Calvin the cleric booted out of his church

More bad news for oddball cleric Calvin Robinson, one of the few people on the planet considered too extreme even for GB News – he’s now had the boot from his church.

Robinson was sacked by Gbeebies back in September 2023 after speaking out in support of his colleagues Dan Wootton and Laurence Fox, suspended for misogynistic comments. And last September he left the country entirely, announcing that “Starmer’s dark Satanic Mills are not for me” but reassuring supporters that “I will not cease from mental fight, nor shall my sword sleep in my hand”.

Alas for Robinson, he’s now had the heave-ho again, this time from the Anglican Catholic Church – an obscure body of Christians with an estimated membership of 35,000 – after giving what looked suspiciously like an Elon Musk-style Nazi salute at the end of his address at a National Pro-Life summit in Washington DC.

After telling his audience how “every country in Europe is embracing death” and “America, as far as I can see, is the only country fighting for life”, Robinson gave a raised-armed salute popular in Germany in the 1930s, to cheers from the crowd.

Father Calvin Robinson finished his remarks at the National Pro-Life Summit by throwing an Elon Musk salute, much to the delight of the crowd. pic.twitter.com/cAE9VyTsl1
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) January 29, 2025

Unfortunately, his church was not on board. “While we cannot say what was in Mr Robinson’s heart when he did this, his action appears to have been an attempt to curry favour with certain elements of the American political right by provoking its opposition,” it said in a statement.

“Mr Robinson had been warned that online trolling and other such actions (whether in service of the left or right) are incompatible with a priestly vocation and was told to desist. Clearly, he has not, and as such, his license in this Church has been revoked. He is no longer serving as a priest in the ACC.”

Robinson has not taken this well, whingeing on X how “today I received hundreds of nasty calls, texts, voicemails and emails today from very bitter, angry, vile leftists” (the Anglican Catholic Church is, it goes without saying, few people’s idea of ‘leftists’).

But at least he has his supporters. Daily Telegraph columnist Allison Pearson, with grim inevitability, posted on Elon Musk’s hellsite: “Calvin Robinson is a deeply good and holy man. He loves his job as priest at Grand Rapids, Michigan. He would NEVER give a Nazi salute. Upset to hear the Anglican Catholic Church has cancelled his licence. Pray they reconsider.”

And he has another job to fall back on. He’s still listed as “lead spokesman” on the website of Ukip, a party which unaccountably still exists and has managed to find a space on the political spectrum to the right of Genghis Khan under leader Nick Tenconi, its ninth in nine years. Don’t let that sword sleep, Calvin!