An Anti-Muslim Alliance: UKIP Meet Tommy Robinson
This article was originally published in Turkish in the German-based magazine, Perspektif on 30th January 2019. The original can be viewed by clicking here.
Tommy Robinson — the former leader of the far-right English Defence League (EDL) — was recently appointed official adviser to the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP). Appointed by the Party’s leader, Gerard Batten, it is claimed that Robinson will advise the Party on the issues of ‘grooming gangs’ and Muslims in prisons. According to Batten, this is because Robinson has “great knowledge” on both topics. For a political party that can claim ‘mission accomplished’ as regards the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union (EU) in 2019, the appointment would seem to suggest that UKIP is not only trying to find new purpose but is also moving towards a more explicit, anti-Islam ideology.
It ‘makes sense’ for UKIP
As recently as 2014, UKIP was described as “one of the most successful challenges to the established political parties in modern British history”. Established in 1993 as a single-issue, Eurosceptic political party, it was only in 2006 when Nigel Farage took over as leader did the Party begin to make inroads into the political mainstream. Solely focusing on leaving the EU, the Party did so by capitalising on growing concerns among the British public about immigration and its impact on British culture and way of life. Significantly breaking through in local, European and national elections in 2013, 2014 and 2015 respectively, some argue that the pressure this placed on the UK Government was the catalyst for agreeing to the Brexit referendum in 2016. Achieving what it set out to, support for UKIP has since — maybe unsurprisingly — dwindled.
In seeking to reverse this trend, Robinson’s appointment makes some sense. Despite having been convicted for assault, drugs and public order offences, jailed for mortgage fraud and using someone else’s passport to travel to the US, a recent YouGov opinion poll found that Robinson is the UK’s ninth most popular public figure and the eleventh most famous. In this respect, he has more than 830,000 followers on Facebook, 230,000 subscribers on YouTube and shortly before being banned by Twitter, attracted more than 193 million views per month. Having someone able to speak to such a large online audience is unprecedented for UKIP.
More importantly, since his EDL days Robinson has repeatedly shown that he can mobilise large numbers of people. Whether to oppose the building of a new mosque or to protest against perceived injustices in relation to free speech, Robinson has repeatedly done so all across the country. And UKIP clearly want Robinson to continue to do so, as was evident in London in early December. Organising a ‘Brexit Betrayal’ march, thousands gathered to hear Robinson deliver a speech alongside Batten. Both were surrounded by UKIP banners.
A more explicit anti-Islam ideology
In spite of trying to reinvent himself as something of a campaigner against what the media routinely describe as ‘grooming gangs’ — many comprising Pakistani-heritage, Muslim men — and attracting the support of such luminaries as Donald Trump, what links all of Robinson’s activities is his anti-Islam ideology. While he has honed this over the years, at times being somewhat more implied, as Vice News put it he has never abandoned or moderated his view that Islam is an inherently violent religion waging war on the way of life in the Christian West.
Like Robinson, Batten has quite disparaging views about Islam. Back in 2006 for instance, Batten commissioned the compiling of a document titled, “Proposed Charter of Muslim Understanding”. A proposed code of conduct for Muslims in the UK, Batten claimed it necessary as a means of bringing “Islam into conflict with the modern world”. In it, Batten also called for the rejection — and potential removal — of certain passages from the Qur’an that for him at least, justified “violent physical jihad”. Since then, Batten has unsuccessfully invited the Dutch Party for Freedom’s leader Geert Wilders to Parliament to screen his controversial film, Fitna, has called for no further mosques to be built in the UK, sought a ban on the halal slaughter of animals, and proposed the removal of any legal recognition for Islamic banking.
Since taking over as leader of UKIP in 2018, UKPI has under Batten’s leadership shifted towards a far more explicit position as regards Islam and Muslims. This has included a new set of policies calling for an immediate halt on immigration from Muslim-majority countries and the possibility of building ‘Muslim-only’ prisons. This is no more evident however than in the appointment of Robinson; someone Hope Not Hate describe as “a far-right, Islamophobic extremist”.
Where next?
As Alex Oaten notes, Robinson’s appointment signals a number of changes for UKIP. Having struggled to attract media and public interest in recent years, Robinson’s appointment will have an immediate about turn effect. Robinson will undoubtedly make UKIP newsworthy again. As regards UKIP’s dwindling support and the challenge of fielding candidates in local, national and European elections, Robinson’s appointment also seems to signal a shift away from mainstream politics to the type of street activism Robinson has utilised successfully in the past. December’s ‘Brexit Betrayal’ march could be the first evidence of this. Finally, the shift away from a Euro-sceptic political ideology to a far right, ethno-nationalist equivalent. Elsewhere in Europe, this type of political ideology has brought significant success. In France for example, the Front National won 27% of the national vote in 2017’s presidential election while in the Netherlands, the anti-EU, anti-Islam Party for Freedom achieved a second place finish in its general election the same year. That a recent opinion poll published in the Sunday Times claimed that nearly a quarter of British voters would be willing to support “an explicitly far-right anti-immigrant, anti-Islam party” at a future election, would suggest that UKIP might be looking to capitalise on this in the same way it did with campaigning for withdrawal from the EU. Only time will tell.
