Those in the rightwing ecosystem in the UK say Yiannopoulos is now too extreme to find a prominent berth back home.<\/p>\n
The commentator started his career at the Daily Telegraph, where he wrote a controversial blog until 2011, when he started his own website, the Kernel. In 2014 he started working for the former Trump adviser Steve Bannon at Breitbart News, before moving to the US and promoting far-right causes.<\/p>\n
He left Breitbart after a controversy over a video in which he appeared to condone sexual relations<\/a> with boys as young as 13. He later said \u201csloppy editing\u201d and his \u201cBritish sarcasm, provocation and gallows humour\u201d had created the wrong impression and denied endorsing paedophilia.<\/p>\n Since he left the UK, GB News<\/a> has become the ascendant broadcast outlet of the right, but he is unlikely to find a place there. A source at the channel said: \u201cWe wouldn\u2019t touch him with a barge pole, not in a million years. GBN had a few odd people to start with and we\u2019ve got rid of them.\u201d<\/p>\n Of the provocative positions that brought him notoriety in the US, the GB News source said: \u201cHe won\u2019t make much money out of it here, he appeals entirely to an American audience. It\u2019s a bigger country and you have a bigger pool of fruit loops.\u201d<\/p>\n There is a growing subsection of rightwing provocateurs in the UK who have been deemed too controversial for the main channels but have established niche brands of their own. The journalist Dan Wootton was suspended from GB News<\/a> after a guest on his show made sexually inappropriate comments about a female journalist, and after leaving<\/a> he now has his own channel.<\/p>\n The former TalkTV host Mike Graham has also set up his own independent show. He was sacked<\/a> after the company said he had failed to cooperate with an investigation into a racist post that appeared on one of his social media accounts. Graham said the racist comment had been the result of his account being hacked.<\/p>\n It is understood that Reform UK<\/a> will not accept him into its ranks. His former colleague at Breitbart, Raheem Kassam, is close to the party\u2019s leader, Nigel Farage, and is in the UK for Reform\u2019s national conference.<\/p>\n Kassam, who is British but now lives in the US, claimed he was kept updated on the deportation of Yiannopoulos, who he accused of making \u201clurid and false accusations\u201d against him.<\/p>\n He added: \u201cI got word last month that he was about to be deported. On Thursday night, I got a call. As overly dramatic as it may seem. \u2018We got him. In Louisiana.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n The Maga influencer Laura Loomer has claimed to have reported Yiannopoulos to immigration enforcement over his expired visa.<\/p>\n Laura Loomer (front, centre) celebrates with Yiannopoulos at a congressional primary election night event in West Palm Beach, Florida, in August 2020. Photograph: Allen Eyestone\/AP<\/p>\n One political party that may accept Yiannopoulos is Restore Britain<\/a>, which is led by Rupert Lowe, a former Reform MP who had a falling-out with Farage.<\/p>\n Restore has accepted a number of characters viewed as too extreme for Reform, including the convicted criminal Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson.<\/p>\n Yiannopoulos has praised Lowe, calling him \u201cfantastic\u201d and urging those on the UK hard-right to join Restore. He said \u201cthe rising generation of young British activists\u201d all \u201csupport Restore\u201d and has taunted Reform\u2019s home affairs spokesperson, Zia Yusuf, online, telling him \u201cyou\u2019re gonna lose all your votes to Rupert\u201d. The Guardian contacted Lowe to ask whether he would accept Yiannopoulos as a party member or adviser but did not receive a response.<\/p>\n Kassam said: \u201cHe\u2019s certain to resurface in Britain shortly. Perhaps as an adviser to Rupert Lowe, or perhaps as a contestant on some third-tier reality TV show.\u201d<\/p>\n Yiannopoulos used to have more political influence; he was offered a speaking slot at the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, in 2017 after he had been supportive of Donald Trump during his run for his first presidency.<\/p>\n He was deported to the UK on Friday, according to US authorities. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said Yiannopoulos \u201clegally entered the country\u201d in May 2019 through New York City but then \u201cchose to overstay his welcome in violation of our nation\u2019s laws\u201d.<\/p>\n In 2022, Yiannopoulos worked on<\/a> Kanye West\u2019s short-lived 2024 White House campaign, and his social media account suggests he was working one of the rapper\u2019s companies.<\/p>\n![\"Headshot](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/601.jpg\")
Yiannopoulos after his arrest by federal immigration agents in New Orleans. Photograph: Department of Homeland Security\/Reuters<\/p>\n