Inside my two years at Tommy Robinson’s ‘cult’

A liberal, well-travelled, privately-educated London creative is the last person you would imagine being caught up in the far-right movement.

But in June 2017, fashion photographer Lucy Brown fell down a rabbit hole of YouTube videos. It resulted in her working for the far-right activist and convicted criminal Tommy Robinson – real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – the founder of the English Defence League.

Lucy, now 33, went from photography to filming videos with Robinson for right-wing vlog channel Rebel Media, leaving her family and friends ‘bewildered’ by the move – but when questioned she ‘burned bridges’ and ‘stubbornly doubled-down’ on her decision.

However, as time went on, the cracks began to show and this culminated in an explosive show-down in 2018 at Robinson’s London rally The Day For Freedom.

Lucy found out through a Facebook post that she had been sacked a few days later, and for the next six years has been the subject of abuse over social media from Robinson’s followers.

Now she is in a happy relationship with Sascha Bailey, son of snapper David Bailey, and wants to warn against the ‘new counter-culture’ of hating women which she fears is becoming increasingly mainstream.

Looking back, she said: ‘Sometimes I think “oh my god, what have we done?”‘

Robinson recently walked free from court after being cleared of breaching a dispersal order at a march against anti-Semitism after police paperwork used an inaccurate date.

A judge ruled the power used against him had not been legally authorised by the Metropolitan Police. 

Robinson, 41, was arrested and pepper-sprayed at a march against anti-Semitism near the Royal Courts of Justice in central London, where the demonstration began, on November 26 last year.

When he showed up at court, he was seen broadcasting for his platform Urban Scoop as he held a microphone and attempted to interview journalists outside the building.

Speaking about the time she joined up to the far-right movement, Lucy said she was on a two-year waiting list for a mental health specialist and recovering from PTSD.

In an exclusive interview with MailOnline, she explained how she wanted to ‘hit the road’ and engage with the public to have meaningful conversations.

She said: ‘At the time, London was on terror alert so I was walking around thinking I was about to get bombed. And no one wanted to talk about how scared they were. 

‘I looked at a few clips of [Robinson] on YouTube and he seemed to be speaking about these issues in a way which was plain and simple. At the time I was feeling like I had to toe the line or I would be fired – but if I called someone out for mansplaining I would be told ‘shut up Lucy’.

‘I had a friend whose boyfriend was present at a terrorist incident and he wouldn’t say he was scared of the terrorist because it might be seen as offensive. 

‘It felt like Tommy Robinson was all there was. That or nothing. 

‘I was frustrated. And after I watched a few clips, the YouTube algorithm kept suggesting more and more. These videos answered the questions I had. I was annoyed, thinking about free speech and worrying about the future.

‘And I look around now at the world, and its toxic nasty debate environment, and I think that it’s kind of the fruits of what we started.’ 

As time went on, she began to feel ‘mistreated and unsafe’ around Robinson but hoped it would smooth out eventually as she had left her old life and home in London behind and had nowhere to turn.

At Robinson’s peak in May 2018, The Day for Freedom protest in Whitehall took place, which organisers said was to ‘defend free speech’.

The high-profile event saw clashes between protesters and police, leading to five injured officers, as some of the 15,000 people who attended threw bottles, metal barriers and other objects.

This was only a few weeks before ‘citizen journalist’ Robinson filmed a video outside a trial in Leeds – which resulted in him being jailed for contempt of court.

But turbulence also occurred behind the scenes at the event, and a falling out resulted in Lucy being sacked by Robinson.

A year on, Facebook and Instagram followed Twitter in banning the EDL founder for repeatedly breaching hate speech rules. His X account has since been reinstated.

But fans of Robinson fixated on Lucy for the next six years. Hundreds of people sent her death threats and told her she would ‘benefit from an acid facial’ on social media.

Her phone number was even posted on the Democratic Football Lads Alliance Facebook page – which included around 12,000 people at the time. 

She told MailOnline: ‘The falling out with Tommy came about because I put myself between a Muslim man and someone who was trying to beat him up at the event.

‘I don’t care if I don’t agree with him, I’m not going to let him get beaten up. To Tommy and everyone, that was me ‘showing my true colours’.

‘It’s just become worse and worse over the years. I might have made some stupid choices but I was vulnerable. And my friends thought I was racist and went away.

‘I was on my own making bad decision after bad decision. It was definitely like a cult. I was thinking in the collective.’

Insults sent to Lucy seen by MailOnline called her a ‘two-faced goth b**ch, a ‘little rat’, and one read: ‘Such a shame, you seemingly had so much potential, so sad to see you throw that all away.’

So she took herself offline and took a minimum-wage job in a factory to get away.

Speaking out about the experience, she said how at first she viewed Robinson as in a ‘David vs Goliath’ situation but now just sees him as a ‘fraud and coward’.

She told MailOnline: ‘We used him to raise awareness and to bring our arguments to more people…he was the best we had.

‘We were going off to Europe and to different countries and talked to people who felt like they weren’t being heard. Looking back, it’s a mixture of fondness and regret. It was a bit goofy and Tommy was being a bit of a diva.’

Lucy, who attended the prestigious £22,350-a-year Perse School for Girls, added: ‘We were trying to give a voice to people. We went up North to speak to working class people but the moment I did something wrong they were thinking I looked down on them because I’m posh with an accent and from Cambridge.’

Lucy has previously spoken to MailOnline about being harassed by another far-right YouTuber who sent her photos of knives and threatened to hire hitmen.

Despite having a restraining order and taking him to court where he received a suspended sentence, he continues to contact her.

But she thinks that case has allowed her to ‘reflect back on everything’ which happened with Robinson and the aftermath of her exit. 

She said: ‘I’ve watched him get worse and worse over the years as he gets more desperate – he’s a bit of a “pick me”. I was treated like s**t because I was a girl.

‘It’s become a popularity contest between the podcast boys.’

Looking back, she said she ‘slammed the door’ on her friends and family who tried to question her decisions.

She said: ‘I was stubborn – it was all “I know the truth and you’re just brainwashed, you’ll see”. I was rude and argumentative but I was struggling. They probably thought I was insane.’ 

But Lucy admitted she will ‘always be grateful for the opportunity’ of making a difference and opening up conversations about important issues.

She added: ‘We were the newest version of social media and activism being linked up. We were called heroes in the comments and people thanked us for making them feel less alone.

‘But it was just the Tommy show. He just wanted to be in control.’

She now thinks ‘nothing gets solved in protests’ but admitted they are ‘exciting, like sport’.

Lucy explained: ‘It’s the complete opposite of kindly and rationally talking things through. I see the same excitement in young men that I had when I joined. It’s “us vs them” – and they want to be on the side where there’s wealth and sports cars. 

She admitted: ‘In some ways I feel responsible. Andrew Tate kind of copied what we did.

‘I have so many friends I will probably never see again. They have children I won’t see grow up because of this. And the boys who follow these figureheads will miss out on jobs, on getting into university, will become estranged from their parents over this. But they don’t care.’

‘These figureheads make out that they’re a martyr if they’re arrested, which makes their fans think they’re heroes – sacrificing their rights for their freedom.

‘Sometimes I think “oh my god, what have we done?” Pandora’s box needs to be shut.’

Paul Jackson, a professor in the History of Radicalism and Extremism at the University of Northampton, told MailOnline that although far right movements tend to be male-dominated, Lucy isn’t an exception when it comes to women being drawn in.

He explained: ‘The reality of the far right is that it is often much more boring and normal than is typically presented in the media. The aspects of the far right that are reported on are often moments of conflict, or marches, or that type of thing. In reality there are many everyday people drawn to British far right activism, and this includes women.’

He told MailOnline: ‘Typically most far right groups are more male heavy, though women play a variety of important roles. Women may be dedicated activists, and can take leadership roles too. While there are many misogynistic attitudes in far right groups, there are also narratives supportive of women’s rights and concerns and it is possible for women to feel empowered by such politics.

‘Social media has been a very useful tool for far right activism in various ways. Issues such as targeting people, and making available compromising information is a significant concern.’

He added that the far right often appeals to young men ‘who feel masculinity is under attack by modern society’.

‘A sense of shame can be significant, as well as related emotions such as humiliation,’ he explained.

‘Such emotions point to the need to take radical and aggressive stances to counter this and restore a sense of pride and agency.’

MailOnline contacted Tommy Robinson for comment.