Calls for the U.S. to be included in a probe into foreign interference in UK politics
The hosting of Tommy Robinson by the Trump administration has been condemned by British MPs amid calls for the US to be included in a probe into foreign interference in UK politics.
The far-right activist, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, is being feted in the US, where he met figures including a political appointee at the Department of State in Washington DC and a congressman.
The visit has prompted questions about how Robinson – a former member of the extreme-right British National party and a leader in recent decades of street protests that have often turned violent – was able to overcome a previous ban on entering the US.
Given his criminal convictions – include for fraud, violence, drug possession and attempting to enter the US in 2012 using a false passport – it is highly likely that US authorities will have intervened to allow him to enter on a discretionary basis.
While Robinson has long enjoyed US links – most recently in the form of what he claimed was Elon Musk’s funding to fight a criminal case last year – the visit comes after alarm at the Trump administration’s unveiling of a national security strategy in December that aligned US interests with European far-right politicians.
Having reinvented himself as a self-styled journalist, Robinson has been eagerly attempting to access an audience among Trump’s base on a platform of anti-Muslim rhetoric and claims that freedom of speech is under threat in the UK.
The Trump administration’s hosting of Robinson was described as “a wake-up call” by Calum Miller, the Liberal Democrat MP and foreign affairs spokesperson.
“The government needs to include the US in their inquiry into foreign interference in UK politics,” he said, referring to an ongoing independent review into foreign financial interference in the UK’s political and electoral systems.
“We cannot stand by while the likes of Trump and Musk meddle in our democracy.” [Continue reading…]