SUDDENLY stirring from his slumbers by the indoor pool of his Spanish villa, Tommy Robinson’s ears pricked up.

He leapt from his sun-lounger and ran inside to change out of his Stone Island bathers and pack. The dog whistle had sounded. 

It was November 4 2023, and — while it may not have happened exactly like that — the Home Secretary had effectively summoned Tommy Robinson (something only a court should ever do). 

Suella Braverman branded Palestine marchers who were rallying again the coming Sunday (November 11, Armistice Day) “hate marchers” and “Islamists,” saying they had “called for jihad.”

Anyone vandalising the cenotaph, she added, “must be put in jail faster than their feet can touch the ground.”

Nobody had any intention of vandalising the cenotaph. The Palestine march was going nowhere near the cenotaph. 

Braverman knew this: but she had a job to do (trying to oust Rishi Sunak). 

Anti-fascists knew what would happen and started taking bets on what time the far right would start a) drinking and b) fighting the cops. The answer, in both cases, was almost immediately. 

The “jihadists” didn’t show. 

Instead the far right broke through police lines, toppled metal barricades, threw missiles and temporarily forced police back, chanting at them “You’re not English any more.”

As if to disprove this, the cops immediately got the kettle on. The far right were penned in at the very memorial they were supposed to be protecting. 

Two hundred of the far right had been arrested by the end of the demo, out of only 1,500. 

Sabby Dhalu, joint secretary of both Stand Up To Racism (SUTR) and its twin group Unite against Fascism (UAF), wasn’t alone in thinking this was the real desecration of Armistice Day: “Allowing violent, fascist, racist thugs to demonstrate near the cenotaph is an insult to all those that lost their lives in war. This flies in the face of the true meaning of armistice: peace.”

For Robinson, though, it was a good couple of hours at work. While some of his fans may have struggled with the complicated lyrics (Oh Tommy Tommy/ Tommy Tommy Tommy Tommy Robinson), people were still chanting his name. 

He was back, baby! The tills were ringing at Robinson HQ.

Before Braverman’s riot he’d been living the high (in every sense) life abroad, between Tenerife and mainland Spain, having deliberately taken up foreign residency for financial reasons.

He’d given up his longstanding anti-grooming gang campaign/ grift in Telford, after relentless counter-demonstrations by SUTR/ UAF, and also because he was practically run out of town by furious locals who discovered his team were having sex with the victims they were supposed to be helping.

To be clear — Robinson’s team were grooming and sexually exploiting victims of grooming and sexual exploitation. 

As ever, the far right were exposed as predators, not protectors. 

Grooming gangs forgotten, Robinson’s new thing became “two-tier policing” (essentially meaning he shouldn’t be arrested for any crime while left and pro-Palestine activists should be arrested for existing: I’ve detailed before Robinson’s funding by pro-Israel groups).

On June 1 a small band of about 150 of us counter-protested Robinson at Parliament. There were 6,000 far right. 

SUTR-UAF knew they were going to have to work hard to build against Robinson’s next rally on July 27: for which astonishingly he’d been given Trafalgar Square, symbolic heart of the nation since the 1800s. 

A handful of people worked flat out over the next few weeks to contact local activists, book coaches, negotiate with police who were initially not enthusiastic about the counter-demo (two-tier policing!) 

We did well on the day: 5,000 anti-fascists including Jeremy Corbyn — but there were an alarming 15,000 fascists. 

Robinson, who’s desperate to join up with Nigel Farage’s Reform UK (but aware posh lads Farage and Richard Tice would sooner let their maids join them for tea) asked the crowd how many had voted Reform. Witnesses say around 8 to 9,000 hands went up. 

We knew, too, that fascist groups countrywide were waiting for a Labour government to kick off — always the case historically. They were simply waiting for any non-white person to commit a serious crime. 

So when Bebe King, Alice Aguiar and Elsie Stancombe, aged 6, 9 and 7, were so horrifically murdered in Southport on July 29, we saw instant false reports ready to go, all using the same fake Arabic name for the attacker. 

It transpired the alleged killer was from a Christian background but that didn’t matter — the important thing was that his parents were Rwandan. 

The far right bussed in their people to flash points and targeted Muslims. There were horrifying scenes as buildings were set on fire, people attacked and bricks thrown at the police (though we all enjoyed seeing Brian Spencer in Southport take “friendly fire” from a brick to the balls. 

UAF and SUTR worked to build counter-protests, managing in two days an impressive 40-plus over the weekend of August 3 and 4.

But dozens of fascist riots was extremely disturbing and, worse, absolutely terrifying for some Muslim, black and Asian people. Businesses shut down, and people stayed home feeling unsafe. Meanwhile a list circulated on a far-right Telegram group of multiple immigration centres around the country that were going to be targeted the following Wednesday It was an appalling situation that we had to counter, and fast. 

Better was to come. 

On Wednesday night, UAF friends and I arrived in Bedford to find the road blocked by police, but they let us through as we “didn’t look like troublemakers” (bit of a blow to our street cred).

As we walked towards the site the far right supposedly planned to attack, we saw more and more locals standing outside shops and houses. 

Then suddenly we were amongst about 1,000 people. 

Sikhs, Muslims, Jamaican-heritage, and white — the community had come out in force. 

My little group was warmly welcomed, and lots of people came and chatted to us. The mood was astonishingly generous: I was repeatedly told not to worry, no-one blamed all non-Muslims for this — they KNEW most of us were horrified by what had happened. 

The message from Bedford was “Talk to us. Come to the mosque and we’ll welcome you and talk to you about any concerns you have.”

Obviously this won’t work for the hard-core fascists or those who grift off Islamophobia like Robinson and, to a no less dangerous extent, Reform UK. 

We have to keep challenging them on the streets and elsewhere, and on Wednesday night we showed we can.

In Brighton, 15,000 anti-fascists serenaded five disgruntled fascists, who hid behind police, with a band complete with sousaphone. 

In Liverpool, Derby and Lewisham, up to a thousand anti-fascists were there and not a single fascist.

Brentford seems to have been the largest far-right showing but still, only 15 far-right thugs, including some members of the notorious Chelsea Headhunters, were met by 400 anti-fascists. 

At Finchley, four fascists who yelled abuse from behind police lines, while simultaneously looking as if they were about to burst into tears as 3,000 anti-fascists chanted “No-one wants you! No-one wants you!”

Hilariously and hypocritically, the Mail and Telegraph have both hailed this as a victory for Britain: we are, it seems, no longer dangerously left-wing woke thugs.

It’s not over, however: it’s just beginning. The far right are furious and planning revenge. 

We’ve had a chilling wake-up call. We must unite and build a vast anti-racist movement using the networks SUTR-UAF already have. 

We must, in fact, take our country back! 

Join or donate to SUTR standuptoracism.org.uk.

Join the meeting to build a mass movement, with Jeremy Corbyn tinyurl.com/StoptheFarRight.