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Nov 26, 2021 20 tweets 12 min read Read on X
A minority of politically motivated campaigners are trying to cancel the Left & shut down the views of people they disagree with.

Their voice is louder because they're supported by divisive Tory MPs, press barons, & grotesquely wealthy free-market market fundamentalists. 🧐
Esther McVey & other Tory Culture War cranks have launched "Britain Uncancelled", supported by the weirdo Blue Collar Conservative & reactionary Common Sense Group who regularly attack Universities & organisations like the @nationaltrust, @BBC & @RNLI.

bylinetimes.com/2021/09/14/rea…
I hear that Britain Uncancelled *might* be run by a limited company started in March called 'Unleash Britain Ltd', run by a low profile Edward Peter Barker aka Ed Barker, who may be of 'Barker Strategy Ltd' - though none of this is mentioned on the Britain Uncancelled website. 🤔
Right-wing saxophonist Ed, who played with George Michael, served as Director of Communications for Esther McVey in her leadership campaign, before helping with the communications for the Back Boris campaign, & in 2019 stood as the Tory Party candidate in Derby...
His Brextremist old school hard-right clients speak about Ed in glowing terms, so it's a bit odd that the "Britain Uncancelled" website is reluctant to mention Ed's previous clients - a cynic might say it's trying to pass itself off as a grass roots - rather than Tory - campaign.
In October, @BylineTimes reported on how misinformation & disinformation groups are disfiguring public debate on vaccines: groups like #UsForThem received PR support from Ed Barker, who also runs PR for Conservative MP Steve Baker’s Covid Recovery Group.

bylinetimes.com/2021/10/01/ins…
In 2019, the @Conservatives were accused of dirty tricks after Dame Margaret Beckett branded the Conservatives "pathetic" after the party bought margaretbeckett.com to attack her & Jeremy Corbyn.

Conservatives in Derby South set it up & filled it with anti-Labour messages.
Their candidate - our friend Ed Barker - said they did it because Mrs Beckett did not have a website or social media presence, which "shows she takes voters for granted".

The veteran politician described it as an "unprecedented" personal attack.

bbc.co.uk/news/election-…
The group 'Blue Collar Conservatism' says Barker Strategy (Director, Ed Barker) "played a pivotal part in the Conservative Party's policy platform at the 2019 General Election. We could not have got the exposure we have had or this impact without Ed's contributions & experience.”
'Blue Collar Conservativsm' is a hard-right populist pressure group & caucus of Conservative Party MPs who identify as working class.

Founded in 2012 by Esther McVey & a former conservative parliamentary candidate, Clark Vasey, it was relaunched at the beginning of the 2019.
Similar to 'Britain Uncancelled', but more explicit, Blue Collar Conservatism claims to be "a grassroots campaign forum giving hard-working British voters a way of getting their voices heard."

Imho, this is grotesquely misleading propaganda - astroturfing at its very worst.
In 2019: it was revealed that around a third of the Blue Collar Conservatism Tory MPs who 'self-identify as working class', & who claiming to be “blue collar” workers, went to fee-paying schools, compared with just 7% of the general population.

independent.co.uk/news/uk/politi…
Ben Bradley features heavily in both the Blue Collar Conservatism & Britain Uncancelled campaigns.

Bradley has demonised academics as "cultural Marxists" (the antisemitic conspiracy theory cited by far-right terrorist Anders Breivik) & called for the sterilisation of the poor!
Another of Barker Strategy's clients was Leave Means Leave - the controversial pro-Brexit, Eurosceptic political pressure group organisation, co-chaired by Richard Tice & John Longworth. The vice-chairman was Nigel Farage, who organised the Leave Means Leave 'March to Leave'.
The 'March to Leave' culminated in a Leave Means Leave rally in London.

Speakers included a parade of 'Divisive UK Libertarian Cranks': Richard Tice; Julia Hartley-Brewer; Spiked editor Brendan O'Neill; Kate Hoey; Wetherspoons' Tim Martin; Claire Fox; Peter Bone & Mark Francois.
Steve Baker's Covid Recovery Group received £10,000 in donations from an unregistered association. Recovery Alliance is an umbrella organisation joining lockdown-sceptic MPs with UsforThem.

Reports say that both groups are being advised by Ed Barker.

opendemocracy.net/en/dark-money-…
In 2020 it was reported that after the success of the ERG in shaping Brexit policy, a string of new groups had been set up in recent months with a remit on issues from migration to criticism of “the woke agenda”, including the CRG & The Common Sense Group.
theguardian.com/politics/2020/…
In 2020, the Common Sense Group accused the @nationaltrust of being “coloured by cultural Marxist dogma” & in the grip of “elite bourgeois liberals”.

As previously mentioned, "cultural Marxism" is the antisemitic conspiracy theory cited by far-right terrorist Anders Breivik.
One MP who is a member of two of the new groups told the @guardian: “I would say we are ready for a culture war, & we are confident that our policy agenda will help win it.”

The CRG has been modelled on the ERG, & "has already engaged the services of Ed Barker".

He gets around.

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More from @docrussjackson

Aug 15
🧵

🚨 The #MAGA Blueprint.

A coordinated political project is reshaping Britain in the image of Trump’s MAGA movement.

Reform UK—fuelled by wealthy donors, ideologically aligned think tanks, and a network of right-wing media—has ambitions unlike anything in modern UK politics. Image
The goal is clear: install Farage as PM, backed by policies and rhetoric that mirror America’s populist right.

Recent events, including JD Vance’s high-profile visit, reveal a deliberate and potentially transformational transatlantic political strategy.

It's a shift that, if left unexamined, could alter the character of UK democracy for a generation.

Few people know that 80% of Reform UK's total donations (£15M of £18.7M) come from just FOUR individuals.

Aerospace magnate Richard Smith is one of their most significant donors.
Read 30 tweets
Aug 9
🧵

Politicians, right-wing news media and far-right extremists opportunistically exploit public concern over asylum seekers in hotels, inciting protests and potential violence.

How did we get here? And why the gulf between public perception and reality?

theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
Their divisive rhetoric and misinformation has resulted in a huge gap between public perception and reality.

FACTS:

In September 2023 there were 56,042 asylum seekers in around 400 hotels.

By March 2025, there were 32,345 asylum seekers in 218 hotels.

The government spent nearly a third less on hotels to house asylum seekers between April 2024 and March 2025.

The Home Office's annual accounts show £2.1bn was spent on hotel accommodation - an average of about £5.77m per day, down from £3bn or £8.3m per day, the previous year. Image
Read 15 tweets
Aug 7
🧵

GB "News", which employs 75% of Reform UK MPs, is not a news channel - it's Reform's propaganda wing, co-funded by billionaire Paul Marshall and Dubai-based investment firm Legatum, who see it as an investment opportunity to help protect their wealth and interests.

@Ofcom Image
In the UK, since 1990, 'due impartiality' and 'due accuracy' have been fundamental components of broadcasting - especially for news and current affairs - and imho are essential for a well-informed citizenry and a fair-minded functional democracy.

GB "News" appears to disagree. Image
The first broadcasting standards in the UK emerged with the BBC in 1922.

Formal standards took shape with the Royal Charter in 1927, which mandated that the BBC provide information, education, and entertainment while maintaining impartiality and serving the public interest. Image
Read 30 tweets
Jul 29
🧵

Voters need to know how right-wing populist nationalist politicians and radical/far-right nativist extremists construct their divisive discourse and rhetoric to exploit the anti-elite climate and fuel violence and division - and what to do about it.

yorkshirebylines.co.uk/politics/the-s…Image
So what can be done to counter divisive narratives and framing and to help Britain to become a more open, inclusive, fairer, less polarised and better multicultural society?

I make several suggestions in the above article, but make more below, Image
Countering the extreme right’s narrative of feeling "attacked" and needing to "defend" national identity requires a strategic, multi-faceted approach that challenges their framing while addressing underlying concerns and emotions.

Read 25 tweets
Jul 28
🧵

The shameless lie that "Britain is lawless" is categorically false, as it contradicts empirical data on crime trends, rule of law metrics, and the functioning of UK institutions. Reform UK often use fearmongering exaggeration and selective framing to create a sense of crisis. Image
Official data from the ONS and Home Office indicate that overall crime rates in England and Wales have fluctuated but do not support the notion of a "lawless" state. The ONS reported a 7% decrease in total recorded crime (excluding fraud) from 2023 to 24.

theconversation.com/most-crime-has…
Violent crime, while a concern in certain areas of the UK, has not reached levels that would justify describing Britain as "lawless."

The cowardly elites that run Reform UK would never dare to describe Trump's USA as "lawless" - despite its significantly higher homiced rate. Image
Read 19 tweets
Jul 21
🧵

#OnThisDay, 21 July, 1969, the Chicago Daily News published: The ‘love it or leave it’ nonsense, by Sydney J. Harris.

It began: One of the most ignorant and hateful statements that a person can make is “If you don’t like it here, why don’t you leave?”

I reproduce it, below. Image
Harris was born in London in 1917, moving to the US in 1922. A formidable journalist who established a distinct voice integrating incisive social commentary with wit and humour, his weekday column, ‘Strictly Personal’, was syndicated in 200 US newspapers. Image
The ‘love it or leave it’ nonsense, by Sydney J. Harris.

One of the most ignorant and hateful statements that a person can make is “If you don’t like it here, why don’t you leave?”

That attitude is the main reason America was founded, in all its hope and energy and goodness. Image
Read 16 tweets

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