Who is Tommy Robinson and why does Elon Musk want him freed from jail?
A convicted fraudster with a violent criminal record, Tommy Robinson is well known as the leader of the English far right, inspiring rallies of mostly white, mostly male followers shouting soccer-style chants against Islam and immigration.
It has been jarring then, for many Britons to see Robinson — whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon — become the latest cause championed by the richest person on the planet, Elon Musk.
“Free Tommy Robinson!” the billionaire entrepreneur and adviser to President-elect Donald Trump posted to his X social media network Thursday.
Robinson, 42, is serving an 18-month jail sentence for contempt of court, a charge stemming from a libelous video in which he falsely claimed a Syrian refugee teenager was a violent thug.
Widely disliked in Britain, Robinson’s 19% popularity rating is even lower than Musk’s at 26%, according to the latest findings published in October by YouGov, a British polling company.
“But he will become less fringe if people adopt him — and that’s the risk you have here,” according to Scott Lucas, a University College Dublin professor specializing in British and American politics. “Tommy’s an icon for certain far-right groups — and Musk knows that.”
This is far from Musk’s first intervention in European politics, and he has increasingly opined on the subject since backing Trump’s election win in November. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO has largely supported far-right nationalists, most recently in Germany. Their rise on the continent has coincided with Trump’s second term, teeing up the prospect of transatlantic cooperation among this former political fringe.
It is in Britain, however, where Musk has focused most attention.
In recent months, he has accused Keir Starmer of running a “tyrannical police state” and going “full Stalin,” a stark contrast to domestic criticism, which has often seen the prime minister accused of being too centrist and selling out his leftist roots. [Continue reading…]