On Saturday 13 September, the Unite the Kingdom rally organised by far-right activist Tommy Robinson took place in London.
9 arrests for violent fascists attacking police – 900 for grannies and disabled people holding placards?
Can you say two-tier policing, Home Secretary? As it seems cops response to the Unite The Kingdom march was odd… says @skwawkbox #StandUpToRacism https://t.co/HITg2groPv
— Canary (@TheCanaryUK) September 13, 2025
A video from the day shows a man openly calling for Keir Starmer to be gunned down in a similar fashion to what recently happened to right-wing US activist Charlie Kirk:
A man talking on livestream at the Unite the Kingdom protest just called for Keir Starmer to be shot.
“Keir Starmer needs to be assassinated.”
“Someone needs to shoot Keir Starmer.”
I’m absolutely certain the @metpoliceuk will be taking swift action… pic.twitter.com/2zPbBaUnDq
— Evolve Politics (@evolvepolitics) September 13, 2025
Unite the Kingdom: out in the open
Speaking on camera, the man in question at the Unite the Kingdom rally says:
Keir Starmer needs to be assassinated, yeah? Someone needs to shoot – [turns to look at camera] someone needs to shoot Keir Starmer.
You may be surprised to read this if you only caught part of the right’s response to the death of Charlie Kirk – namely the part in which they called out the use of violence to silence political opponents.
The other part of their response, of course, was using the event to call for violence against the left:
Trump uses Charlie Kirk death to ‘launch a war against the left’
People have pointed out inconsistencies between Trump’s latest address and the things he’s said and done in the past, writes @willem_moore_uk https://t.co/DiSK4U37bU
— Canary (@TheCanaryUK) September 11, 2025
Meidas Touch highlighted that many right wingers have got in on this:
Deeply disturbing rhetoric is spreading from influential MAGA figures (including the President of the United States and the owner of this website). They have no idea who the shooter is, and many of these same people mocked Democrats when they were victims of political violence in… pic.twitter.com/nWQYBV25Ok
— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) September 11, 2025
As others noted, this is all happening despite the right ignoring their own followers’ actions (actions that they’ve been happy enough to ignore):
From me, a list of Trump supporters who killed, or tried to kill, Democrats and opponents of Trump in recent years (since the right are now claiming all the political violence is from the left!)
Receipts:https://t.co/YbS3A8fz5p pic.twitter.com/3b4X09NX6C
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) September 11, 2025
This bloodlust died down somewhat when evidence emerged that the suspect in the case was likely to be a far-right ‘groyper’ (or similar). Much like with other recent shootings, the suspect had written on his bullets, with these messages taken from obscure online message groups which lean far right. The bloodlust hasn’t died down entirely, however, as this message from Elon Musk makes clear:
Elon Musk told the far-right rally that “violence is going to come to you. You either fight back, or you die.” pic.twitter.com/6H17k8Lkcb
— Mukhtar (@I_amMukhtar) September 13, 2025
While you can argue that the man who called for Starmer’s assassination is just some random guy, Musk is the richest man in the world, and the owner of one of the world’s largest social media sites. As people are pointing out, politicians can’t simply ignore this and expect the problem to go away:
Elon Musk said “Whether you choose violence or not, violence is coming to you. You either fight back or you die”. That’s a clear, explicit incitement to violence. I don’t care how rich he is. Or how powerful his platforms are. Politicians of all persuasions need to condemn him.
— (((Dan Hodges))) (@DPJHodges) September 14, 2025
This man should be held accountable for inciting violence in different countries https://t.co/d8GgBaFHHI
— 🥭 (@M4NGO136) September 13, 2025
Elon Musk openly called for violence on our streets yesterday.
I hope politicians from all parties come together to condemn his deeply dangerous and irresponsible rhetoric.
Britain must stand united against this clear attempt to undermine our democracy.
— Ed Davey (@EdwardJDavey) September 14, 2025
Bending over backwards
While we’re no fan of Starmer, we’re certainly not calling for his assassination as someone did at Unite the Kingdom. He should almost certainly be trialled for war crimes given his government’s continued support for Israel’s continued genocide, but that should be carried out through the courts – not through the actions of some pissed up weekend warrior.
Perhaps the grimmest thing about all this is that the Starmer government bent over backwards to win over Reform voters. The result of that wasted energy? The fringes of this growing movement are calling for him to be shot.
As James Wright wrote for the Canary on 13 May:
In a speech on 12 May, Keir Starmer suggested the UK is becoming an “island of strangers” because of immigration. This is music to the ears of Nigel Farage because it concedes to the thrust of his main argument.
On one level, this stokes a racist sentiment that just because someone appears different, say through skin colour, they are less likely to be a friend at a human level. It suggests we should desire for people to have the same background, rather than celebrating cultural differences. But most of all, it obscures the fact that each person is unique beyond where they are from.
And it plays right into the hand of Nigel Farage. The Reform leader branded the immigration white paper as a “knee jerk reaction” to the party’s success at the local elections.
At this point, we’re beyond arguing that Starmer’s plan has failed. The Starmer project is done, and he needs to step down so Labour can salvage something from the wreckage.
Don’t get us wrong, we’re finished with the Labour Party, but we appreciate this Reform-lite abomination of a government will do unspeakable damage if it continues for another four years.
Featured image via Evolve Politics – X/Twitter / BBC – YouTube
