Tommy Robinson has had two milkshake showers in the last two days, which I suppose is inevitable when you’re famous solely for being a dickhead.
The first dunk was in Bury, where the former EDL leader speculated that the drink hurler was “some Muslim supporter” – an odd turn of phrase, which can likely be interpreted as “a profoundly normal human being”. The second was in Warrington, where Tommy responded by leaping fists-first at the milkshake chucker.
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More milkshake showers may well be on the horizon: in Greater Manchester, where he’s currently on the campaign trail for this month’s European elections, pouring an entire McDonald’s milkshake over Tommy Robinson’s head appears to be the default response to his general presence.
He’s been campaigning for seven days, and two of those have ended in him needing to visit the dry-cleaners. With 20 days left until the vote, the rules of probability dictate that he could be milkshaked at least another six times. Two incidents have been enough to essentially make the whole thing a meme, but six more would cement its place in the political meme Hall of Fame, along with Dancing Theresa May and that time John Prescott punched a man in the neck for throwing an egg at him.
Either way, what’s important to remember is that Tommy isn’t fazed: in a video he posted on Telegram that really needed some context, the convicted fraudster and aspiring north-west England MEP said: “I so want to win this. No amount of punches, milkshakes, attacks or anything is going to stop me.”
In the Warrington incident, video footage shows Tommy arguing with 23-year-old Danyal Mahmud, who told Asian Image: “He just kept talking to me. I kept moving location. I was the only Asian guy there. I said to him, ‘I do not wish to speak to you on or off camera.’ I just got annoyed with him. A milkshake ‘slipped’ out of my hand. I had no intention of doing anything or reacting in any way. But he kept talking. I feel a bit shaken up and shocked, to be honest.”
Tommy – real name: Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – kicked off his MEP campaign by potentially breaking electoral law. At the launch event in Manchester last Thursday night, he was giving out free burgers and hotdogs from a catering van until police told him that doing so could be viewed as inducing votes. Before arriving at the Wythenshawe estate in south Manchester, his visit had been condemned by a group of local faith leaders and the local MP, Labour’s Mike Kane.
So, good start overall.
