Tommy Robinson

Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon (born Stephen Christopher Yaxley, 27 November 1982), better known as Tommy Robinson, is an English anti-Islam campaigner, convicted criminal and one of the UK’s most prominent far-right activists.

He was a political advisor to former UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader Gerard Batten.

Robinson has been active in far-right politics for many years.

Robinson was born Stephen Christopher Yaxley in Luton on 27 November 1982.

He says that his parents were Irish immigrants.

His mother, who worked at a local bakery, remarried when he was still young; his stepfather, Thomas Lennon, worked at the Vauxhall car plant in Luton.

Robinson later amended his real surname from Yaxley to Yaxley-Lennon.

He applied to study aircraft engineering at Luton Airport after leaving school: "I got an apprenticeship 600 people applied for, and they took four people on."

He qualified in 2003 after five years of study, but lost his job when he was convicted of assaulting an off-duty police officer in a drunken argument.

He served a 12-month prison sentence.

He was a member of the British National Party (BNP), a neo-fascist and white nationalist political party, from 2004 to 2005.

He has served at least four separate prison terms: for assault in 2005, for using false travel documents to enter the United States in 2012, for mortgage fraud in 2014, and 13 months in 2018 for contempt of court after publishing a Facebook Live video of defendants entering a law court (contravening a court order that disallows reporting on such trials while proceedings are ongoing).

Robinson founded the English Defence League (EDL) in 2009 with his cousin Kevin Carroll, and became its leader with Carroll as deputy leader.

Robinson stated that he had been prompted to found the EDL after he had read a newspaper article about local Islamists attempting to recruit men outside a bakery in Luton to fight for the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Robinson has appeared masked at protests.

Although Robinson repeatedly insisted from the early days of the organisation that the EDL was "against the rise of radical Islam" and that its members "aren't against Islam", its rank and file were noted for including football hooligans and members who described themselves as anti-Muslim.

Robinson founded the European Defence League, a co-ordination of groups similar to the EDL operating in different European countries.

Robinson was assaulted on 22 December 2011.

He said this occurred after stopping his car due to another car flashing its lights at him, and 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.

Bedfordshire Police stated that it was "unclear what the motive for the attack was".

Robinson was convicted in 2011 of using "threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour" during a fight between supporters of Luton Town and Newport County in Luton the previous year.

Robinson reportedly led the group of Luton fans, and played an integral part in starting a 100-man brawl, during which he chanted "EDL till I die".

He was sentenced to a 12-month community rehabilitation order with 150 hours' unpaid work and a three-year ban from attending football matches.

Robinson was arrested again after an EDL demonstration in Tower Hamlets in September 2011 for breach of bail conditions, as he had been banned from attending that demonstration.

Robinson later began a hunger strike while on remand in HM Prison Bedford, saying that he was a "political prisoner of the state", and refused to eat what he believed was halal meat.

A handful of EDL supporters protested outside the prison in support of Robinson during his incarceration; the support peaked at a turnout of 100 protesters on 10 September.

Robinson was released on bail on 12 September.

On 29 September 2011, Robinson was convicted of common assault after headbutting a fellow EDL member at a rally in Blackburn in April that year.

For a short time in 2012, he was joint vice-chairman of the far-right British Freedom Party (BFP).

He co-founded the far-right English Defence League (EDL) in 2009 and led it until 8 October 2013.

In 2015, he became involved with the development of Pegida UK, a now-defunct British chapter of the German far-right Pegida.

From 2017 to 2018, he wrote and appeared in videos on the Canadian far-right website Rebel News.

Robinson has been convicted for multiple crimes involving violence, stalking, financial and immigration fraud, drug possession, public order offences, and contempt of court.

In August 2018, due to procedural errors, he was released on bail pending a new hearing.

In July 2019, he was again found guilty of contempt of court at the retrial and was committed at the Old Bailey to nine months in prison․ Before his sentencing, he appeared on the American far-right website InfoWars to appeal for political asylum in the U.S. He was released from prison on 13 September 2019 after nine weeks.

In July 2021, Robinson was found to have libelled a 15-year-old refugee at a school in Huddersfield and was ordered to pay £100,000 plus legal costs, although he had filed for bankruptcy in March 2021.

In October 2021, he was made subject to a five-year stalking order for harassing journalist Lizzie Dearden and her partner.

In November 2023, Robinson was charged and bailed under the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act, in relation to the March Against Antisemitism.

In January 2024, he denied the charge after appearing in court, with a trial in London set for April.