Tommy Robinson says Elon Musk is paying his costs as he goes on trial

The far-right activist Tommy Robinson has claimed Elon Musk is paying his legal costs as he goes on trial for refusing to comply with a request by counter-terrorism police as he tried to leave Britain last year.

- Ben Quinn

Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, refused to give police the pin for his phone because it had “journalistic material on it” after they stopped him at the Channel tunnel on 28 July 2024, Westminster magistrates court heard.

Prosecutors said he had arrived alone at the tunnel in a silver Bentley belonging to a friend and was on his way to the Spanish resort of Benidorm with more than £13,000 cash. Robinson told police he was “white English” but travelling on an Irish passport and that he lived in Spain.

Police were suspicious of his “vague replies” to questions and requested access to his iPhone under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act, which allows for the stopping of anyone passing through a UK port to “determine whether they may be involved or concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism”.