Cops Interrupt Tate Exhibition

During one of many doorsteppings performed by Stephen Yaxley Lennon, who styles himself Tommy Robinson - in his usual inimitable manner - he turned up to harass Mike Stuchbery, on the dishonest premise that the latter had revealed Lennon’s address. He also claimed that Stuchbery had sent someone to harass Lennon’s family, which was also untrue. So far, so routine, but then someone else entered the frame.

One day, without actually knocking at the door, Andrew Tate appeared at the Stuchbery house. In a very expensive and very fast car. Who he? Tate is a kickboxing champion and one-time occupant of the Big Brother House, although here a problem entered: he was ejected from said house, and, it seems, not for the reasons he gave afterwards.

The Mail later told readers “A video has emerged of Andrew Tate beating his ex-girlfriend with a belt, which he claims is the reason why he was removed from the Channel 5 reality show the day before [the clip] shows the star continually hit the blonde with his belt - he also slaps her across the face [Tate later said] it was all a bit of playful fun”.

He also said that women should “bear responsibility” for being raped. And this week we learned “According to the US Embassy, DIICOT prosecutors raided the home of world champion Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan in Bucharest after kidnapping 2 women. News Hour with CNN reports a woman of American citizenship was allegedly recruited for sexual exploitation through webcam”. What’s a British-American doing in Romania?

As one must-read thread [HERE] has pointed out, “According to #AndrewTate himself, he moved to Romania because he had 11 charges brought against him by UK Law Enforcement after they seized his devices while he was under investigation for assaulting one of his webcam models”. There are other videos of him beating women.

So far, so unsavoury, but the bad news for the wider far right is that rather a lot of them have been palling up to Andrew Tate. Most prominent among the collection of villainy is Battersea bedroom dweller Paul Joseph Watson, stepping away from his very important world map to tell his adoring followers “He’s a nice boy really”.

Following Watson’s lead was Raheem “call me Ray” Kassam, for whom it seems the vicious racism in the Tate back catalogue was not a problem. And then came the likes of Jack Posobiec. Finally, just to bring home to mainstream UK politics watchers that this is not a mere fringe phenomenon, there is Tate alongside the gurning figure of former Brexit Party Oberscheissenführer Nigel “Thirsty” Farage, who is giving the thumbs up.

The populist far right likes to portray itself as just another safe political option: Farage in the UK, Marine le Pen in France, AfD in Germany, Geert Wilders in the Netherlands, Vox in Spain and André Ventura in Portugal. But its embrace of figures like Tate shows that it is anything but safe. Tate is alleged to have links to the Romanian Mafia, his use of violent misogyny is well-known, and he is apparently a fugitive from British justice.

But he has done the world one big favour this week: he’s showed the world just where the populist far right is at. And where it’s at is not where its leading lights are pretending to be.

So a big thank you to Andrew Tate. Not so sure it will help with the law, mind.

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