structural:scholar_edition
Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon, better known as Tommy Robinson, is a British anti-Islam campaigner and one of the UK's most prominent far-right activists. Robinson has been active in far-right politics for many years. He was a member of the British National Party (BNP), a British fascist political party, from 2004 to 2005. For a short time in 2012, he was joint vice-chairman of the British Freedom Party (BFP). He co-founded the English Defence League (EDL) in 2009 and led it until October 2013. In 2015, he became involved with the development of Pegida UK, a now-defunct British chapter of the German Pegida. From 2017 to 2018, he wrote and appeared in videos on the Canadian website Rebel News. In 2018, he also served as a political advisor to former UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader Gerard Batten. Robinson served four prison terms between 2005 and 2019. In 2013, he illegally entered the United States using a friend's passport. In 2018, he violated a court order by publishing a Facebook Live video of defendants entering court. Prior to sentencing, he appeared on the American far-right website InfoWars to appeal for political asylum in the US. In 2021, he was found to have libelled a 15-year-old refugee at a school in Huddersfield and was ordered to pay £100,000 plus legal costs. In 2021, he was subjected to a five-year stalking prevention order for harassing journalist Lizzie Dearden and her partner.