’s been filmed engaging in public brawls and led a rampage of 100 members of his former EDL group in south London, after the 2013 killing of an off-duty British soldier by jihadi terrorists) notables such as Donald Trump Jr, Mike Cernovich (who promoted the PizzaGate conspiracy theory), Alex Jones (of Infowars, who has donated funds to help fund Robinson’s website), and The Gateway Pundit’s Lucian Wintrich, all held forth on his jailing.

US alternative media sites also took to referring to Robinson as a “citizen journalist”, “conservative activist” or even, bizarrely, a “cultural commentator”. Typically forthright, Roseanne Barr reflected Robinson’s obsession with trials of members of child sex-abuse rings (“grooming gangs”) allegedly engaged in exploiting young girls, tweeting: “Pedos [pedophiles] and their agents are now arresting those who oppose them, in ENGLAND! #FreeTommyRobinson”.

ACT for America, Brigitte Gabriel’s anti-Muslim organisation that claims to have 1,000 local chapters in the US, emailed its list about Robinson, claiming that his case meant that “free speech is under attack”. Fox News chimed in with Tucker Carlson giving Robinson’s case significant airtime on his show.

High-profile speakers at the recent London protest in his support included the Dutch populist politician Geert Wilders (who has called for the Quran to be banned), and one of Steve Bannon’s British henchmen, Raheem Kassam, who used to run Breitbart London and acted as chief strategist for radical right politician (and Bannon friend) Nigel Farage. Kassam compered the event and read out messages of support from both a far-right Front National leader in France and his own mentor, Bannon.

Bannon and Kassam are now at the heart of an attempt to create a new far-right movement – called, ironically, The Movement – which will seek to influence European politics and push a far-right block into the heart of the European parliament.

At the heart of this, Tommy Robinson now walks temporarily free, a convicted thug, Islamophobe and someone who uses intimidation against his opponents. He claims to be a free speech martyr, yet reveals or exposes nothing the courts and legal system have not already exposed. He remains silent about serious sexual abusers within the English Defence League, including one man given a 17-year prison sentence this February, while ranting against Muslims. He is backed by powerful overseas figures with deep pockets, yet portrays himself a man of the people: it’s time we woke up to the real Tommy.

Nick Ryan is the director of communications at Hope not Hate