A right toxic brew-up
KEN DO TO CAN’T DO ON BREXIT Us-style Tea Party poison is creeping here
YEARS ago, working for a different newspaper, I had brief dealings with Tommy Robinson.
It was in the days when he traded as the co-founder, leader and spokesman of the English Defence League. You know the ones? They had those “peaceful protests” in town centres where much booze is peacefully consumed, before some property is gently smashed up, with abuse whispered at whoever’s around.
Those ones. Anyways. I phoned up Mr Robinson to get his version of events, left a message, and he came back within the hour.
He was polite, articulate, reasonable, and I remember thinking when I hung up the phone how utterly, utterly, dangerous he was.
That was a while ago, and Robinson seemed to go quiet for a time, jacking in the EDL in 2013 because elements of it were “too extreme”.
His fallow period seemed to be when Ukip were in vogue – as if they acted as some weird safety valve.
But now they’ve gone and Robinson, below, is gently oozing back on to the scene. He got out of prison this week, on bail, before a trial for contempt of court. His release was greeted with joy by followers.
He’s now off to chill with his family for a couple of weeks.
But meanwhile there are plans afoot for him.
An American called Steve Bannon, currently knocking about Europe, is a fan. Bannon claims to have been the architect of Donald Trump’s election victory and was – for a CONSPIRACY theories abound in Westminster at the moment.
In summer the news vacuum gets filled by the latest offerings from the rumour mill.
The latest No1 theory is that Brexit negotiations are being blown on purpose to keep us in the EU. “No one could be that while – his right-hand man. He’s on He recently ranted: “Tommy Robinson publicly and painfully, to deal with manoeuvres, dining with Farage, is the f***ing backbone of this country.” allegations of anti-semitism. meeting Boris Johnson and He really isn’t. But the danger is The Tories are fractured by Brexit, Jacob Rees-mogg. Bannon and company moulding him and the lid is yet to blow on the He says: “All I am trying to be to be. They have willing volunteers. Islamophobia in their party. is the infrastructure, globally, For someone like Katie Hopkins, In the meantime Bannon and his kind for the global populist who does nothing more than crave are limbering up. In the US the movement.” publicity, the far right is a chance to right-wing fringe of the right wing is But what he represents is not cling on to the limelight. known as the Tea Party. populism. This is the neatly For Boris and Farage, drifting away If we’re not careful – very careful – packaged rise of the far right. from mainstream politics, a new we will have our own version here. And Robinson is movement has its appeal. These are We are already stocking up on Bannon’s ideal man. dangerous times. Labour is trying, very Mad Hatters.
BORIS Johnson quit as Foreign Secretary after a shambolic couple of years of multiple gaffes and casual racism.
But as soon as he packed up, the proportion of Tory members saying they wanted him as the next leader leapt from eight per cent to 30. Meanwhile Michael Gove kept his head down and his popularity halved. One of Labour’s great fears is that nothing sticks to Boris.
Looks like that might be the case. incompetent,” said a Tory source I spoke to. Another agreed, saying it reminded him of 1980s wrestling. “It’s like the outcomes are already agreed, like they used to do on those shows.
“They know who’s going to win, it’s all decided before they get in the ring. This is a fix. Nobody could be this bad at negotiating.”
Brexit negotiations as 80s wrestling is an interesting concept, I agreed. But who would Theresa May be?
“Easy! Kendo Nagasaki,” he replied. “But with the mask on backwards.” REASONS to enjoy living in this country, number 139. Last year, the amount of money left to the British National Party in people’s wills came to £110,000. In the same period, the amount of money left to the charity Cats Protection in people’s wills came to £30million. Black cats, white cats, gingers – Britons showed no prejudice.