Amazon has been accused of funnelling “thousands of pounds into the pockets of Britain’s best known far-right extremist” after Tommy Robinson’s latest book topped its bestseller charts.
Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, is one of Britain’s most prominent far-right activists and was a co-founder of the now defunct English Defence League.
The book, listed on Amazon as “Manifesto – Tommy Robinson’s NEW Book”, reached No 1 on the site’s bestseller charts on Tuesday before selling out. It outperformed Boris Johnson’s memoir and new releases by Richard Osman and Sally Rooney.
Joe Mulhall, the director of research at the campaign group Hope Not Hate, said: “Everyone has the right to write and publish a book as long as the content doesn’t break the law. The question is whether Amazon feel comfortable platforming him, and facilitating the sale of a book that will funnel thousands of pounds into the pockets of Britain’s best known far-right extremist. Freedom of speech is not freedom of reach.”
Subtitled “Free Speech, Real Democracy, Peaceful Disobedience,” the paperback, priced at £24.99, centres on the “great replacement theory”.
A blurb on Amazon says: “For decades the political class have openly planned to replace the indigenous people of Europe and in Manifesto we focus on how they are doing this in the UK. To ensure no one disturbs their plans the elite manufacture a mythical far right, when in truth it is the elite 1% who run a Fascist system of state-control, censorship and discrimination.”
The original “great replacement theory”, popularised by the French white nationalist author Renaud Camus, suggested that white Europeans were being replaced via mass immigration, particularly from Muslim-majority countries, with the cooperation of left-leaning elites.
The blurb says “the book contains over 1,200 references to mainstream sources” and adds: “We give you the framework to understand what has been going on for decades and we put forward the actions you can take to put a stop to the plans of the ruling class before it is too late.”
In 2019, Amazon removed from sale a book by Robinson about the Qur’an, saying it reserved the right “not to sell inappropriate content”. Robinson compared the move to book burnings in Nazi Germany.
The same year, the website refused to stop selling Robinson merchandise, including T-shirts bearing his image.
It has previously said: “As a store, we’ve chosen to offer a very broad range of viewpoints, including products that may be disagreeable, and we have guidance for our customers and selling partners about the items allowed for sale in our store.”
Amazon and Robinson have been approached for comment.