Rees Mogg Thug - Was He Britain First?

[Update at end of post]

While more video and still images emerge from the protest during a speech given by Jacob Rees Mogg to an audience at the University of the West of England, and the search continues to identify the individual in the white shirt who waded into an argument between Rees Mogg and the protestors by violently assaulting a young woman in that group, someone out there on the far right has inadvertently given the game away.

Jacob Rees Mogg

We now know that Momentum had nothing to do with the protest, and that the group making the noise felt they had made their point and were on the verge of leaving Rees Mogg and his supporters in peace. Thus the right-wing press and their hangers-on, notably the perpetually thirsty Paul Staines and his rabble at the Guido Fawkes blog, were shown to have their pants on fire once more. But who was the violent thug?

Still no name has been reliably pitched for the white shirted assailant, and given the video footage showing him determinedly wading in with his fists, perhaps that is not surprising. Thankfully, Paul Golding, leader of the convocation of racist thugs otherwise known as Britain First, has chosen to enlighten us, in his own inimitable way.

Was the white-shirted assailant ...

The protest took place on Friday evening. Then, the following day, Golding had this to say: “If you keep harassing people like Jacob Rees Mogg then you will get the Britain First cannons turned on you … We will find out where you live, you work and you study … Stay away from politicians on the right of politics or you will find Britain First on your doorstep”.

Quite apart from this being a most unwise move from someone who is going through a series of court appearances, its timing leads to the inevitable question: was there a connection between the bloke in the white shirt and Golding’s not so merry men? And the latest still photo suggests this is not outside the bounds of possibility.

The white-shirted assailant sports a short haircut, which from the back reveals a little combing to mask the onset of male pattern baldness: probably too old to be a student. From the front, you can see another similarly styled and aggressively inclined individual over his left shoulder. He’s not staff, he’s not campus security, so who is he?

... connected to this clumsy giveaway? (This from Exposing Britain First)

Without Golding’s intervention, the idea that Britain First had rocked up at the UWE intent on getting a little afters would not have entered. Rees Mogg, after all, is a mainstream politician, not a Kipper or a race-hatred wingnut. But after the BF leader’s threat, and a look through the video and stills, two and two does appear to be equalling four.

All of which should enable the potential rogues’ gallery to be narrowed down: it now looks as though the search should be not for Tory party activists, but local far-right troublemakers. And if the Police want to get more knowledgeable about what went on, they could do a lot worse than ask Golding to assist them with their enquiries (again).

It wasn’t Momentum. And it might not have been the Tories either.

[UPDATE 1620 hours: the white-shirted assailant has now been identified as Paul Townsley, a 52-year-old married family man from Yate, north of Bristol. He is a self-employed plumber, a martial arts enthusiast, and was formerly in the Royal Navy.

It is also being reported that Townsley is an enthusiastic supporter of Rees Mogg, and may have been on hand at previous photo opportunities featuring the MP.

So now the question is being asked as to whether there is a formal connection between the two. That's in addition to the Britain First question. Curiouser and curiouser]