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London’s streets erupted this weekend as tens of thousands poured into Whitehall for Tommy Robinson’s latest spectacle: the “Unite the Kingdom” rally.
The Metropolitan Police estimated around 110,000 people joined, marching in from Waterloo Bridge and Lambeth Bridge before converging on Parliament.
The Star Turn: Robinson and His Far-Right Allies
Robinson (real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon) took centre stage alongside Katie Hopkins and Steve Bannon. Crowds waved Union Jacks, St George’s crosses, and even a few Israeli flags. The chants were unfiltered and furious: “Starmer is a w*****,” echoed down Whitehall as Robinson raged that migrants had “more rights in court than the people that built this nation.”
The Counter Clash
Just across the police line, around 5,000 counter-protesters rallied under the banner Stand Up to Racism. Left-wing MPs Zarah Sultana and Diane Abbott joined them, waving “refugees welcome” placards and shouting “stand up, fight back.”
The Met deployed 1,600 officers to hold the line. There were assaults on police, nine arrests, and tense moments as Robinson supporters tried to breach cordons.
The Summer of Street Anger
This was no isolated outburst. It capped a summer of angry scenes outside hotels housing asylum seekers, fuelled by a high-profile sexual assault case. At the same time, the anti-immigrant Reform UK party has surged in the polls, with some surveys now suggesting it could become Britain’s largest party if an election were called today.
Placards at the march read “send them home” and “stop the boats.” One woman told reporters she had travelled from Scotland because she was tired of seeing “homeless British people in the street while immigrants were receiving shelter.”
Big Numbers, But Not the Biggest
Yes, Robinson’s rally was enormous. But for perspective, it was still dwarfed by the pro-Palestinian march in November 2023, which drew an estimated 300,000 people.
This was London on a knife’s edge: Robinson’s supporters chanting for a Britain of closed borders, counter-protesters shouting back for solidarity, and police struggling to hold the city together.