‘Scorching-headed’ Tommy Robinson posts inflammatory messages ‘on a whim’ and is aware of he can ‘summon a military’ from his a whole bunch of hundreds of followers, his former assistant claims.
The previous English Defence League chief, 41, is ‘cellphone obsessed’ together with his iPhone ‘glued to his hand’, Lucy Brown completely instructed MailOnline.
However his former camerawoman says the right-wing ‘fame addicted’ activist does not like hanging out together with his ‘military’ of followers after protests, and as an alternative hides away at a pub for a vodka and coke.
Robinson has this week been sunning himself on a lounger from the security of his luxurious bolthole lodge in Cyprus whereas sharing pretend tales about Muslims knifing British males at riots within the wake of the Southport stabbing assault.
In a single publish on X he mentioned that rioters in Southport have been ‘justified of their anger’.
The convicted legal’s supporters have taken to the streets in a marketing campaign of senseless violence that has seen Shoezone, Greggs, and Lush shops smashed and burned with accommodations being focused the place asylum seekers and migrants are being housed.
The violent rioters have been heard chanting Robinson’s title as they launch bricks and petrol bombs at cops and wheel massive burning garbage bins.
Lucy Brown, pictured in 2017, working as Tommy Robinson’s camerawoman at his e book launch occasion claims he posts his inflammatory messages ‘on a whim’
Robinson, 41, has been fanning the flames of stress in riot-hit Britain with a relentless stream of inflammatory and inaccurate social media posts whereas on vacation in Cyprus
It is a playbook Robinson, whose actual title is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, has used up to now in exploiting tragedies to pedal an anti-immigration narrative.
In 2017, he used the identical line that ‘we’re at warfare with Islam’ within the aftermath of each the Westminster Bridge and Manchester Area terror assaults.
In an indignant video this week he refuted any claims that he had ‘stoked the flames’ as he shared a montage of clips during which he urged his ‘lads’ to hold out ‘peaceable protests’.
Throughout the identical 11 minute footage he additionally referred to as for mass deportation and that accommodations wanted to be emptied of the ‘barbarians who’re raping, pillaging and murdering throughout our nation’.
Ms Brown began working as his camerawoman in 2017 whereas he was incomes a reported £5,000 a month at right-wing vlog channel Insurgent Media, earlier than a row ended up in her being sacked a yr later.
She instructed MailOnline Robinson is aware of he can ‘summon a military’ of ‘at the least a thousand individuals’ for a protest by his Twitter account, however after a march he’ll slink away to a pub for a drink together with his ‘cousin or mate’ as he desires to ‘get as distant as attainable’ from his personal followers.
Whereas there he’ll refresh his cellphone ‘1,000,000 instances’ to see the response and boast ‘that is wonderful’, Ms Brown says.
‘After marches, he tended to not wish to be amongst individuals, he used to wish to simply get as distant frankly from his personal followers as attainable,’ she says.
‘He’d wish to hop in a automobile or go and conceal. I feel it’s as a result of these characters happening stage and every little thing is like being a rock star. I feel that is why individuals like Laurence Fox are taken with it as a result of you get handled prefer it.
Ms Brown in a van with Robinson when she labored for him as a camerawoman
Lucy is seen talking in a video for vlog channel Insurgent Media, the place Robinson additionally labored
‘In actual fact, it could be even higher as a result of in the event you’re well-known for being the person that is “saving Britain”, individuals love that. And other people wish to come and hang around with you, they usually wish to discuss to you about it.
‘And so they develop a parasocial relationship with you. They wish to inform you what it’s best to do.
‘We used to have individuals on a regular basis messaging us like, “here is what it’s best to do. And here is what I feel’s occurring”, and all of it simply will get to the purpose the place… I can form of sympathise that possibly he is similar to, “Oh, f*** this. I simply wish to go to the pub”.’
Ms Brown says ‘hot-headed’ Robinson will publish tweets ‘on a whim’ having not consulted together with his workforce of ‘mini-me’s’, and claimed they’re usually not fact-checked.
‘I do know he isn’t received anybody that he is asking about it [the tweets], that’s, the truth is, one of many important explanation why, once we all labored collectively as a workforce, that issues began to go south for us.
‘He would simply go publish stuff at three within the morning, typically simply getting in arguments with random Twitter customers.
‘I do not forget that was why he received his Twitter account banned in 2018 as a result of he received in an argument with some account with two followers, mentioned one thing about Islam, and that was it.
‘We have been getting indignant at him like, “why did you try this? That was so silly”, and he was like, “nicely, it is my account I can do what I would like”.
‘So he is very “I will simply do it. It is my account I do not care”.’
BOLTON: Sufficient is Sufficient protesters and counter protesters take to the streets on August 4
ROTHERHAM: Violent riots happen on August 4 with far-right thugs surrounding a lodge housing asylum seekers
PLYMOUTH: The violence continued on Monday night when right-wing and left-wing protesters clashed within the metropolis centre
Robinson lived in an echo chamber the place his trio of proper hand henchmen – Richard Inman, Danny Tommo (actual title Daniel Thomas) and Danny Roscoe – could be ‘egging him on’, Ms Brown claimed.
And she or he mentioned he could be blasé when confronted with any backlash from inside his personal circle.
‘He usually would publish one thing with out consulting anybody, after which, if individuals received indignant at him, it could be in a gaggle chat, and he’d most likely simply brush it off, or he’d simply delete it.’
After the Westminster Bridge terror assault in 2017, Robinson rushed to the Homes of Parliament the place he was filmed by his digicam crew launching right into a tirade about Islamic extremism.
He was broadly condemned and accused of inflaming the state of affairs, however off digicam Robinson was telling his workforce how his Twitter account had been ‘popping off’ with the clip inflicting his following to surge by a whole bunch of hundreds.
Ms Brown, who wasn’t working for him on the time, recalled a dialog she had with him about it.
‘He wasn’t like tremendous gloating about it as a result of individuals had died,’ she says. ‘However he was like “I hate to say this, however my Twitter account’s been popping off. That is wonderful. I’ve received like this many followers in a single day”.
HULL: A Shoezone retailer was torched and trashed as looters grabbed pretend Crocs
HARTLEPOOL: A police automobile was set alight by rioters on July 31 within the aftermath of the deadly Southport stabbings
‘So there was undoubtedly a little bit little bit of like cellphone dependancy happening there the place he was simply scrolling and saying “take a look at this! Take a look at this!”.’
When the Manchester Area terror assault occurred two months later, Robinson rapidly introduced to his workforce with none session that he was going to be organising a protest.
‘I feel, on that event, and what he tended to do after that was, he would simply announce it and be like we’re doing it subsequent week, after which us, his workforce, could be going “what?”,’ the style photographer says.
‘There will be no like kind of dialogue once more. All of it kind of comes from him.
‘It might usually be very, very fast. I imply he undoubtedly is aware of that in his little hand, in his iPhone is as much as 300,000 individuals. Now, it is greater than 800,000 however he is aware of that if he goes in that field and he says to those individuals “let’s do that” he is aware of that there is going to be hundreds on the very least turning as much as the place he mentioned to show up.
‘He undoubtedly is aware of that he can summon a military like that.’
She added: ‘It is the push of organising it final minute, having all of it occur, seeing all of it kick off typically there will be opposing factions, left wing individuals, or police, and it is a little bit bit pantomime. You have received individuals shouting at one another with totally different flags and all that form of stuff.’
Ms Brown does not imagine Robinson organises protests with the intention of them turning violent, as an alternative arguing it is a ‘blindspot’ of his.
‘If he is being persecuted for doing one thing objectively silly, and for placing individuals in peril, he sees that as “the State are coming after me for telling the reality and they are going to lock me up”.
‘However “it is okay, as a result of I will be a hero”. I feel that is how he frames it himself.’
Robinson was banned from Twitter in 2018 when he fell foul of the platform’s guidelines on ‘hateful conduct’.
However in November 2023 its billionaire new proprietor Elon Musk reinstated the far-right agitato’s account.
Musk himself has additionally drawn criticism having launched a weird disagreement with the British authorities because the riots continued to grip Britain.
X’s billionaire proprietor Elon Musk reinstated Robinson to the platform in November 2023 and has allowed his banned documentary to be performed on the social media website
‘Civil warfare is inevitable’ he wrote in response to pictures of rioting in Liverpool. He then responded to a video posted by the PM stressing assaults on mosques and Muslims wouldn’t be tolerated.
Musk has aided Robinson in amplifying his anti-Muslim rhetoric having responded to certainly one of his posts, whereas additionally permitting his banned documentary to be performed on the social media platform.
This week a reporter from the Mail watched on as Robinson, armed solely together with his cellphone, seamlessly merged having fun with the posh of a £400-a-night all-inclusive lodge with rabble-rousing.
Having first secured his lounger with a towel, there have been journeys to the gymnasium, for pizza and to the pool – all interspersed with a relentless stream of inflammatory social media posts.
There have been messages attacking the police for going gentle on Muslim protests, on the media for labelling protesters as ‘far-Proper’ and on House Secretary Yvette Cooper for calling them ‘thugs’.
He additionally shared a collection of pretend tales over the weekend together with claims that Muslims had stabbed protesters in Staffordshire and attacked three girls in Scotland.
However as Ms Brown put it to us, ‘as a result of he is been proper [about some things], like a damaged clock is correct twice a day, a damaged activist will also be proper twice a day’.
‘You may get a few viral movies which can be truly right,’ she says. ‘You’ll be able to say just a few issues right here and there which can be right, and other people simply assume that you just’re doing all of your homework, and that every little thing that you just’re saying has been reality checked and can also be right.’
