This week Reform UK Limited MP Lee Anderson posted on Facebook that a local Sutton Travelodge was housing illegal immigrants. In fact, it was housing NHS nurses on holiday with their families.
Anderson’s Facebook post from 31 July was headed “Illegal migrants in Ashfield”, with Anderson commenting: “I do not want groups of young men who have entered our country illegally roaming our streets. It is not racist or bigoted to say this. I love my constituency and will do whatever it takes to protect it.”
Anderson has subsequently corrected his post, acknowledging that Travelodge was hosting NHS workers. But it’s easy to sympathise with Mark Papp’s reaction to the manner in which this retraction was done – it sticks in the craw:
Inflammatory dog-whistling
What was the motive behind Anderson’s original post? Was he, as many have suggested, trying to galvanise a mob to head down to this Travelodge?
Anderson certainly has background in terms of stirring up tensions. In an article for Bylines Times back in February 2024, Arran Rangi, a constituent of the then Tory MP, explored the effect Anderson was having on Ashfield, in terms of rekindling the racism he had thought was in the past. Rangi is in no doubt now that Anderson is “actively trying to incite hatred and violence towards people like me in the town I grew up in”.
But Anderson was not alone in engaging in disgraceful inflammatory dog-whistling in the aftermath of the tragic events in Southport. David Atherton, with sympathies traced by Sangita Myska to Tommy Robinson, wrongly identified the individual arrested for the stabbings as a Middle Eastern Channel migrant. He was then obliged to apologise, but not before such posts had done their work of bringing violence onto the streets.
Ex-GB News presenter Laurence Fox, and former kickboxer Andrew Tate (currently awaiting trial for human trafficking and rape) were also called out for spreading false information about an incorrectly named person being the perpetrator, again for no other reason than to dog whistle to those who follow their divisive accounts and to stir up an angry mob.
Nigel Farage joins in
Farage, who was recently elected as MP for Clacton, was not far behind. On Thursday he released a video stating, “What you’ve seen on the streets of Hartlepool, of London, of Southport is nothing to what could happen over the course of the next few weeks”.
The comment was condemned by the metro mayor of Liverpool Steve Rotheram, as reported in The Guardian, saying on ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “Whilst senior politicians like Farage should be condemning these people – he’s not, he’s excusing them. He’s giving them some legitimacy to go out and perpetrate some of these acts.”
In an interview for Politics Joe, Jess Phillips MP described Farage’s stoking of conspiracy theories as deliberate: “The man isn’t stupid, he knew what he was doing”, she said. Another critic, Brendan Cox, was in agreement: “This is clearly not a case of accidental mischaracterisation. This is Reform and Farage in particular actively spreading disinformation and actively using insinuation to incite anxiety, concern and inflame emotions.”
Cox, whose wife Jo Cox, Labour MP, was tragically killed in 2009 by far-right terrorist Thomas Mair, described Farage as “nothing better than a Tommy Robinson in a suit”.
Phillips pointed out on X that Farage could have used his voice in parliament to raise questions: “Nigel Farage could yesterday have had the questions, he claims are unanswered, answered if he had bothered to turn up to parliament and ask them during the statement on the incidents in Southport. He didn’t turn up, he grifted instead.”
Fake news channels
It hasn’t just been individuals spreading fake news. As described on X by Sunder Katwala, director of British Future, we have seen fake news channels popping up and spreading the same misinformation:
Indeed, Jack Peak at the The London Economic has linked this account posing as an American News site to Russia. Strange how all these ‘patriots’ seem to always come back to Russia. (I personally can’t think of a single person who has gained more from Brexit other than Putin, can you?)
Holding those responsible accountable
Riots require policing. People are injured and property is damaged. Who pays the bills? Should it come from the public purse and taxpayers, or should those who helped to incite the violence be held accountable? Perhaps those like Anderson should pay directly, from their salaries.
The other issue in terms of accountability is the role of social media in the spread of misinformation. Since Elon Musk’s X platform seems unwilling to police its own, perhaps our government should consider taking matters into its own hands. Why, after all, are we paying the likes of Anderson £91,346 a year to spread false information on social media? What we need, although it would obviously be difficult to police, is some kind of monitoring system of posts by public figures like MPs, whereby after three social media ‘strikes’ they would receive a hefty fine and a significant time ban from posting. If MPs faced temporary bans from social media this would surely make them think twice about what they post. We could reform Reform UK Ltd, if you like.
And whilst we are at it, let’s ban lying in politics and follow the lead of the Welsh Senedd’s proposed legislation to ban candidates and members of the Welsh Parliament from deliberately lying to the public.
A summer of riots?
I won’t quote names since it’s taken from a private WhatsApp chat, but I think my two friends here have captured this summer perfectly (and they appear to have been correct, as sadly hundreds have now been arrested since they made these comments on 1 August):
“… a summer of riots [we’ve gone out of our way to start]?”
“Whip up hate about women and immigrants – have some violence against women and racist riots to write about, intrusive stories into the accused’s and victim’s families to follow, with some more of the original hate for the perpetually outraged. A self-sustaining business model, really.”
