Musk urges release of British far-right figure Tommy Robinson
Elon Musk, the world's richest man, has become vocal in his support for far right and anti-establishment parties in Europe.
The New Arab Staff & Agencies
03 January, 2025
Elon Musk on Thursday called for the release from prison of Tommy Robinson, one of Britain's controversial far-right agitators, in the US tech billionaire's latest UK intervention.
In a flurry of messages on his X platform, Musk also renewed his criticism of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, highlighting that his time as chief state prosecutor in England and Wales coincided with the emergence of a child grooming scandal.
It comes after Musk, the world's richest man and key ally of US President-elect Donald Trump, faced recent criticism over his support for Germany's far-right AfD party.
Concerns have also emerged in Britain over claims that Musk is set to donate tens of millions of pounds to the upstart hard-right, anti-immigrant Reform UK party, led by Nigel Farage.
Musk has been highly critical of Starmer, including during anti-immigration riots that rocked English and Northern Irish cities last year.
In his overnight X posts, Musk claimed Robinson was in prison "for telling the truth" and that "he should be freed".
His posts swiftly garnered huge support from far-right figures, including Dutch politician Geert Wilders, as well as some right-wing YouTube channels.
Grooming scandal
Robinson, a one-time football hooligan who boasts a string of UK criminal convictions, is serving an 18-month jail term for repeated contempt of court breaches.
He has amassed a big online following after years spearheading a vehemently anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant movement.
Accused of helping fuel last summer's riots, Robinson was jailed in October after he admitted committing contempt of court over a long-running libel case involving a Syrian refugee.
However, Musk's messages Thursday focused on Robinson's long-time highlighting of historical scandals involving paedophile grooming gangs in northern English cities.
Next to photos of Starmer, he later also posted "no justice for severe, violent crimes, but prison for social media posts", in a reference to jail terms handed out to people found guilty of online incitement during the anti-immigration riots.
The widespread abuse of girls, which emerged more than a decade ago in a number of English towns and cities including Rochdale, Rotherham and Oldham, has long stirred controversy.
A series of court cases eventually led to the conviction of dozens of men, mostly of South Asian Muslim origin. The victims were vulnerable, mostly white, girls.
Subsequent official reports into how police and social workers failed to halt the abuse found that officials in some cases turned a blind eye to avoid appearing racist.
The scandals have been seized upon by far-right figures, in particular Robinson.
Inquiry calls
Sharing various other accounts' claims around the decades-spanning crimes, Musk noted that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decides whether to charge suspects.
"Who was the head of the CPS when rape gangs were allowed to exploit young girls without facing justice? Keir Starmer, 2008-2013," he posted.
Starmer was the head of the CPS in that period, but none of the probes into the scandals singled him out for blame or found that he tried to block prosecutions due to concerns over Islamophobia.
In 2012, Starmer blamed the justice system's flawed approach to sexual exploitation and ordered a comprehensive restructuring of the CPS's responses to it.
Musk has also criticised Jess Phillips, safeguarding minister since July, following reports she has rejected calls for a public inquiry into the grooming scandal in Oldham, northwest England.
Following a backlash from some UK opposition lawmakers to the reported decision, Musk posted Wednesday that "she deserves to be in prison".
Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the Conservative Party -- in power from 2010 to 2024 but now the official opposition -- on Thursday backed a wider public inquiry "into the rape gangs scandal".
"Trials have taken place all over the country in recent years, but no one in authority has joined the dots," she said.
EXPLAINER
Who is Tommy Robinson and why is Elon Musk throwing his weight behind him?
Musk made posts on X calling for jailed right-wing UK activist Robinson to be released.
Video Duration 02 minutes 27 seconds 02:27
Who is Tommy Robinson and why is Elon Musk throwing his weight behind him?
Musk made posts on X calling for jailed right-wing UK activist Robinson to be released.
Video Duration 02 minutes 27 seconds 02:27
Musk calls for release of jailed UK far-right activist ‘Tommy Robinson’
By Al Jazeera Staff
3 Jan 20253 Jan 2025
Not content with merely campaigning for United States President-elect Donald Trump and urging Germans to vote for the far-right political party, Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the country’s upcoming elections, American billionaire Elon Musk is ruffling political feathers in the United Kingdom as well with an online campaign to free Tommy Robinson, a far-right activist, from prison.
Here is more about Robinson, who is currently serving time for violation of an injunction but has also previously been jailed for assault and contempt of court:
Who is Tommy Robinson and why is he in prison?
Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, who goes by the name Tommy Robinson, 42, is currently serving an 18-month prison sentence after he admitted to contempt of court during a libel case involving a Syrian refugee schoolboy, Jamal Hijazi.
A video showing 15-year-old Hijazi being attacked by another teenager at a school in Almondbury, Yorkshire in northern England, went viral in the UK in October 2018.
Robinson posted videos on his Facebook account in response, claiming that Hijazi had attacked “young English girls” and threatened to stab a boy at school, allegations that Hijazi denied.
These videos, seen by nearly one million people, led to Hijazi and his family receiving death threats.
The High Court ruled in 2021 that Robinson had defamed Hijazi and ordered him to pay 100,000 pounds ($124,000) in damages. The judge also handed him an injunction which prevented him from repeating the claims.
However, in February 2023, Robinson began to repeat the claims and made a documentary which he posted on his X account claiming he had been “silenced by the state”. In July 2024, he showed this documentary to viewers in London’s Trafalgar Square.
He was sentenced to 18 months in prison by Woolwich Crown Court in October 2024 after he admitted to violating the 2021 injunction.
His documentary, titled “Silenced”, is still up on X and has 146.2 million views as of Friday. It has been retweeted by about 101,000 people, including Musk.
Robinson was banned from X, then known as Twitter, in 2018. However, he was allowed to return to the platform in 2018 when Musk bought it. Robinson now has more than one million followers on X.
In the past, Robinson has been jailed for assault (2005), mortgage fraud (2014) and contempt of court (2024).
In 2019, he was sentenced to nine months in prison for contempt of court after he uploaded a video on Facebook featuring defendants in a criminal trial. The trial was of a gang of alleged sex offenders who were accused of abusing young girls.
He founded the far-right Islamophobic organisation, English Defence League, in June 2009. It staged violent demonstrations against Islam and was active until around 2013.
Why has Musk thrown his support behind Robinson?
Musk’s posts in support of Robinson come in the wake of a long-term grooming gang scandal in the UK which Musk claims Robinson tried to blow the whistle on.
In June 2022, an independent review found that the police and council had failed to prevent sexual exploitation of young girls by gangs in Oldham, northern England. The review identified multiple opportunities to stop the abuse from 2005.
In July 2024, political leaders in Oldham Council called on the government to investigate child sexual abuse in the town at the hands of “grooming gangs”.
But in October 2024, Home Office Minister Jess Phillips rejected the council’s request, saying it should lead an investigation itself.
On Wednesday, right-leaning British outlet GB News reported on this and blamed the Labour Party, which swept to power in July in a landslide election unseating the Conservative Party after 14 years of rule, for its inaction on the grooming gangs. The report was amplified by Musk, as well as Conservative leaders in the UK.
Musk posted on his X account saying British Prime Minister Keir Starmer had failed to prosecute child rapists when he was director of public prosecutions between 2008 and 2013. He also posted on X on Friday: “Jess Philips is a rape genocide apologist.”
Musk’s posts supporting Robinson come along with a wave of his posts supporting European right-wing figures online. In late December, he wrote an opinion piece in support of the German right-wing party AfD. He has also backed Nigel Farage’s far-right Reform UK party and Italy’s right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
How have UK politicians reacted to Musk’s comments?
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said Musk’s views are “misjudged and misinformed”.
“Musk’s support not just for Tommy Robinson, but also the AfD in Germany, shows just how big a problem he is for democracy as well as the reputation of those who cosy up to him like Nigel Farage and Liz Truss,” Labour parliamentarian Stella Creasy told Politico.
In December, Farage met Musk at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. On Thursday, Musk posted on X “Only Reform can save Britain”.
By Al Jazeera Staff
3 Jan 20253 Jan 2025
Not content with merely campaigning for United States President-elect Donald Trump and urging Germans to vote for the far-right political party, Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the country’s upcoming elections, American billionaire Elon Musk is ruffling political feathers in the United Kingdom as well with an online campaign to free Tommy Robinson, a far-right activist, from prison.
Here is more about Robinson, who is currently serving time for violation of an injunction but has also previously been jailed for assault and contempt of court:
What has Musk said about Tommy Robinson?
Musk, who was recently named as a special adviser by Trump, posted several times on his X account on Wednesday and Thursday, stating that Robinson, a notorious far-right activist who campaigns against immigration and Islam, “should be freed” from prison.
Musk, who was recently named as a special adviser by Trump, posted several times on his X account on Wednesday and Thursday, stating that Robinson, a notorious far-right activist who campaigns against immigration and Islam, “should be freed” from prison.
Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, who goes by the name Tommy Robinson, 42, is currently serving an 18-month prison sentence after he admitted to contempt of court during a libel case involving a Syrian refugee schoolboy, Jamal Hijazi.
A video showing 15-year-old Hijazi being attacked by another teenager at a school in Almondbury, Yorkshire in northern England, went viral in the UK in October 2018.
Robinson posted videos on his Facebook account in response, claiming that Hijazi had attacked “young English girls” and threatened to stab a boy at school, allegations that Hijazi denied.
These videos, seen by nearly one million people, led to Hijazi and his family receiving death threats.
The High Court ruled in 2021 that Robinson had defamed Hijazi and ordered him to pay 100,000 pounds ($124,000) in damages. The judge also handed him an injunction which prevented him from repeating the claims.
However, in February 2023, Robinson began to repeat the claims and made a documentary which he posted on his X account claiming he had been “silenced by the state”. In July 2024, he showed this documentary to viewers in London’s Trafalgar Square.
He was sentenced to 18 months in prison by Woolwich Crown Court in October 2024 after he admitted to violating the 2021 injunction.
His documentary, titled “Silenced”, is still up on X and has 146.2 million views as of Friday. It has been retweeted by about 101,000 people, including Musk.
Robinson was banned from X, then known as Twitter, in 2018. However, he was allowed to return to the platform in 2018 when Musk bought it. Robinson now has more than one million followers on X.
In the past, Robinson has been jailed for assault (2005), mortgage fraud (2014) and contempt of court (2024).
In 2019, he was sentenced to nine months in prison for contempt of court after he uploaded a video on Facebook featuring defendants in a criminal trial. The trial was of a gang of alleged sex offenders who were accused of abusing young girls.
He founded the far-right Islamophobic organisation, English Defence League, in June 2009. It staged violent demonstrations against Islam and was active until around 2013.
Why has Musk thrown his support behind Robinson?
Musk’s posts in support of Robinson come in the wake of a long-term grooming gang scandal in the UK which Musk claims Robinson tried to blow the whistle on.
In June 2022, an independent review found that the police and council had failed to prevent sexual exploitation of young girls by gangs in Oldham, northern England. The review identified multiple opportunities to stop the abuse from 2005.
In July 2024, political leaders in Oldham Council called on the government to investigate child sexual abuse in the town at the hands of “grooming gangs”.
But in October 2024, Home Office Minister Jess Phillips rejected the council’s request, saying it should lead an investigation itself.
On Wednesday, right-leaning British outlet GB News reported on this and blamed the Labour Party, which swept to power in July in a landslide election unseating the Conservative Party after 14 years of rule, for its inaction on the grooming gangs. The report was amplified by Musk, as well as Conservative leaders in the UK.
Musk posted on his X account saying British Prime Minister Keir Starmer had failed to prosecute child rapists when he was director of public prosecutions between 2008 and 2013. He also posted on X on Friday: “Jess Philips is a rape genocide apologist.”
Musk’s posts supporting Robinson come along with a wave of his posts supporting European right-wing figures online. In late December, he wrote an opinion piece in support of the German right-wing party AfD. He has also backed Nigel Farage’s far-right Reform UK party and Italy’s right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
How have UK politicians reacted to Musk’s comments?
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said Musk’s views are “misjudged and misinformed”.
“Musk’s support not just for Tommy Robinson, but also the AfD in Germany, shows just how big a problem he is for democracy as well as the reputation of those who cosy up to him like Nigel Farage and Liz Truss,” Labour parliamentarian Stella Creasy told Politico.
In December, Farage met Musk at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. On Thursday, Musk posted on X “Only Reform can save Britain”.
In 2018, Farage resigned from the UK Independence Party (UKIP) after its leader Gerard Batten appointed Robinson as an official adviser.
Reform’s chairman Zia Yusuf is also Muslim. Farage has yet to publicly react to Musk’s recent posts about Robinson.
Reform’s chairman Zia Yusuf is also Muslim. Farage has yet to publicly react to Musk’s recent posts about Robinson.
Source: Al Jazeera
British right smacks down MAGA after Elon Musk goes a 'step too far': report
Erik De La Garza
January 3, 2025
Erik De La Garza
January 3, 2025
RAW STORY
FILE PHOTO: Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk stands with Republican presidential candidate former U.S. president Donald Trump during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, U.S., October 5, 2024. REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File Photo
Tech billionaire Elon Musk’s increasing influence in the United States as a key ally of incoming President Donald Trump and around the world has stoked concerns among far-right figures in the United Kingdom.
And they’re not keeping their unease to themselves.
Warnings from far-right British politicians poured in Thursday after Musk posted a flood of messages on his X platform calling for the release from prison of far-right activist Tommy Robinson, who is known as a prominent far-right agitator in Britain, Bloomberg reported Friday.
For Musk, the world’s richest man, it was the latest example of his stepping into international politics, but for far-right Britains, it crossed the line.
“Several prominent Brexit-supporting politicians with links to Trump spent Thursday warning their Republican counterparts against following Musk’s endorsement of Robinson, saying it was a step too far,” according to Bloomberg, which cited people familiar with the views of both the Conservative and Reform UK parties, who were granted anonymity.
Reform leader Nigel Farage, who has distanced himself from Robinson, would not benefit from being associated with Robinson, the British politicians told their counterparts in the United States, according to the report. Robinson is serving jail time after pleading guilty to contempt of court breaches last year.
“The outreach by British politicians to their US counterparts was triggered by the latest foray by Musk into British politics,” according to the report. “Since Prime Minister Keir Starmer won the UK general election last July, the close Trump adviser has regularly criticized the new Labour government, called for a new election and urged Britons to back Reform.”
But Musk isn’t just becoming “a headache for Starmer.”
Musk also this week sent out a series of posts about a British child sex abuse scandal, and while some on the British right were “sympathetic” to many of his opinions on the scandal and other criticisms of the Labour government in general, “endorsing Robinson was beyond the pale, one of the people involved in the outreach effort said,” according to Bloomberg.
FILE PHOTO: Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk stands with Republican presidential candidate former U.S. president Donald Trump during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, U.S., October 5, 2024. REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File Photo
Tech billionaire Elon Musk’s increasing influence in the United States as a key ally of incoming President Donald Trump and around the world has stoked concerns among far-right figures in the United Kingdom.
And they’re not keeping their unease to themselves.
Warnings from far-right British politicians poured in Thursday after Musk posted a flood of messages on his X platform calling for the release from prison of far-right activist Tommy Robinson, who is known as a prominent far-right agitator in Britain, Bloomberg reported Friday.
For Musk, the world’s richest man, it was the latest example of his stepping into international politics, but for far-right Britains, it crossed the line.
“Several prominent Brexit-supporting politicians with links to Trump spent Thursday warning their Republican counterparts against following Musk’s endorsement of Robinson, saying it was a step too far,” according to Bloomberg, which cited people familiar with the views of both the Conservative and Reform UK parties, who were granted anonymity.
Reform leader Nigel Farage, who has distanced himself from Robinson, would not benefit from being associated with Robinson, the British politicians told their counterparts in the United States, according to the report. Robinson is serving jail time after pleading guilty to contempt of court breaches last year.
“The outreach by British politicians to their US counterparts was triggered by the latest foray by Musk into British politics,” according to the report. “Since Prime Minister Keir Starmer won the UK general election last July, the close Trump adviser has regularly criticized the new Labour government, called for a new election and urged Britons to back Reform.”
But Musk isn’t just becoming “a headache for Starmer.”
Musk also this week sent out a series of posts about a British child sex abuse scandal, and while some on the British right were “sympathetic” to many of his opinions on the scandal and other criticisms of the Labour government in general, “endorsing Robinson was beyond the pale, one of the people involved in the outreach effort said,” according to Bloomberg.
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