A smear campaign forced him to assault "an off-duty police officer in a drunken argument," "illegally [enter] the United States using a friend's passport," repeatedly violate simple court orders, repeatedly libel people including children and stalk journalists [1]?

> it's pretty hard to refute what he says

I literally asked for reputable corroboration of his accounts.

> the new UK where free speech is nonexistent and people are imprisoned for opposing 'the party'

I'll file this under the category of people whose speech we are discussing because it's available, been amplified and is being reported on yelling into a microphone and/or on TV that they're being silenced. (Reminds me of South Park's "The Worldwide Privacy Tour" [2].)

Looking deeper, the guy is an entertainer. He says provactive stuff--some of it racist, some of it stupid, a little of it true (though never novel)--to an audience that wants to believe it's edgy and oppressed by supporting someone cosplaying a martyr. The role isn't unique to the right or left, but it is the domain of extremists.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Robinson#Early_and_per...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Worldwide_Privacy_Tour

What a shock.