Prime Minister Keir Starmer has told his cabinet that the UK faces “the fight of our times” against division, following a far-right march in London on Saturday led by Tommy Robinson. Downing Street said Starmer made the comments at Tuesday morning’s cabinet meeting, extending criticism to Elon Musk for his call to violence.
About 110,000 people attended what is believed to be the largest far-right protest in UK history. The event featured a speech by Robinson, a convicted criminal, and a video link from Musk, who said “violence is coming” and urged the crowd to “fight back”. Starmer said the scenes were shocking and sent a chill through the country, particularly among ethnic minority Britons.
Starmer told ministers the government must heed the patriotic call of national renewal and win the fight against toxic division. The response follows earlier comments by Business Secretary Peter Kyle, who said he was not disturbed by the event as it showed free speech was alive. Downing Street clarified that while freedom to march is a core value, some people legitimately feel scared when a convicted criminal is egged on by a foreign billionaire calling for violence.
Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, has multiple criminal convictions. The march resulted in 26 police officers being injured and involved racist conspiracy theories and anti-Muslim hate speech. Starmer’s spokesperson declined to characterise the event as far-right but acknowledged that many would understandably feel intimidated.
