Thread by @Rachael_Swindon

We now live in deeply troubled times.

Multiple *fake* Facebook accounts have been set up, pretending to be nurses working at Leeds General Infirmary, or pretending to be friends of the family of the poor little lad left on a hospital floor. 1/14

These accounts were using identical scripts, in many cases, word-for-word. Their goal was to convince people the whole story was invented, and it was given credence by a Telegraph reporter. Many of these accounts have already disappeared. 2/14

The hospital have confirmed the story to be true. That’s good enough for me and anyone else with half a brain. I didn’t doubt it anyway because I’ve seen the state our NHS is in and I look at the data regularly. The NHS is in permanent crisis. 3/14

Then we move on to the apparent assault of an aide to Matt Hancock. A senior Tory source has told the 2 biggest political editors in Britain that a Labour activist assaulted someone. Another complete lie planted to cause a diversion. 4/14

The political editors failed to check for footage & gave the ‘assault’ story credibility. This put the lie in to the mainstream. Many non-politicos saw the lie and believed it. Within minutes the ‘assault’ went viral. Many other blue tick reporters spread the lie at speed. 5/14

Now all of this has been thrown together because the Prime Minister had a car crash interview with @joepike - his failure to show empathy for a poorly little boy sent shock waves through CCHQ. This wasn’t the plan 3 days before a General Election. 6/14

You got to see what happens when Johnson goes off script, and it’s not a pretty sight. You can’t keep going on about getting Brexit done when you’re being asked to look at a picture of a little boy suffering because of a lack of hospital beds. 7/14

You can’t put the journalists phone in your pocket because you don’t like what’s being said. The Prime Minister must be held accountable. This isn’t Eton, Mr Johnson, this is our country, and our NHS you’re fucking with. 8/14

And then today you wake up to the BBC dead cat story on the front of the Mail and Express. Yet another ghastly attempt at a diversion from the facts you can see with your own eyes. The British media, with a few exceptions, is in a very dark place right now. 9/14

If Kuenssberg and Peston want to put this right then they should start calling out the lies, rather than being part of them.

But they won’t. I don’t know why, only they do. Perhaps they’re entirely OK with being part of the Tory propaganda machine? 10/14

Despite their best efforts to create multiple distractions by smearing the family of that poor little boy and the overstretched and underfunded hospital, fabricating an assault and tipping off Britain’s 2 leading political journalists with fake news, the Tories failed. 11/14

Social media may be flooded with fake Tory news, but it’s also full of people ready to rebut the lies as quick as Team Johnson can churn them out. They forget, we’ve been doing this for years now. The lies were smashed within minutes. 12/14

The sick child hasn’t been forgotten about. That was the point of Team Johnson’s fake news blitz, but it has exploded in their faces.
I repeat, if these well paid hacks want to start repairing their reputations, they need to call out lies for what they are. Name the liars. 13/14

I hope Britain can see the blindingly obvious before it’s too late. These dark arts do not belong in our democracy.

Think how you vote on Thursday. Think about the kind of society you want your children to grow up in.

#VoteNotTory at #GE2019 14/14