Who is Tommy Robinson? The Karl Stefanovic guest who may have cost Australia’s famed TV host his job

Tommy Robinson moved into activism when he lost his job as an engineering apprentice. Photograph: Toby Shepheard/AFP/Getty Images View image in fullscreen Tommy Robinson moved into activism when he lost his job as an engineering apprentice. Photograph: Toby Shepheard/AFP/Getty Images Explainer Who is Tommy Robinson? The Karl Stefanovic guest who may have cost Australia’s famed TV host his job Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, is an anti-Islamic, far-right political activist well known in the UK and Europe Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The man who calls himself Tommy Robinson has roared into prominence in Australia after the morning TV mainstay Karl Stefanovic posted an interview with Robinson for his podcast. The fallout was swift. Nine Entertainment, Australia’s largest locally owned media empire, is widely expected to sever ties with Stefanovic, and he will not appear on a radio show with Eddie McGuire on Friday. Karl Stefanovic won’t appear on Friday radio show with Eddie McGuire amid Tommy Robinson interview fallout Read more Robinson’s politics are well known in the UK and Europe, but he has a far lower profile here. So who is the man whose very presence in an interview may have cost Australia’s highest-paid TV personality his job? Who is Tommy Robinson? His legal name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon. He took the name of Tommy Robinson from a Luton Town football hooligan to disguise his identity and previous convictions. The 43-year-old father of three is an anti-Islamic, far-right political activist, and has been a key figure behind actions like the “Unite the Kingdom” march in London last year. How did Tommy Robinson rise to prominence? Robinson moved into activism when he lost his job as an engineering apprentice after assaulting a police officer who tried to intervene to protect Robinson’s girlfriend, with whom Robinson was fighting in the street. He founded the avowedly Islamophobic English Defence League in 2009, which held rallies around the country. Robinson was convicted of assault again in 2011, for head-butting a man at a demonstration in Birmingham. Since leaving the EDL, Robinson has rebranded himself as an independent journalist, writing for the conspiracy theory-peddling outlet Rebel News. He has focused on sexual grooming gangs, and has repeated his central trope that Muslims in Britain had been “terrorising our country for decades”. Robinson has continued to accrue convictions, and has declared bankruptcy. He has been convicted for violence, public order offences, as well as financial and immigration frauds. He also has convictions for stalking and harassing journalists and has twice been convicted for contempt of court. He was jailed in 2024 for repeating false claims about a 15-year-old Syrian refugee in defiance of a court injunction. What are Tommy Robinson’s politics? Robinson’s platform is Islamophobic, and he has repeatedly called for Muslims to be removed from Britain. He has