Tommy Robinson’s insistence that he is a destitute family man living hand‑to‑mouth becomes rather harder to swallow when his son pops up bragging that he is living the lifestyle of a minor oligarch.
Spencer Yaxley‑Lennon’s recent Instagram posts – featuring private jets, luxury interiors, designer wardrobes and the seedier sort of “entrepreneur” branding – has arrived at a particularly inconvenient moment for dad.
Hyped-up threats
For Robinson senior (real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon) is once again begging supporters for money, claiming he has no assets, no income and no choice, in the face of much-hyped ‘threats’ from ISIS, but to flee the country for the safety of his family.
“Send funds to pay for the security of me and my family” he has been pleading of late.
One might almost feel sorry for him, if his son weren’t simultaneously posing on the steps of a private jet.
Searchlight has spent years documenting Robinson’s curious financial elasticity: bankrupt when the courts come calling, mysteriously solvent when it’s time for foreign travel, private security or a new media venture.
Shell companies
His claims of being stripped of every penny by the state have long sat uneasily beside the steady stream of benefactors, shell companies and sympathetic intermediaries who keep him afloat.
What young Spencer has done, albeit unintentionally, is provide the visuals that make the contradiction finally impossible to ignore, even for his most blinkered supporters.
The posts now circulating – and being amplified and coruscated by others on the far right – show a young man living a life that bears no resemblance to the hardship narrative Robinson sells to his followers.
While the father pleads poverty, the son is photographed in front of a private jet, lounging in plush car interiors, ‘influencing’ on behalf of a forex trading platform and promoting a “growth and discipline” persona.
Single mums
It is the sort of imagery that might impress teenagers on TikTok, but it is less helpful when your father is simultaneously claiming he cannot afford to keep his family safe without donations as often as not from people who can hardly afford it.
The website sickchirpsie.com has produced this very helpful analysis of Robinson’s wardrobe, in a recently taken photo:
Not to mention the £820 ‘Run Away’ Louis Vuitton trainers he has been sporting on his ecent jolly to the States.
This is not a one‑off embarrassment. It fits neatly into a pattern Searchlight has tracked for years: Robinson declaring bankruptcy while continuing to enjoy access to high‑value property; Robinson insisting he is financially ruined while repeatedly jetting off abroad on luxury holidays; Robinson claiming persecution while quietly cultivating wealthy backers in the US.
Going viral
The family finances have always been a fog of half‑truths, proxies and conveniently timed declarations of poverty. Spencer’s Instagram simply lifts the curtain on the scam.
Spencer Yaxley-Lennon has now made his account private, but the screenshots are already out there and going viral.
And they are a slap in the face for every single mum or pensioner who’s been shaken down over the years by this unrivalled and shameless conman.
