The leader of the protests that blocked ports in Dover and Portsmouth has publicly called Nigel Farage a hero and claimed that 'lefties' were responsible for the damage to police vehicles. Daniel Thomas, known as Danny Tommo, made the remarks while confronting Reform UK's home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf in Portsmouth.
Thomas, who is often described as the right-hand man of English Defence League (EDL) co-founder Tommy Robinson, ordered a 'Dunkirk-style' rescue mission for his approximately 200 supporters who were intent on blocking migrants from landing in Portsmouth. His call was answered by a grandmother on a kayak who delivered power banks and water to the protesters.
Violence and injuries during the protest
The protest turned violent as a coach attempted to leave the port, with mobs damaging police cars and injuring several police officers. Hampshire Police Federation reported that two officers were pushed off their motorbikes, while others, including a rookie who had finished training school only three days earlier, had stones and bricks thrown at them.
Thomas, who spent the night waist-deep in the sea splashing authorities who were trying to split up the protesters, and his group finally disbanded at 4am after being given blankets by police.
Witness account and Thomas's confrontation with Yusuf
Barry John-Williams, 69, said he was returning from watching seals in his small rib boat when he spotted 'big offshore lifeboats' and 'a lot of police barges' and then noticed vessels 'full of migrants'. He described how the situation escalated: 'Then obviously it got on Facebook and then all the protesters from all over the South, like they said there was some from Gatwick … came here, and were just wading through the water, and yeah, then it started to get a bit nasty.'
He added: 'The main guy who I think his name's Danny on, you know, like YouTube, I guess, and he was saying like, you know, 'don't engage with the police and stuff'. But then, unfortunately, along with them, are all the idiots with masks up who want to smash the vehicles up, and they put all concrete blocks in the road and stuff.'
Thomas challenged Yusuf after Nigel Farage called his masked followers 'disgusting'. He said: 'You know how bad the press are. They've gone for Nigel on every single level. Nigel is a hero to this country for what he did for Brexit, and he's a hero to this country for what he's trying to do with the boats. All I would ask you to do is take the message back to him and say, Nigel, I don't think it's a good idea to be calling working-class [disgusting].'
He added that his followers were likely to vote Reform in three years' time but he had had enough of words. He told Yusuf: 'What do you expect the men of this country to do when they see all this violence against women, they see all these sexual assaults? What would you do as a man, as a father? Sit down and just wait? They're coming out and making their voices heard.'
When challenged by Yusuf on the damage to police vehicles, Thomas claimed: 'That was nothing to do with us. That was probably done by the lefties to try and make us look bad.'
Police response and official statements
A Hampshire Police spokesperson told Metro: 'Violence and criminal damage have no part in peaceful protest. No arrests have been made at this time, however an investigation to identify offenders responsible for any assaults to officers, criminal damage to vehicles, or other criminal offences has been launched. We can also confirm that Border Force has advised us that individuals from the boat have been transported outside of Hampshire for processing as part of the normal process after they were safely disembarked.'
Some activists shared photos of volunteer Coastguards helping migrants, calling them 'Traitors'. Imran Hussain, Executive Director of External Affairs at the Refugee Council, said: 'We are enormously grateful to the lifeboat volunteers who go out in dangerous conditions to save lives, and to the police officers working on our streets to keep people safe and maintain order. Most people do not want to see Britain become a country where masked groups threaten refugees, minorities, volunteers or police officers. This is bigger than the treatment of refugees. It is about the sort of country we want to live in. We should not allow a small number of people who use fear and violence to undermine the decency, tolerance and respect for the law that the vast majority of people in Britain expect.'
Farage, the leader of Reform UK, said he is against 'masked people turning up and protesting anywhere'. Asked what he made of the protests in Dover, he told GB News: 'Disgusting. Nobody in any political protest, whether they're on the left or the right, should appear in balaclavas. It is wrong.'
Responding to claims families were stuck in horrific traffic jams, Farage said: 'Disgusting. Disgusting. And I… Look, nobody feels more strongly about stopping the boats than me. Nobody has flown the flag to say this could be a disaster. I was the first out there. But I've also in the last few months, it was me that exposed the Iranian regime putting terrorist operatives into Britain. No one wants this stopped more than me. But turning up in balaclavas is not the way to do it.'
Who is Danny Tommo?
The 37-year-old campaigner was among activists spotted at the protest on Saturday, which brought traffic to a standstill on the A20. Both he and Robinson were previously members of UKIP, the eurosceptic party formerly led by Reform leader Nigel Farage. Thomas previously worked as a tank driver for the King's Royal Hussars, an armoured regiment of the British Army. He is understood to have been discharged on medical grounds without having performed any active service.
He served two years in prison in 2016 for breaking into a man's house brandishing knives, accusing the owner of having stolen £10,000 of drugs from him. Following his spell behind bars, he claims to have turned to God and Christianity, with his X bio referring to 'trusting in Jesus Christ' and posts quoting Bible passages. However, he has continued to have run-ins with the police, including a standoff at a protest following Boris Johnson's prorogation of Parliament in 2019. He was also detained by officers at a counter-protest clashing with anti-Trump demonstrations during the US president's second state visit to the UK last year.
