A Tory minister and two fellow MPs have been accused of pushing a far-right conspiracy theory about Labour’s Keir Starmer after sharing a doctored video of him falsely claiming he obstructed the targeting of grooming gang members.
Tory Health Minister Nadine Dorries, along with Conservative MPs Lucy Allan and Maria Caufield, shared – in now-deleted tweets – the misleading 22-second clip from a Twitter account owned by an individual who allegedly had links to National Action, a banned neo-Nazi terrorist group. The account has since been deleted.
None of the UK lawmakers have offered an apology so far, but a Downing Street spokesman said the politicians have been spoken to and “reminded [of their[ responsibility to check the validity of information before they post on social media sites.”
The heavily edited video shows Starmer – in his then-role as Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in 2013, when he led the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) – falsely asserting that the new Labour leader had prevented victims from speaking out.
It sees Starmer seemingly recounting reasons why victims of grooming gangs might not be credible, talking about “the assumption that a victim of child sexual abuse will swiftly report what’s happened to them to the police” and the idea that they “will be able to give a coherent, consistent account, first time.”
However, the full clip shows Starmer insisting that there needs to be “a clear break with the past,” before detailing how he had ordered a restructuring of the CPS’ approach to grooming gang cases – admitting that victims had been failed.
Dorries retweeted the Twitter account, simply adding: “Revealing.” Allan, the MP for Telford, suggested that it showed Starmer having a “dismissive attitude” towards “child sexual exploitation victims” – a serious accusation that was later deleted.
Caulfied, who represents Lewes in southern England, retweeted the video with the message: “True face of the Labour leader #shameful.” It appears that she has since deleted her Twitter account.
This is to be the far right attack of choice, if this is to be Starmer’s equivalent of the mural and the wreath laying, he needs to act swiftly and issue proceedings against Nadine Dorries, Lucy Allen and Maria Caulfield.
Labour MP Wes Streeting roasted Dorries on Twitter, telling her: “You’ve spread fake news and indulged in a smear.” Other commenters online mocked the MPs for thinking “sharing a potentially libelous clip of him would be a good idea.” Gifs were also posted making fun of the fact the Conservative lawmakers had deleted their retweets.
Do you reckon Nadine Dorries realises that deleting stuff off Twitter doesn't magically dispel potential libel. pic.twitter.com/sjpPRCu0Co
Mistakes are easily made by ordinary members of the public on social media in terms of retweeting controversial content, but MPs have a particular responsibility to behave in a cautious manner. It would appear some politicians need reminding about the dangers of sharing potentially defamatory material online, especially when it involves such grave accusations against a high-profile politician, whose specialism is law.
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