Will Stephen Lennon actually say sorry?

The telephones have not stopped ringing at the HNH office since this morning’s surprise announcement that the EDL leader-still using the name he uses for criminal purposes, Tommy Robinson, was leaving the EDL. By all accounts, he can no longer keep the EDL’s extremists at bay.

Yes, it is big and surprising news. Now in hindsight, a couple of tweets from Stephen Lennon [that’s ‘Tommy Robinson’s’ real name] last week, give a little more insight into his announcement. Lennon tweeted that people would have to take him seriously soon.

At around the same time, he was standing on the doorstep and molesting the mail of whom he thought was a political rival. It was, like many victims of EDL intimidation and threats, just another innocent person.

For this, there has been no apology. Nor was there an apology for his and his fellow “defector’s” rape lie, that threatened to bring extreme violence to their hometown of Luton.

“Sorry” has not just been the hardest word for the EDL leadership, it has been a foreign word. And we know how they do not like foreigners.

As is our way, we have been for most of the day, “cautiously optimistic” that something that is afoot is to the benefit of the whole country and all of its people, and all of its communities.

There is some concern, that according to the press release, Lennon still believes that he has actually been engaged in a fight against both Islamic and far-right extremism. For those of us on the receiving end while monitoring much of this “battle”, the facts remain that if anything, Lennon’s EDL gave encouragement to both Neo-Nazis and Islamists. Now, later in the day, it appears that Lennon is just launching another organisation. Nobody knows what the truth is until his press conference tonight.

Lennon’s departure also came as a shock to his own supporters, except of course, for the other eleven joining him. His own personal assistant is telling whoever wants to listen, that Lennon is in fact just starting a new organisation-some kind of “think tank” that will probably have as much input as the resident of a “fish tank”.

That Lennon has decided not to wind down the EDL is also of interest. After all, he owns it. He and his cousin Kevin Carroll were/are the sole owners of the group. Nobody voted them in-nobody voted them out. Nick Griffin of the BNP, regularly humiliated by Lennon, is jumping for joy. Griffin has already said that Lennon’s departure means that “the street counter jihad movement can come into its own”.

What he means is, if there is any cash left, he’d like to get his hands on it. Expect also Paul Prodromou and Tony Curtis to be throwing their hats into any ring that decides the EDL needs new leader.

Whatever happens, the EDL was not the cause of anti-Muslim hatred in this country, nor was it the sole vehicle or outlet for Islamaphobia, racism or violence.

However, a “sorry” for his role in the sickening cycle of violence, racism and intimidation meted out by the EDL would be welcomed. So would the answer to many, many more questions.