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Sunday 3 March 2019

Tommy Robinson’s Finnish No-Show

Following his less than totally triumphant visit to Manchester and the release of his documentary attacking the BBC, Hope Not Hate, and others, Stephen Yaxley Lennon, who styles himself Tommy Robinson, jetted off on his travels once more, this time to Finland, where he was to attend the screening of a documentary about refugees who have settled in the country. But here a problem entered, one entirely of his making.
Lennon had flown in to Helsinki the day before the screening, but then Andrew Wallace told “Tommy Robinson event in Finland cancelled … the far right criminal was to be talking about rape gangs before the Finnish Film Foundation cancelled event”. Actually, the film was still screened elsewhere. But, yes, Lennon was not there.

As Tundra Tabloids has since reported, “The extreme-right activist missed the press conference … The documentary Seinäjoki Arab Spring was supposed to hold a press conference on Friday at the premises of the Finnish Film Foundation. The Foundation canceled the opportunity. It was finally held at Hotel Arthur’s meeting rooms in Kaisaniemi, Helsinki. There were media, invited guests and the main characters of the film”.
Why the Finnish Film Foundation pulled the plug is also explained. “Matti Reinikka had also invited a 36-year-old British extremist, activist and immigration critic Tommy Robinson. The Finnish Film Foundation announced that it would distance itself from all of Robinson’s public statements. Reinikka confirms that Robinson is now in Finland, but he did not attend the press conference.” So why didn’t Lennon show up?

Reinikka told that “Tommy Robinson is sick and he didn’t come today. I invited him personally to talk about the grooming phenomenon in England, which is a big problem there”. And so it came to pass that Lennon appeared at an informal interview the following day, once more denying he is anything to do with the far-right, and claiming that the real far-right detests him. That meet-up with Paul Golding and Jayda Fransen says otherwise.
But at least he explained why he had failed to show at the screening: Lennon had been confined to his hotel room all day, suffering a reaction to a series of inoculations he had been given. But for a trip to Finland? Well, no: he would soon be off to the Caribbean. That’s right, all those mugs who donate to his appeals for money. That’s where your money’s going. You get a week in Spain - if you’re lucky. He goes to the Caribbean.

And the folks who invited him to Helsinki also get very little, although one person was putting a brave face on it. “Prolific Finnish blogger @Kumitonttu states to the [Tundra Tabloids]: ‘Though Tommy Robinson wasn't able to participate in the event he was invited to, his mere presence in Helsinki caused the Finnish media to take the event itself seriously enough to report on in detail.’” So he got the booby prize, too.
The real Lennon message explained

Once again, Stephen Lennon just carries on promoting Himself Personally Now, while he takes his fans for mugs (and more money) and prioritises swanning off to the Caribbean before showing up at an event where he had been booked to speak.

There’s a message in there somewhere. But only for those prepared to listen.
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