MPs criticise Trump administration over hosting of Tommy Robinson

The hosting of Tommy Robinson by the Trump administration has been condemned by British MPs amid calls for the US to be included in an investigation into foreign interference in UK politics.

- Ben Quinn Andrew Roth

The far-right activist, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, is being feted in the US, where he met figures including a political appointee at the state department in Washington DC and a congressman.

The visit has prompted questions about how Robinson - a former member of the extreme-right British National Party (BNP) and a leader in recent decades of street protests that have often turned violent - was able to overcome a previous ban on entering the US.

Given his multiple criminal convictions - including fraud, violence, drug possession and attempting to enter the US in 2012 using a false passport - it is highly likely that US authorities intervened to allow him to enter on a discretionary basis.

While Robinson has long had US links - most recently claiming Elon Musk helped fund his legal defence last year - the visit comes amid alarm at the Trump administration's unveiling of a new national security strategy last month that aligned US interests with far-right politicians in Europe.

Having reinvented himself as a self-styled journalist, Robinson has been eagerly attempting to access an audience among Trump's base on a platform of anti-Muslim rhetoric and claims that freedom of speech is under threat in the UK.

The Trump administration's hosting of Robinson was described as "a wake-up call" by Calum Miller, the Liberal Democrat MP and foreign affairs spokesperson.

Referencing a continuing independent review into foreign financial influence in the UK's political and electoral systems, he said: "The government needs to include the US in their inquiry into foreign interference in UK politics ... We cannot stand by while the likes of Trump and Musk meddle in our democracy."