Tommy Robinson - LOADSAMONEY

While Stephen Yaxley Lennon, who styles himself Tommy Robinson, enjoys yet another family holiday on the Canary Island of Tenerife, his former assistant Lucy Brown has been speaking to the Murdoch Sunday Times about him - and his entourage of hangers-on. And her testimony shows why so many have been so eager to align themselves with the former  EDL man - as usual, it’s all about the money. Rather a lot of money.

And that priority - money coming above all else - is why all those who believe Lennon is there to fearlessly expose grooming gangs or terrorists are being had for mugs. Their anger is being manipulated, their outrage turned into crowdfunding donations, which also helps oil the wheels of the Tommy Robinson financial machine.

The ST article tells “Robert Shillman, founder and chairman of the Nasdaq-listed multinational Cognex, helped to pay Robinson’s high-five-figure salary, in the latest example of American cash flowing into the British hard right”. What the ST missed is that Shillman also funded James O’Keefe, formerly Andrew Breitbart’s gofer, who made the fake videos that helped get ACORN defunded.

ACORN was a collection of community-based organizations in the United States and internationally that advocated for low- and moderate-income families by working on neighborhood safety, voter registration, health care, affordable housing, and other social issues. It supported the poor and less well off. It got screwed over. And the bloke who’s helping pay Stephen Lennon is funding the creep who screwed it over.

So much for being part of the working class - this circle is anything but. As for Lennon’s claim to be a “journalist”, Ms Brown tells only “I used to think, foolishly, that when he went home he was doing his research and putting case files together. He doesn’t, he just gets home and eats crisps and looks himself up on Twitter”.

And for doing that, when he was at Rebel Media, Lennon “was initially paid between £5,000 and £6,000 a month by The Rebel, rising to £8,000 a month, equivalent to nearly £100,000 a year”. He and his family live “in a £500,000 house in a Bedfordshire village”.

The caring nature of the Tommy Robinson empire is explained

Plus those holidays. “The family is currently on a two-week holiday in Tenerife, the second holiday they have spent on the Canary Island in the past four months … On his earlier trip, Robinson stayed part of the time with Lutz Bachmann, founder of the German racist group Pegida and a personal friend, who has a home in Tenerife”. But he’s not a racist.

There is another far-right connection: Shillman sits on the board of the David Horowitz Freedom Center, which employs Robert Spencer - who is banned from entering the UK.

With these far from moderate connections, Stephen Lennon’s schtick, according to Ms Brown, is “whipping people up in to a frenzy and I worry that some are on the cusp of acting out their frustrations against Muslims as a result”.

But Lennon and his entourage - PA Hel Gower, creep Caolan Robertson and his partner George Llewellyn John, Walter Mitty-lite Raheem “call me Ray” Kassam and the rest, won't be too fussed if their actions spark unrest. It’s all about money. And they’ve got theirs, thanks.

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