Sinister US backer of Tommy Robinson’s ‘documentary’ reveals growing global far-right conspiracy

Signs of global collaboration by the far-right are growing in a worrying development for all those who believe in liberal democracy

There is a global conspiracy hiding in plain sight to destroy democracy, strip away human rights that most people take for granted, and steal our freedoms. Once this would have been a ridiculous thing to say and, had I heard anyone making this claim, I would have dismissed them as a crank.

But the evidence is increasingly clear. Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is the most blatant and brutal example: a dictator has sent soldiers to kill anyone who opposes his efforts to destroy democracy and impose his rule. China’s threats to invade democratic Taiwan, including military exercises designed to prepare for an attack, strongly suggest Xi Jinping is gearing up to do much the same.

Meanwhile, there are credible fears that Donald Trump – described as a “fascist” by his own former chief of staff, John Kelly, a former US Marine Corps general – will withdraw the US from Nato if he wins next week’s US election. The consequences for European security of the departure of the US from the military alliance that has defended Western democracy against tyranny for decades would be profound.

Whether or not he would actively collaborate with Putin and Xi, Trump’s praise of the Russian dictator as a “genius” and disparagement of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky adds to concerns that he would lead the US and the world towards a very bleak place.

While the far-right may only command support from a minority of people in most democratic countries, they have been demonstrating a willingness to work together across national borders in a way that amplifies their influence.

Far-right involvement in summer riots

For example, just hours after three young girls were murdered at a dance class in Southport earlier this year, a Telegram messaging app group called “Southport Wake Up” was created to organise the first protest, which turned into a riot. The posts included instructions about how to commit arson. After the subsequent violence, with attacks on mosques and hotels used to house asylum seekers across the UK, the BBC identified the administrator of the Telegram group as a neo-Nazi living in Finland.

During the riots, far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, better known as Tommy Robinson, founder of the English Defence League, was accused of inflaming the situation by claiming the protesters had “legitimate concerns” and calling for “mass deportations” – from a hotel in Cyprus.

On Monday, Robinson was given an 18-month prison for contempt of court over a ‘documentary’ he produced, in which he made false and defamatory claims about a child refugee from Syria. Despite the court ruling, the film in question can still be watched on Robinson’s X/Twitter social media account in a defiant mockery of the law.

Robinson was banned from the site in 2018, but readmitted after Elon Musk, who has recently been campaigning for Trump, bought it. Musk’s response to this summer’s far-right riots was to claim “civil war is inevitable” in the UK, a remark interpreted by some as an attempt to encourage one.

Funded by InfoWars

During Robinson’s court hearing, it emerged that his film was funded by InfoWars, a company run by the far-right talk-show host, Alex Jones. He is infamous for a number of reasons, including his false claim that the 2012 mass shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, in which 20 children and six staff were killed, never happened.

Following the shooting, gun control campaigners had called for new laws to help prevent such atrocities, but Jones insisted it was a “giant hoax… synthetic, completely fake with actors…” After victims’ families experienced years of appalling abuse and threats from people who believed Jones’s lies, a court ordered that he should pay £1.2 billion in damages. During the proceedings, he finally admitted the shooting was “100 per cent real”.

One might have thought that no British politician would have anything to do with Jones. Reform UK party leader Nigel Farage, however, has been on his show on several times, including after 2012. He defended his appearances five years ago saying that just because he went on a programme did not mean he supported its “editorial line”. However, it demonstrated a shocking disregard for what Jones did to the grieving families of murdered children.

‘Most dangerous’ time since WWII

His vicious falsehoods echo the disinformation campaigns pumped out from the Kremlin, all in support of what Putin sees as a “revolutionary” moment in history that he thinks will end with the West unable to “rule humanity single-handedly”, as he explained in 2022, the year he launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

“We are in for probably the most dangerous, unpredictable and, at the same time, most important decade since the end of the Second World War. The change of eras is a painful albeit natural and inevitable process,” he said, showing a belief in historical determinism on a par with Karl Marx.

In March last year, Xi told his “dear friend” Putin as they said goodbye at the door of the Kremlin: “Right now, there are changes the likes of which we haven’t seen for 100 years – and we are the ones driving these changes together.” A smiling Putin replied: “I agree.”

Russian ‘assets’ in West

Putin and Xi are undoubtedly working together to bring down a world order defined by democracy, an adherence to the rule of law, and respect for human rights, with Russia, in particular, keen on “manipulation and influence campaigns” in other countries.

In September, Andrew McCabe, a former deputy director of the FBI, was asked by Sir Richard Dearlove, a former head of MI6, if he thought it was possible that Trump was a Russian asset. “I do, I do,” McCabe replied, although not necessarily as an “active, recruited, knowing asset in the way that people in the intelligence community think of that term”.

It seems clear there are many other unknowing ‘assets’ and that they are working together to create a far-right future entirely at odds with liberal democracy. Just a ‘conspiracy theory’? I hope so but fear not.