Educational career
Robinson was employed in the technology industry before training as a teacher. He taught computer science at St Mary's and St John's Church of England School in Hendon where he became head of the IT department. In 2017, Robinson was featured in a recruitment advert encouraging people to become teachers. [19] [18] [20] [17] He was a video games journalist and is also owner of the video games site God is a Geek. [21] [22]
Between 2019 and 2021, he was a school governor and trustee at the Michaela School in Wembley. [23] In 2020, he was appointed to the education sub-committee of the board of the Royal Academy of Dance; [24] Christian Concern reported on 1 October 2023 that Robinson had been "cancelled" from this role for opposing a drag queen storytelling session and had received an out-of-court settlement. [25] He also became a senior fellow responsible for education policy at the Policy Exchange, a think tank with conservative precepts, but no longer held the position by 2023. [26]
Robinson worked for talkRADIO and as a television presenter on GB News from late 2022, fronting a show called Calvin's Common Sense Crusade. [35] [36] [37] In November 2022, he "appeared on the channel to amplify the false conspiracy theory that President Zelenskyy of Ukraine was using war as a front for a private money-laundering operation involving the bankrupt FTX crypto platform." [33]
On 29 September 2023, Robinson was suspended from GB News after speaking out in favour of Dan Wootton, who had recently been suspended for misogynistic comments made on his show by Laurence Fox. [38] [39] Robinson's dismissal from GB News was announced on 4 October. [40]
Ordained ministry
Robinson undertook a two-year course of theological studies at St Stephen's House, Oxford, from 2020 to 2022, with the hope of being ordained a deacon in the Church of England. However, his application for a curacy in the Diocese of London was unsuccessful. [10] He subsequently submitted a subject access request to the church to understand the decision. This revealed email conversations between Jonathan Baker, the bishop of Fulham, and Rob Wickham, the bishop of Edmonton, raising concerns about Robinson's "libertarian anti-woke, anti-identity politics, Covid-sceptical" political views and his use of social media, particularly Twitter, to disseminate them. The Diocese of London later issued a statement highlighting the "limited number of curacies available", emphasised that vacancies were carefully "considered on a case-by-case basis" and that "in this instance, it is felt that there is no suitable" curacy available that the diocese could offer. [10] Robinson alleged that Sarah Mullally, the bishop of London, had blocked his ordination because of his political views, a claim which Mullally denied. [41] The decision to deny ordination to Robinson attracted criticism from conservative elements of the media, and within the church, notably Angela Tilby, a canon emerita of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford. [42] Robinson described it as a "very narrow-minded" decision that was a result of his "anti-woke" views and criticism of "bleeding-heart liberal vicars". [10] Robinson subsequently left the Church of England for the Free Church of England (FCE) in which he was ordained as a deacon on 25 June 2022 by bishop Paul Hunt, [43] and appointed minister-in-charge at Christ Church, Harlesden. [44] On 12 October 2023 the Evening Standard published an article stating that Robinson would soon leave the Free Church of England to seek ordination in the Nordic Catholic Church (NCC), an Old Catholic denomination of Lutheran patrimony founded in 1999. [45] [46]
Robinson was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Roald Nikolai Flemestad of the Nordic Catholic Church at St Jude's Church, Balham, and celebrated his first Mass on 4 November 2023. [47] He was therefore incardinated in the NCC and under the jurisdiction of Flemestad, who in turn operates under the authority of prime bishop Anthony Mikovsky of the Polish National Catholic Church; both groups are part of the Union of Scranton. Robinson celebrated his final Mass at Christ Church, Harlesden, on 26 May 2024. [48] [49]
Robinson left the United Kingdom and moved to the United States in September 2024, where he was formally incardinated in the Anglican Catholic Church, a continuing Anglican denomination which espouses a high church Anglo-Catholic theology. He was the priest-in-charge of St Paul's Anglican Catholic Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. [11] [50] [51]
On 25 January 2025, Robinson gave a speech at the National Pro-Life Summit in Washington, D.C. At the conclusion of his speech, he made a gesture that was described as a "pro-Nazi salute" by a statement released the same day by the Anglican Catholic Church. The church announced that Robinson's licence in his church had been revoked and was no longer a priest of the ACC. The statement released by the church said that he had previously been "warned that online trolling and other such actions" were "incompatible with a priestly vocation and was told to desist". [1] Robinson's gesture emulated that of Elon Musk earlier that month, which had resulted in controversy. Robinson has denied being a Nazi. [13] [52] On 20 February 2025, Robinson announced that his visa to reside in the United States had been revoked following his removal from the ACC's ministry. Robinson's visa was restored following an appeal. [53]
