Tommy Robinson, one of Britain's most prominent right-wing activists, says he was detained at Heathrow Airport under counter-terrorism laws. The stop saw him held by officers at the border for an extended period before he was allowed to go on his way, in the latest in a long line of encounters between the campaigner and the authorities.
News of the detention came from Robinson himself rather than from any official statement. In a post on the social media platform X, he told his followers that he had been stopped at the airport and that officers had seized his phones as part of the process, leaving him without his devices for the duration of the encounter.
According to his own account, Robinson was held for the best part of three hours during the stop. Powers under counter-terrorism legislation allow officers to question and detain people at ports and airports, and to examine their belongings, a framework that can be applied to travellers as they pass through the border.
In his public comments, Robinson framed the episode largely around the cost it would bring him, saying it looked like it would mean more defence and court fees. The remark pointed to the legal expenses he says continue to mount, casting the detention as another front in a series of legal battles he has been drawn into.
Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, is a long-standing and deeply divisive figure in British public life. He has built a large online following and has repeatedly placed himself at the centre of arguments over immigration, policing and the limits of free speech, drawing both fervent supporters and strong opposition.
The detention follows a stretch in which Robinson has been especially visible in public. Earlier this month he gave a speech at a protest in Southampton over the murder of 18-year-old Henry Novak, an event that placed him once again at the heart of a charged national debate over crime, protest and the response of the police.