TOMMY ROBINSON (Stephen Yaxley-Lennon) stepped into an Italian government office last week beaming with pride.

He received a warm handshake from the deputy Prime Minister, Matteo Salvini.

While on his way from the airport to the town centre, Robinson filmed himself reminiscing about his last visit to Italy about 10 years ago. On that occasion he staged an assault on an immigrant sleeping rough near the Rome railway station.

Clearly excited about this return visit, he appears to cherish the memory of when he was filmed knocking the man to the ground.

It has since been established that the video was edited as if to show that it was the immigrant who attacked Robinson rather than the other way round.

No reason was given for the invitation to Robinson by a government minister to visit Italy followed by the handshake inside the government office.

As well as Deputy Prime Minister, Salvini is the transport minister in Giorgia Meloni’s government. It is assumed that no such visit would have been possible without Meloni giving her consent.

The fact that photographs of the handshake were taken inside the ministry suggests that the encounter was never intended to remain private. Moreover, the form of the welcome bears the stamp of some official endorsement of Robinson’s views with Salvini giving his guest what Italians call “un saluto a due mani.”

The second hand positioned on top of the ordinary handshake is considered by Italians a signal of special support and approval, as well as of friendship.

In the office background one can see a photograph of Salvini shaking hands in a similar way with the Pope as well as a poster of the Lega party. Salvini has been federal secretary of Lega party since 2013, a position he is expected to occupy until 2029.

The Robinson-Salvini meeting has been met with disapproval and concern by some observers.

“It is impossible that Salvini didn’t know the kind of person he was inviting and what he represents,” observed Andrea Tundo in Il Fatto Quotidiano, the daily that broke the story.

“It is extremely serious that institutional headquarters have been used to give legitimacy to exponents of racism and international neofascism,” said Matteo Orfini, an MP of Partito Democratico, “Robinson is the leader of the British far right, racist and supremacist, with a curriculum of violence and criminal convictions.”

Nicola Fratoianni, an MP and secretary of the Greens and Left Alliance party, condemned the meeting as “unacceptable” and asked “What does our Foreign Minister [Antonio] Tajani think of all this? We want to know if the Italian government gave its approval for such a meeting to take place.”