FAR-RIGHT figure Tommy Robinson is “not a blue-collar hero,” a leading trade unionist has said.

TUC deputy general secretary Paul Nowak denounced Mr Robinson today as “a bully, a bigot and a fraud.”

The Ukip adviser, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, has numerous convictions for fraud and violence.

Mr Nowak said tackling the far-right threat was a priority in his address to the TUC’s Black Workers’ Conference.

Fascists’ groups are now emboldened by “funding from shadowy groups in the US and Russia for digital campaigning to spread racist lies.”

However, the far-right “underestimate the power of organised working people. And our absolute, unbreakable determination that they shall not pass.”

Mr Nowak cited the role of trade unionists in fighting Franco, Hitler and apartheid South Africa, concluding that: “Our historic mission is to fight racism at work and in society. And anti-fascism is part of our DNA.”

He said the TUC was “revamping our trade union education programme” to give reps more confidence in tackling racism at work.

He also praised trade unionists who are fighting “for justice for the Windrush generation.”

Their plight was not an accident but the “inevitable result of the government’s shameful ‘hostile environment’ immigration policy,” he said.

The Prime Minister was largely to blame for creating the policy when she was home secretary.

Theresa May’s tactics, including “Go Home” vans, had sent “a clear and intimidating message to every person of colour, and a clear green light to the racists and those who would seek to divide our communities.”

The conference also sent a message of support to “all those affected by the atrocity in Christchurch” and highlighted the issue of Islamophobia.

On Sunday delegates will discuss a motion on the “Portrayal of Muslim women on TV,” noting concerns about the “negative, stereotypical portrayal of Muslim characters.”