Tommy Robinson DEFAMES Scots Minister

Not only is the path to income generation proving to be less than smooth for former EDL head man Stephen Yaxley Lennon, aka Tommy Robinson - his initial choice for marketing tickets to his Newcastle book launch has decided to cease doing business with him - but he is also having a little difficulty in the reality department, as witness his decision to go after, and maliciously smear, MSP Humza Yousaf.

Stephen Yaxley Lennon aka Tommy Robinson

Yousaf, who has been an MSP for six years now, is Scottish Government Minister for transport and the islands. He is a long-serving community worker and organiser, and has been a Parliamentary assistant to several other Scottish politicians, notably Alex Salmond and current First Minister Nicola Sturgeon. And for some reason, Yaxley Lennon has decided to go after him. If only he could get his facts straight.

What Yaxley Lennon seems to see as key to his attack on Hunza Yousaf is an organisation called Islamic Relief. From this he moves swiftly along to claim “Islamic Relief (@HumzaYousaf), Cordoba Foundation, MAB, CAIR ... These names are designed to fool us, underneath it's all Muslim Brotherhood”. There is not one shred of evidence to back this up, and so if anyone concerned decides to instruct lawyers, it could prove interesting.

What could also prove interesting is Lennon’s claim made against Yousaf’s mother: “SNP @HumzaYousaf got Alex Salmond to approve 1st SNP funded Islamic school … Humza’s mum is director of Al Huda, women’s Jihad academy”. The two active directors of the Al Huda Welfare Foundation UK live in Ilford and Romford. Neither location is within 400 miles of Yousaf’s native Glasgow. Still, have another go.

“SNP @HumzaYousaf and cousin Osama Saeed's ‘Scottish Islamic Foundation’ was secretly a branch of Muslim Brotherhood global Jihad group” asserts Lennon. Again, there is not a shred of evidence to stand this up. The only claim made against the SIF came from his former pals at the Quilliam Foundation, but the SIF “has rejected the claims and threatened to take legal action against the counter-extremism think-tank”.

So that could be interesting, too. Still, onwards and, er, onwards: “SNP @HumzaYousaf's mum is from Faisalabad (Pakistan), major centre of Al Huda women's terror cult … And she's director of Glasgow Al Huda”. She is, in fact, from Kenya, and Lennon has been told as much. Nor does he have anything to stand up his claim that Al-Huda is a “women’s terror cult”. Would Sir care to say something else that isn’t true?

“SNP @HumzaYousaf is a member of Muslim Brotherhood global Jihad group (IR division) … Did Humza meet with MB Jihadis in Qatar (MB base)?” Once more, this is a claim that not even the convocation of the irredeemably batshit otherwise known as Breitbart have been prepared to make, and nor has Melanie “not just Barking but halfway to Upminster” Phillips. And Lennon could just put the question to Yousaf. He hasn’t. Yet.

For someone who likes to call “liar” on others, Stephen Yaxley Lennon tells an awful lot of lies. Worse, much of his dishonesty appears purely malicious and defamatory, with no regard for the consequences of his shooting his mouth off.

It’s an interesting stance for someone who loves playing the victim.