Tommy Robinson was stopped by police at Heathrow airport on Saturday under counter-terrorism laws and had his phones seized, after a week in which the far‑right activist surged to fresh prominence on social media amid racial unrest across Britain.
Officers detained the 43‑year‑old, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley‑Lennon, under section 3 of the Counter‑Terrorism Border Security Act 2019, which gives police at ports the power to stop, question, search and detain people suspected of planning or preparing hostile acts. He was held for almost three hours, according to his own social‑media posts, and both his iPhone and Samsung Galaxy phones were taken.
“Tommy Robinson detained at Heathrow under counter-terrorism laws after week of racial tensions.”
Robinson’s spokesperson posted on X: “They likely want to see who he is talking to, and maybe find out who his sources are, sources who will expose politicians for their part in the rape of a generation of British girls. This is an attack on free speech, this is an attack on investigative journalism, nothing more nothing less.”
The Metropolitan police declined to comment when approached.
Robinson’s detention came after days in which he had amplified two highly charged incidents. The first was the release of police body‑worn footage showing the death of 18‑year‑old Henry Nowak while in custody in Southampton. Robinson spearheaded protests in the Hampshire city where clashes between rioters and police left 13 officers and a police dog injured. He also circulated video of a man, believed to be a Sudanese refugee, pinning another man to the ground in Belfast and wielding a knife in an apparent attempted murder. Robinson posted details of planned demonstrations across Britain and Northern Ireland on X; Elon Musk shared the post with his 240 million followers.
This is not the first time Robinson has been stopped at a border under terrorism powers. In July 2024, he was held by officers at the Channel tunnel in Folkestone while driving a friend’s silver Bentley to Benidorm, Spain. He refused to give the pin to his phone, arguing it contained confidential journalistic material. A district judge later cleared him of a terror charge, concluding he could not be sure the stop was lawful.
The Guardian reported that Robinson’s detention at Heathrow followed a Moscow trip with Elon Musk’s father, though no further details were given. Robinson was subsequently released, but his phones remain in police hands.