The British Radical and Far Right Celebrate Trump

- 07 06 19

3-5 June saw the second visit from Trump to the UK since his inauguration and his first official state visit. Whilst his initial working visit in July 2018 was met with intense debate in the UK, this trip received less discussion by comparison.

Likewise, from the UK radical and far right, greater attention was given to Trump’s prior visit. Nonetheless, some took the streets or made statements, which we’ve collected here.

Nigel Farage

Most notably, Trump met former UKIP leader and now Brexit Party head Nigel Farage at the US ambassador’s residence in central London on Tuesday. Farage claimed that his meeting with Trump was “good” and that he “really believes in Brexit”.

The meeting is timely as it comes during recent events in the UK which have focused attention on the electoral future for Farage’s new outfit and for the UK parliament as a whole.

On 6 June a by-election was held which saw the Brexit Party contest (and lose) its first UK Parliament seat, despite their success in the recent European Parliament elections. On the heels of this newer result, the support from Trump will no doubt be used by Farage to promote his continued involvement in Brexit in any way possible (something the President had himself promoted just before the visit as well).

Farage also managed to organise a more extensive meeting than the brief interactions between Trump and Conservative Party leadership candidates, Boris Johnson and Michael Gove, who are in the running following Theresa May’s recent resignation.

Protests

Trump’s visit was met with protests in the capital, which included the flying of a giant inflatable depicting the President as a baby in a nappy (which made its first appearance during Trump’s last visit).

During the protest, however, the Trump Baby was popped by a woman known as ‘Based Amy’, who regularly appears at Speakers’ Corner in London’s Hyde Park (a site of increased far-right activity in 2018).

The Trump Arms

Returning also was ‘The Trump Arms’, a pub in the capital (normally called The Jameson) which renamed itself in support of the President, as it had done during his prior visit. The pub landlord, Damien Smyth, was even pictured welcoming the President’s Press Secretary, Sarah Sanders, to the event.

Damien Smyth and Sarah Sanders

The Trump Arms saw notable members closer to the mainstream in attendance. This included speeches from the head of the Oxford branch of Turning Point UK, Daniel Mcilhiney (also head of small pro-Trump group ‘Trump UK’), and David Kurten, a UKIP London Assembly member obsessed with the “cultural Marxism” conspiracy theory.

Daniel Mcilhiney

Also in attendance was former aide of Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (AKA Tommy Robinson) and sometime nazi-associate, Lucy Brown; recent UKIP European Parliament candidate and anti-feminist vlogger Carl Benjamin (AKA Sargon of Akkad); Michael Brooks (Benjamin’s far-right staffer known for being pictured with Steve Bannon in 2018); Ben Harris-Quinney (chairman of the conservative Bow Group think-tank); Martina Markota, a former Rebel Media host and the fiance to fellow former Rebel Media host Jack Buckby; and Alex Nieora, a London-based Islamophobe who told a reporter at the event that:

Nieora: “I think Sadiq [Khan] is a bit of a fascist, you know, he’s a Muslim, and, you know, that religion, I would say objectively, is far right. I mean if you look at Islam its authoritarian, its nativist, its imperialist, it’s got all those characteristics, the hatred of Jews, all these things.”

Left to right: Carl Benjamin, Lucy Brown, Martina Markota, unknown

 

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