Together for the Children is run by Phil Hickin of the Democratic Football Lads Alliance (DFLA), a far-right movement with a history of hooliganism that was formed out of the Football Lads Alliance, another far-right organisation, in 2018.
According to a 2019 report by anti-fascist campaigning organisation Hope Not Hate, in some parts of England, the DFLA has “strong cross-over” with the now-defunct English Defence League, a far-right group that was once led by Robinson. In 2018, the Premier League was forced to issue a warning to football clubs after a Times investigation found the Football Lads Alliance was using fans and stadiums to push an anti-Muslim agenda.
The 28 June rally saw protesters march through central London to Whitehall, where a stage was set up and nine speakers addressed the crowd for more than an hour. Some speakers celebrated tech billionaire Elon Musk, whose X has become a platform for far-right disinformation and abuse of women. Others roused the audience to cheer “Tommy, Tommy, Tommy” in support of Robinson.
Reading a statement out to the audience, Hickin demanded a “total exoneration and apology” to Robinson for his 18-month prison sentence for contempt of court over the screening of a documentary about his libel case against a Syrian teenager. “Let's not let ourselves be distracted away from the fact that Tommy Robinson was incarcerated for airing a documentary,” Hickin said.
While Robinson himself was not present at the event (the MC, the DFLA’s Justin Smith, told the crowd that he was unwell), he later praised the march as “the best of British” in a post on X. The rally was also endorsed online by Liam Tuffs, whom Hope Not Hate describes as Robinson’s “close confidant”, and by anti-migration campaigner Brian Stovell.
In other social media footage of the event reviewed by openDemocracy, march attendees claimed that Labour is a “Satanic” party and that prime minister Keir Starmer is a “traitor” who should be “locked up” for his complicity in a “rape plague.”
Such comments are based on a far-right conspiracy theory that Starmer helped to “cover up” crimes committed by grooming gangs. In fact, Starmer – along with Nazir Afzal, the former chief crown prosecutor in north-west England – helped to prosecute members of the gangs and led reforms to support victims.
At least one man carried a placard stating “I am Tommy Robinson”. Others held UKIP flags, a flag saying “deport them”, all while singing “Rule Britannia”.
In a statement, Enough told openDemocracy: “The march was organised by Together for the Children. We abhor racism and are not aligned with the far right. Beaver was there and made an unplanned speech.”
Lucy Hobday Watson, who founded Enough of Enough, an Instagram account that gives students a platform to air concerns about the organisation, told openDemocracy: “Enough’s careless attitude is on full display here. Rape survivors deserve better than a company rubbing shoulders with the far right.”
The far right has increasingly weaponised the issue of violence against women and girls in order to win mainstream support. It focuses overwhelmingly on attacks by migrant men, and incidents of grooming gang violence where the perpetrators are British-Pakistani men, and ignores or denies sexual violence allegations made against its allies.
In 2023, the End Violence Against Women (EVAW) Coalition, in partnership with Hope Not Hate, produced a guide for the women’s sector, warning against collaborating with the far right.
EVAW’s director Andrea Simon told openDemocracy: “The far right has a long history of cynically exploiting concerns about sexual violence to promote a racist, white supremacist agenda. Along with our sisters working in frontline services supporting victims of violence against women and girls, we have consistently rejected this co-option of our movement and weaponisation of survivors’ trauma.
“Violence against women and girls is a national emergency that doesn’t have a quick fix, but requires a sustained, whole-society response rooted in access to our rights and freedoms, holding perpetrators accountable, meeting the support needs of all survivors and making prevention the priority.”
In 2019, more than 40 women and charities, including EVAW, signed a letter refusing to accept donations from Robinson, saying his offer of money was a “profound insult” to survivors of sexual violence.