On 23 January 2014, Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, then 31, was jailed for mortgage fraud. Months earlier, he had resigned from the group of which he had been de facto leader, the English Defence League (EDL). Under the nom de guerre Tommy Robinson, Yaxley-Lennon complained that he was the victim of a “stitch-up” and tweeted a picture of a meal of mashed potatoes, meat and chips. “See u all in 18 months,” he wrote. Then he went quiet.
On 23 June 2018, as 100,000 protesters marched through central London to demand a “People’s Vote” on the Brexit deal, a small group of counter-demonstrators chanted: “Whose streets? Our streets.” Another cried: “Tommy, Tommy, Tommy.” Many wore T-shirts bearing the hashtag #FreeTommy. Robinson was in jail once again, and this time the world knew about it.
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