From Russia with Hate
As it emerges that Elon Musk’s family foundation took the far-right activist Tommy Robinson to Russia, for meetings with business and political figures and the rolling donations scandal threatens to end Nigel Farage’s weird political career, we now have the Reform leader using the murder of Ann Widdecombe as a political Get Out of Jail card.
Stephen Yaxley-Lennon appeared last month in Moscow, from where he issued calls for supporters to take to the streets after a knife attack in Belfast before sharing videos of himself in a luxury Moscow hotel with Errol Musk. Yaxley-Lennon was held by police on his return from Russia and his phones seized.
His phones were seized under legislation designed to stop potential threats to the UK and will be sent for examination. A Met spokesperson said: “He was stopped under the provisions of Schedule 3 of the Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act 2019. The man was interviewed by officers and his communication devices were seized. He was subsequently released.”
As Lennon was being held re-entering the country Craig Houston was detained under the Terrorism Act and had his laptop and phone confiscated at Edinburgh airport. Houston, a Glasgow YouTuber and Restore Britain activist whose channel has amplified Edinburgh and Glasgow “blackshirt”-style marches, was stopped by police at Edinburgh Airport at the weekend and also had his devices seized.
Searchlight reports: “Houston has built a substantial online following producing vitriolic anti-migrant content, some of which has been reshared by Tommy Robinson.
“He joined Rupert Lowe’s Restore Britain after a poor showing as an independent candidate in the Scottish elections. Houston’s YouTube channel has recently amplified footage of the “silent protest” gatherings of up to 60 men in black fascist-style uniforms outside Holyrood and in Glasgow.”
“One gathering marked the anniversary of the murder of Kriss Donald, the white teenager killed by a gang in Glasgow twenty-two years ago. Houston says he had no role in organising the events, though his close associate Sandy Chugg, a former Rangers casual with prior convictions for street violence and drugs offences, has admitted taking part.”
It’s interesting that both men are detained under terrorism legislation as security services monitor the far-right at the height of the marching season.
The Russian connection represents a remarkable ideological turnaround in the space of our lifetimes, in which Russia has gone from being a proxy supporter of the Left in Britain to openly supporting the far-right. Such a reality must present those remnants of the Left still sympathetic with Putin’s Russia with some remarkable headaches. As the journalist Ben Quinn has written of Tommy Robinson’s Russian trip:
“The visit to Moscow has come at a time when the Kremlin and its proxies appear to have been forging links with European far-right figures. At the same time as Robinson’s visit, Russia was also hosting the self-styled misogynistic influencer Andrew Tate and his brother, who posted footage of themselves firing weapons and riding in a tank in the apparent company of the Russian military.”
Democracy for Sale has also documented the Russian ties of Liz Truss’s radical right wing conference.
As the police monitor figures like Houston and Robinson, the wider right-wing in Britain is in some disarray. Despite being coveted by the British media for years, Farage is now being disowned as his political star wanes.
Farage versus Binface
Widely seen as having made a fool of himself with the Clacton by-election debacle, Farage is also under immense pressure for his multiple donation scandals. Even if Farage survives his epic upcoming battle with Count Binface, the financial chickens, so to speak, are coming home to roost. And if Houston, Robinson and Farage wrap themselves up in Union Jack’s and declare their proud British nationalism, one of the defining characteristics is their reliance on foreign powers.
As Sam Bright notes [Farage’s Foreign Web]:
“Any account of the foreign influences on Farage has to touch on Russia, especially given recent developments. In November, Reform’s former Welsh leader Nathan Gill was sentenced to 10 and a half years in prison for taking bribes from a Russian government agent.”
While serving as a Member of European Parliament (MEP) for the Brexit Party, Gill was paid tens of thousands of pounds to parrot Kremlin talking points about the Ukraine war.
Contrary to Farage’s claims when these facts came to light, Gill was an important part of his political entourage. According to insiders who spoke to The Guardian, Gill was Farage’s “enforcer” and “right-hand man”. The pair even had adjoining offices.
We don’t know (yet) if payments were made to other Brexit Party MEPs, but three of them “followed the script” drafted by the Russian agent, while Gill attempted to convince eight of them to fulfil tasks set by his Kremlin paymasters.
“The Gill case is far from closed. It seems highly likely that new revelations will come to light about Farage’s MEPs and their illicit Russian interloping before the next election.”
Now, as more and more Reform UK transactions worth millions are reported to National Crime Agency, the Russian money seems the tip of the iceberg of corruption. Over and above the £5million ‘donation’ to Farage, it’s since been revealed that, according to Anna Isaac:
“…separately, banking staff judged that transfers of funds between Richard Tice, the party’s deputy leader, a major donor, Fiona Cottrell, and the senior party figure and convicted fraudster George Cottrell, required further investigation, according to finance industry sources. Suspicious activity reports (SARs) raised by bankers were passed to the NCA for examination.”
The Golden Goose
While there is a dire need to stop foreign influence in British politics – and this Tuesday, the government’s representation of the people bill comes back to the House of Commons for its third reading – will attempt (and fail) to do that. There is also a danger in blaming everything on ‘the Russians’ or outside influences. While the Musk Foundation funding Tommy Robinson is a terrifying idea, there are plenty of homegrown money-men that have been cultivating the far-right for decades.
The Divided Right
But the Putin-Musk support for Britain’s far-right is a complex one. As both seek to sow discord and hatred, they have taken a particular choice in who they support.
This may be because Christopher Harborne, the cryptobillionaire who had previously donated £13.7m to Nigel Farage’s Brexit party, and had also donated more than £1m to the Conservatives is a big investor in the ‘defence industry’.
In fact, Harborne had not only famously given Farage a personal ‘ donation’ of £5m, he’d also given Boris Johnson a personal ‘donation’ of £1m too.
Why?
Well, it appears that Harborne didn’t just pay for Boris Johnson’s two private jet flights to Ukraine for a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in January 2023 – he also appears to have accompanied him on the trip.
According to Carole Cadwalladr and Charlie Young at The Nerve:
“It’s fair to say that Harborne had his own interest in Ukraine’s war effort, He is the biggest individual shareholder in QinetiQ, a UK defence technology company that has multimillion-pound contracts with the Ministry of Defence, a company integrally involved in developing and supplying advanced military technology to Ukraine.”
By 2022 it was noted that Harborne had “become [Qinetiq’s] third-biggest shareholder in less than a month” and now held 7.1% of the company, having acquired 41m shares worth £150m.
Is this what’s behind the Putin-Musk support for Restore Britain and Tommy Robinson rather than Reform UK and Nigel Farage?
It could be that the reason that Russian money is backing the even more extreme version of Britain’s neo-fascist movement is because of who is backing Ukraine militarily, and making a killing while doing it.
The murky story goes to the very heart of corruption in the British state merging dark money, aristocracy and war-mongering with insider-trading.
Another aspect of the divided right is now emerging this summer. As The Times newspaper openly accuses Farage and Co of cynically weaponising the death of Ann Widdecombe (which they surely are) Richard Tice has tweeted:
“The Times Group: You are sick Your contempt bordering on hatred of Nigel, myself & Reform means you stoop to any low to smear & discredit us. You lie, libel and make things up. How many more Reform politicians do you want dead? Shame on you.”
Paul Holden, author of The Fraud has pointed out: “This is fascinating to watch. I’m not sure I understand the more subtle dynamics at play on the British right, but it does seem like Farage and Reform and the Murdoch press are openly at war. It might be at least partially reactive, but it does also seem that Farage, Tice etc. have decided that they can win power without the Murdoch press: that a combination of social media and the support of the Paul Marshall stable (GB News/Spectator) is enough to get them over the line. From the outside it looks like the clash of two fractions of the right-wing power structure and eco-system, similiar to how Trump faced down (and then subdued) the Fox News/Republican eco-system, and how it is resolved will have massive implications for the viability of Reform and the make-up of the next government.”
While this might seem initially positive, it basically means that the far-right media empire is so large it can contain multiple positions.
For more on the Paul Marshall empire see: Mapping the British Media – Bella Caledonia
Farage is desperate and looks increasingly ridiculous. Nigel Farage accused of using Ann Widdecombe’s death as propaganda.
It’s deeply cynical. As Owen Jones has stated: “It’s very obvious what Nigel Farage is doing with the murder of Ann Widdecombe. He wants to shut down scrutiny of himself and his fellow Reform politicians by claiming that holding any of them to account threatens their personal safety.”