Tommy indicated his desire to be a UKIP candidate earlier this month, but clearly that would have been a step too far for Batten. The UKIP leader has already lost all but three of his MEPs since taking over the role and Robinson's appointment has often been cited by departing members.
Tommy's failure to get selected under the UKIP banner clearly wasn't going to stop him, but should his announcement come as a surprise to anyone? In the last fifteen years he has been a member of, founded or been affiliated with a myriad of right-wing parties and protest groups, including the BNP, English Defence League, Pegida UK, British Freedom Party and, of course, UKIP. Loyalty does not appear to be his thing.
While no-one can question his fantastic work in exposing the grooming gangs - his decision to stand as an independent in a key battleground where the Leave vote is already split once, does leave a lot to be desired and stinks of narcissism. He says that the worst case scenario for the EU resulting from our participation in these elections would be seeing him win a seat. Sadly for Tommy it's highly unlikely that the likes of Tusk and Juncker have ever even heard of him. The worst case scenario for the EU arising from these elections is actually a decisive victory for a pro-Leave party, whether that be UKIP or the Brexit Party it doesn't really matter. A solitary independent victory amid the election of 73 members will barely raise an eyebrow in Brussels.
It's probably going to be a close fought contest and by standing in the North West as an independent and potentially costing one of those pro-Leave parties a seat or even two, Robinson could make the difference between victory and defeat for Brexit at this election. And make no mistake - Brexit ie. the realisation of the Leave mandate and therefore the future of our entire democracy - these things are more important than the election of one Tommy Robinson.
