Tommy Robinson. Image: Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire

Martin Shipton

An historic family event in north Wales has allowed a far-right party associated with the criminal activist who calls himself Tommy Robinson to have a presence on the showfield.

Anti-fascist campaigner Gary Williams wrote to the administrator of the Denbigh & Flint Show saying: “I understand that ‘Advance UK’ will be present at the Denbigh & Flint Show on August 21. I am deeply concerned about this, as this newly-formed party has documented links to far-right figures including Tommy Robinson and other divisive, openly hateful individuals.

“The party [in Wales]is fronted by Richard Taylor, a former Abolish the Assembly, Brexit Party, and Reform UK member, as well as an ex-criminal. Given the group’s connections and public messaging, their presence risks promoting extremist views in a family-oriented community event.

“Could you please explain how their participation has been permitted, and confirm what steps will be taken to ensure the event remains inclusive and free from extremist political influence?”

Robinson announced earlier in August that he was joining Ben Habib’s Advance UK party, and is calling on his followers to do the same.

The move was announced in a video thought to have been made in London before an incident in which Robinson is alleged to have assaulted a man at St Pancras station.

Nigel Farage

In the video Robinson – real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – denounces Reform UK leader Nigel Farage as wanting to “make peace with Islam”.

Habib is a former co-deputy leader of Reform, but fell out with Farage.

Robinson and Habib both favour “mass deportations” of migrants.

Taylor became known across the UK through his previously frequent appearances as a pundit on GB News.

A self-confessed teenage criminal, burglar and drug user originally from Llanelli, he wrote an autobiography about how he found Jesus in prison.

Subsequently he became a pastor at an evangelical church in Cwmbran, but he left suddenly following a financial dispute and – as he put it in a podcast – after he “committed adultery against [his] wife”.

Richard Taylor during his time with Brexit Party

In the 2019 general election he stood as the Brexit Party’s candidate in Blaenau Gwent, coming second to re-elected Labour MP Nick Smith, who was 8,647 votes ahead of him.

Defected

By 2021 he had defected to the Abolish the Welsh Assembly Party. He stood for the Senedd, also in Blaenau Gwent, coming fifth with 1,364 votes (6.6% of the total vote). Sitting Labour MS Alun Davies was re-elected.

The anti-fascist group Far Right Watch Wales said in a statement circulated to its supporters: “The feelgood factor that Reform party bosses apparently felt after the UK general election, when the right wing populist party saw five MPs elected, must have evaporated when news reached them that they’d suffered a seismic defection in Wales with the announcement from Richard Taylor on his Facebook page that he was leaving the party in protest at its refusal to support Taylor’s political hero the far right grifter in-chief Tommy ’10 names and 10 criminal convictions’ Robinson.

“We are of course being jocular – word has reached us from inside Reform that party activists in Wales breathed a huge sigh of relief that someone with Taylor’s alarming personal history and dubious political past had publicly flounced out of the party because it isn’t extreme right wing enough for him.

“That alarming history includes Taylor’s threats to a Welsh journalist after an expose detailing claims against Taylor of the exploitation of vulnerable people at a church rehab programme he was involved in the days when he was a self styled pastor with an ‘evangelical church’ in Cwmbran. Taylor made the threat when he was standing as a candidate for the Abolish the Welsh Assembly party in the 2021 Senedd elections.

“It’s perhaps fitting that since moving to Llanell, Taylor has been regularly spotted ‘working out’ at a local gym with another far right felon – Dan Morgan, the Voice of Wales co-founder who received a suspended jail sentence for his part in a massive insurance scam which included defrauding elderly people out of their life savings.”

We asked Denbigh & Flint Show, whose beginnings date back to the early 19th century, why Advance UK was being permitted to have a stand at next week’s event.

‘Inclusive’

Show coordinator Maisie Sturge responded: “We would like to clarify that the Show is open to participation from all political parties and groups, provided they operate within the bounds of the law. As a public event, it is important that we maintain a neutral and inclusive stance. To begin selectively excluding any group would set a precedent that could impact the Show’s future and undermine its core principles.

“Political organisations often evolve or change over time, and our role is not to act as a censor. As a democratic nation, we are committed to upholding the values of free expression and fairness.

“It has come to our attention that Mr Gary Williams contacted our sponsors directly regarding this matter. We believe this action was inappropriate and would have appreciated it if he had raised his concerns with us directly first. Contacting sponsors without engaging with the organising committee is not a professional or ethical approach.

“To others with similar concerns, we reiterate that the Show is an agricultural event designed to serve the broader public, regardless of political affiliation. We neither support nor endorse any political party.”

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