Who is ‘Danny Tommo’? Tommy Robinson associate at centre of Portsmouth and Dover migrant protestsDaniel Thomas was jailed in 2016 after an attempted kidnapping, but claims he has now turned around his life through religion
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Niva Yadav1 minute ago
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A close associate of far-right activist Tommy Robinson is at the heart of weekend protests against small-boat migrants.
Danny Thomas – known on social media as Danny Tommo – organised a demonstration on Saturday, which saw hundreds of masked anti-migrant demonstrators block roads in Dover.
Members of the Patriot Platform group gathered at the Kent port, chanting “stop the boats” as dozens of police officers followed.
Just a day later, members of the same far-right network rallied in Portsmouth for a second anti-illegal migrant protest. The demonstrators vowed they would prevent some 140 migrants from being rescued, blocking the roads until the early hours of Monday morning.
Mr Thomas, 37, was spotted at the protest at Dover on Saturday, chanting alongside hundreds of other protesters.
He mobilised the Patriot Platform only this summer, announcing a recruitment day on August 22.
Danny Tommo organised a protest in response to the Southport stabbings in 2024AFP via Getty Images
In a social media post, Mr Thomas said at the launch event, “The real men of this country now realise and understand that it’s time we did something!”. He dubbed his network as the “people’s army” and the “biggest pushback by Englishmen” since World War Two, speaking on Dan Wootton’s Outspoken show.
The father-of-four from Hampshire also called for boatowners or those with “any seaworthy vessel” to come forward as he planned a trip into the English Channel just days later.
Mr Thomas has previously worked as a tank driver with the King’s Royal Hussars, but was reportedly discharged on medical grounds before seeing active service.
He is also understood to have worked as a bricklayer, a sales and marketing manager, and ran a website design firm.
But Mr Thomas also spent two years in prison in 2016, after breaking into a man’s house armed with knives. Alongside two others, Mr Thomas wrongly accused the man of stealing £10,000 of drugs from him in what the judge called “an extraordinarily frightening incident.”
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The trio ran into the man’s home, shouting “You’re coming with us” as part of the attempted kidnapping.
After being released, Mr Thomas claims to have turned his life around, attending church every week and “praying for forgiveness.”
“Trusting in Jesus Christ, Our Saviour,” reads his bio on X.
Several of his social media posts quote verses from the bible as Mr Thomas attempts to show he is a changed man.
However, he clashed with the law once again in 2019 when he was arrested at a demonstration outside Buckingham Palace. Mr Thomas was pictured facing off against police as he participated in a counter-rally to an anti-Trump protest.
Mr Thomas clashed with police in 2019Getty Images
Before creating the Patriot Platform, Mr Thomas was a key figure in the UKIP party, organising a Brexit Betrayal march in 2019.
In 2024, he was a key speaker at the Tommy Robinson-organised protest in Whitehall following the Southport stabbings. The pair were pictured together on several occasions, including when they both served as key figures at UKIP.
Mr Robinson has also had some encounters with the law. He was jailed for 18 months in 2024 after admitting to 10 breaches of a High Court Order and has also been jailed for contempt of court after livestreaming during a grooming gang trial in 2019.
Prior to that, Mr Robinson has faced charges for using a fake passport, committing mortgage fraud, and assault.
Mr Thomas was a central part of the Raise the Colours anti-migrant group based in Birmingham. With the group, he helped to initiate the hoisting of union jack and England flags across the country.
Mr Thomas also headed up the Operation Overlord campaign – a series of trips to France in an attempt to “stop the boats” for “our grandfathers, for our families, and above all for our children.”
He has since parted ways with Raise the Colours, though the reasons behind the split are unknown.
Danny Thomas speaks at Southport stabbings rallyAFP via Getty Images
Patriot Platform has taken Mr Thomas’ mission on a more Christian-driven focus, though he has described the group to the English Defence League – just without the alcohol, drugs, shouting, protesting and flag waving, he said.
He said the group “will put so much pressure on the British government in places that it needs to happen that they will have no choice but to listen.”
“And if they don’t, then god help them,” he warned.
Mr Thomas claims that 40,000 members have signed up to Patriot Platform, though others have called this figure an exaggeration.
Regardless, the stunts in Dover and Portsmouth caused ripples in the local communities of Hampshire and Kent, prompting the government to call the behaviour “intimidating and thuggish.”
New local “patriot” groups have emerged in several parts of the UK, including in Watford, Bournemouth, Surrey, and South London.
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