Tommy Robinson’s Loadsamoney Lunch

Once again, Stephen Yaxley Lennon, who styles himself Tommy Robinson, has been in the news, and for reasons which may cause his latest campaign to develop not necessarily to his advantage. The Great Man, and four of his pals, were asked to leave the Hawksmoor restaurant near Piccadilly Circus in central London, staff and other diners being uneasy at their presence.

Lennon and his associates complied with the request, but later, he kicked off in no style at all on Twitter, X, or whatever Muskrat’s calling it this week, passing severely adverse comment on Hawksmoor, its management, and generally claiming the eatery was being dishonest about why he was chucked out. TripAdvisor had to temporarily disable reviews about the site.

This was most likely due to Lennon’s faithful followers using whatever means they could employ to dump on somewhere they had not visited, probably would never visit, but ejecting their hero just had to be A Very Bad Thing. The sequence of events was all too predictable. “Just been kicked out of Hawksmoor steak house for no reason. Literally juts [sic] had our starters”.

So said Lennon’s pal, former EDL Guramit Singh. Followed by The Great Man himself in full Headmaster mode. “Full campaign coming soon [Hawksmoor] your discriminatory behaviour will not be tolerated, please tell your CEO will beckett to contact me” he thundered. And there was more.

“These are the other companies that are part of the Hawksmoor group , I will be contacting each of them to understand whether they support discrimination against patriots”. But they aren’t part of the Hawksmoor group. On he whined: “How can you say it’s not political when your staff or guests issue could only have been with my political views?” But the real question went unanswered.

And that, for all those who have donated, and continue to donate, to Lennon’s endless appeals for funds, is the question of how much that lunch at Hawksmoor might have cost. Who was paying? Yes, the restaurant waived all charges when they asked the party to leave, but what might have been the final tally had they stayed? Fortunately, Hawksmoor’s website provides us with a sight of the menu, and the cost of all that upmarket dining.

Guramit Singh’s post showed oysters, so, just for illustrative purposes you understand, let’s say each person had three of those. That’s £12.

He also mentions starters. What d’you reckon? Hawksmoor smoked salmon and Guinness Bread, perhaps. Which adds £16 to the bill.

On to steaks: one of Lennon’s posts shows lots of steaks. How about a nice 350 gramme fillet steak? Lovely. And that adds another £57 to the total. Plus an additional £4 for one of those rather upmarket sauces.

Not forgetting sides: we saw chips, too. Beef dripping chips. And maybe some buttered English greens. Each costs £7, so that’s another £14.

What to wash it down with? How about a couple of Hawksmoor Lagers? The least expensive item on the beer menu. Two at £6.75 makes £13.50.

And there’s just got to be pudding. A Chocolate anglaise, perhaps. A snip at just £10. All of which adds up to a total of £126.50. Put the service charge and a tip on top of that, and you won’t have much change from £150.

Anyone out there still thinking that bankrolling Lennon is anything more than spraying your assets up the nearest wall might care to read The Great Man’s superior insights into what is happening on the US West Coast right now, where initially peaceful protests have become rather less than peaceful, after Combover Crybaby Donald Trump sent in the National Guard uninvited.

Cue Lennon pearls of wisdom: “America is being destroyed from within yet again … Soros paid agitators mobilizing the invaders to attack … Round them all up and deport them together, along with the Soros family and associates”. Wibble. Hatstand. Yet he effortlessly takes his followers for marks while being prepared to blow rather a lot of money on Loadsamoney Lunches.

Right now, he’s in the Bahamas. While appealing for money. Er, hello mugs.

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Reform UK - Beginning Of The End

A week, as Harold Wilson memorably observed, is a long time in politics, and that this still holds true has been demonstrated by Reform UK and its self-appointed Oberscheissenführer Nigel “Thirsty” Farage, riding high in the polls and with rather too many of the media class unable, or unwilling, to point out that Farage is a congenital liar, a racist bigot, and a shameless con man.

It was a trip north of the border that proved that Bridge Too Far for Mr Thirsty, as he rocked up to support Ross Alexander Lambie, the Reform UK hopeful for Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse. A Scottish Parliament by-election had been triggered by the death of SNP incumbent MSP Christina McKelvie. Our free and fearless press declared the fight to be between SNP and Reform.

Sadly, as Rochdale MP Paul Waugh pointed out, “My former trade got their Hamilton predictions badly wrong. If journalists had actually spoken to voters … they would have known this was a close fight, not an SNP walkover or a Reform revolution … The lazy English media reporting was bad enough but what really shocked me was the poor quality of the Scottish media”.

Do go on. “Putting SNP quotes in headlines as if they were neutral, the class prejudice against a working class guy like Davy [Russell], the confected row over interviews”. As to the BBC also falling short in its reportage, “‘Surprise’ victory … ‘Confounds expectations’ … Confirmation from the BBC that it too went with the herd instead of looking deeper at what people were saying on the ground”. Labour won. Reform came not second, but third.

Worse, Farage was accused of blatantly racist campaigning after Reform put out an advert claiming that Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar “will prioritise the Pakistani community”. Farage was challenged over yet another flat-out lie, and insisted that Sarwar was engaging in sectarianism (no citation).

All of which would have been a mere blip in an otherwise inexorable rise to the top for the Farage fringe. However, and here we encounter a significantly sized however, the bad news kept on coming, as Reform UK chairman Zia Yusuf threw in the towel, stating “working to get the party elected was no longer ‘a good use of my time’”. And it got yet worse for Mr Thirsty.

Despite his claim that Yusuf “was ‘a huge factor’ in the party's success in last month's elections, when Reform won a by-election, two mayoral races and gained 677 new councillors”, Farage seems not to have tried too hard to stop him going. Many Reform UK supporters may have thought the departure a good thing, as Yusuf was one of those Scary Muslims™ they all hate.

What not too many were pointing out was that Yusuf had donated a cool £200,000 to Reform UK, and had tried to make the party a more professional outfit. And what many others were pointing out was that, having expelled Rupert Lowe from Reform UK before Yusuf resigned, Farage was not exactly excelling in keeping his team together. It was a total shambles.

But not to worry, Yusuf’s role as head of “DOGE UK” would now be undertaken by Farage’s old pal Arron Banks. Except that, two days after Yusuf walked out, no it wouldn’t. Because Yusuf was now back, as the BBC reported. “Zia Yusuf, who resigned as Reform UK chairman on Thursday, is to return to work for the party in a new role”. Yes? Yes yes? Yes yes yes?

“Yusuf will lead what the party calls its ‘Doge team’ which is modelled on the Department of Government Efficiency set up by US President Donald Trump”. And which has also been a spectacular waste of time and money. So what say Nige? “Reform leader Nigel Farage told the BBC he was ‘delighted’ Yusuf had returned to the party and that he will now take on a more public role for the party in a new role, appearing more frequently in the media”.

Reform UK, aka the Farage Fan Club and very little else, is still ahead in the polls. But with the party’s economic policies being derided as “Truss Plus”, and the media beginning to wake up to its shortcomings, don’t bank on that continuing. This is a clown car with its tyres slowly deflating.

Reform UK was for a time, but not for all time. Just rejoice at that news.

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