Meet the Proud Boys – the far-right tattooed hipsters touring Australia with Tommy Robinson as they stoke outrage around the world, by Guy Birchall.

TOMMY ROBINSON’S money spinning tour of Australia will see him take the stage alongside Gavin McInnes – the founder of a group of far-right hipsters known as the Proud Boys.

The Trump-loving group has been sparking outrage in the US since its formation in 2016 mixing a passion for tattoos, Fred Perry shirts and craft beer with a furious opposition to immigration, feminism and cultural diversity. …

The group was started by right wing Canadian comic and campaigner Gavin McInnes, who was one of the founders of liberal culture bible Vice Media before embracing right wing politics and conservative social issues.

Today it was revealed than McInnes, a 48-year-old former punk rocker, will appear alongside far-right hot head Tommy Robinson on a tour of Australia next month where the pair are expected to debate media censorship, immigration and social issues. …

In order to join the group new members have go through a bizarre initiation ritual.

Firstly they have to declare: “I am a Western chauvinist who refuses to apologise for creating the modern world.”

After that they are punched repeatedly by other Proud Boys until they shout out the names of five breakfast cereals. To rise even higher in the ranks the new recruit must get a Proud Boys tattoo. …

Though they have been linked to the alt-right McInnes has strenuously denied that charge on numerous occasions. …

McInnes has downplayed the group as a “men’s club” that simply meets to drink beer “once a month” and strongly disavowed the march as well as urging members of the Proud Boys not to attend.

The group supports conservative ideals and urges its members not to masturbate or watch pornography, urging them to “get off the couch and meet real women”.