How Elon Musk and Jordan Peterson are fuelling a far-right firebrand
By Louise Carpenter
At the end of June, the Canadian psychology professor and culture warrior Jordan Peterson uploaded the 462th episode of his phenomenally successful podcast (8.13 million subscribers at the last count). It was called Why the Establishment Hates This Man: Tommy Robinson.
Robinson, for those who are not familiar with the far-right activist currently at the heart of the riots taking place across Britain, was introduced by Peterson in his written blurb as “a British journalist and activist who first became an establishment target after reporting on the grooming gangs in London [sic]. From then on, he and his family have suffered sacrifice and punishment for attempting to out those who are enabling the grotesque brutality of Islamic extremism”.
English Defence League founder Tommy Robinson.Credit: PA
That description reframes some crucial details. As Peterson acknowledges in the interview itself, Robinson, 41, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, is the former leader of the far-right English Defence League or EDL.
Based in Luton, he was a member of the BNP (2004-5), joint vice-chairman of the far-right British Freedom Party (BFP), and became involved with the development of Pegida UK, a branch of the far-Right German group (now defunct).
For years, he openly whipped up hate against Muslims, describing Islam as a “disease” and a “threat to our way of life”, before apologising for provoking fear among British Muslims and claiming in 2013: “I don’t care if they want to practise their religion. It’s when they’re not integrating, and asking for special treatment.”
Latterly, Robinson has written books and made the film Silenced about his views – a film that appears to have boosted his status among many on the right concerned about controversial figures being barred from airing their views in public.
In the film, he repeated false claims that a Syrian refugee boy had regularly attacked white girls in his school before he was water-boarded by another pupil (the film was banned from being screened, although it has been broadcast on X and also at a demonstration).
In 2021, he was found to have libelled the Syrian refugee and ordered to pay £100,000 ($193,000) plus legal costs; he was also subjected to a five-year stalking prevention order for harassing a journalist and her partner.
Robinson has been repeatedly jailed, including for entering the US illegally and interfering with the trial of a sexual grooming gang at Leeds Crown Court in May 2018.
There have also been two convictions for assault, one against an off-duty police officer and the other for headbutting a man.
People take part in a protest march organised by Tommy Robinson, in central London, Saturday July 27.Credit: AP
And now Robinson is being blamed for inciting the riots that have followed the murder of three girls at a dance club in Southport on July 29 (an accusation he denies).
While people have been naming the EDL as a key player, that organisation no longer exists. What unites the violent protesters are loose online networks, activated by deeply cynical influencers and galvanised by false reports on social media that the person responsible for the stabbings was a Muslim asylum seeker.
In the ensuing chaos, Robinson has been tweeting daily to his 900,000 online followers from a hotel in Cyprus where he has been on holiday, posting inflammatory remarks and images of the violence. On Tuesday, talking to Alex Jones, the right-wing American show host and conspiracy theorist, Robinson claimed that “Keir Starmer has purposely provoked the violence” in order to introduce legislation that restricts civil liberties.
Robinson has become an improbable talisman to members of the American Right. Steve Bannon, the former Trump strategist, has called Robinson “a hero” and described him as “the backbone” of Britain. But Robinson’s interview with Peterson, with his massive global reach, has taken Robinson’s profile to a new level. That Peterson sympathetically explored his “work” and life with him for almost two hours was a huge coup for Robinson.
Peterson focused on Robinson’s campaign to expose grooming gangs in the North of England and what he sees as various incursions by authorities on his personal freedom. He questioned him about his anti-establishment campaigning, and what is billed as Robinson giving a voice to the disaffected.
He has been invited back for a second podcast.
During the interview, Robinson publicised his July 27 rally in Westminster. It went on to attract between 20,000 and 30,000 people and at times, 500,000 were thought to be watching online. Attendance was significantly larger than expected, say analysts who monitor Robinson.
People not remotely associated with the far-right, but fans of Peterson, have been recommending the episode. “Just listen to what the man has to say” seems to be the general gist of the recommendation, shaping Robinson as misunderstood and a campaigning journalist denied his freedom of speech. There have been more than 18,000 comments: “Peterson has done more in the past week for the silenced English than the BBC have done in 20 years,” says one; “The most lied about man of British modern times,” says another.
One man, aged 35, wrote “I had always associated Tommy’s name with the hooliganism, racism and far-Right activism. Now I’m actually tearing up listening to him.”
Peterson, in one episode of his show, appears to have done more to paint Robinson in a favourable light than any advertising campaign could do.
The use of X has been crucial to Robinson’s relatively sudden elevation to prominence.
Banned from the platform in 2018, the activist was allowed back in 2023 by new owner Elon Musk.
Robinson, in return, has called Musk “the best thing to happen to free speech this century” and personally thanked him for “giving a voice for the truth”. In the past few days, Musk has allowed Robinson’s banned documentary Silenced to rack up over 33 million views on X.
Sunder Katwala, director of the think tank British Future, explains: “Tommy Robinson simply couldn’t have achieved his incendiary impact this summer without Elon Musk. For most of the last four or five years, Robinson was cut off from large mainstream audiences. He had over 400,000 followers on Twitter before his ban in 2018 – but he had only a tenth of that reach on Telegram while banned from [these] biggest platforms. He has expressed enormous personal gratitude to Musk for ‘giving me my voice back’. He now has nearly 900,000 followers on X – a 20-fold increase in reach to what he had on Telegram. He has got 33 million views on his pinned tweet – of the Silenced film.
“That reach will probably get him into trouble when he goes back to court, as he is under an injunction not to show it after losing the defamation case [of the 15-year-old].”
Tortoise, the slow news website, has calculated that Robinson’s 268 posts over last weekend had been seen over 160 million times by late on Monday afternoon.
Robinson himself published analysis that showed his posts had been viewed 1.2 billion times in the three months to August, with 4.5 million viewing his profile.
“Robinson’s broad public reputation has always been quite toxic: the public disapproved of him by a 7:1 margin in 2019, for example,” says Katwala. “His association with football hooliganism and street violence mean he will never have the mainstream reach of somebody such as Nigel Farage, who has always treated Robinson as toxic. Remember, Farage quit UKIP because his successor let Robinson into the fold.
“What the Jordan Peterson interview and his X platform are doing is giving him a much bigger reach – where he might hope that one in 10 people give him a hearing, even if he remains toxic and dangerous to most people.“
The Telegraph, UK
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