Thread by @docrussjackson

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.

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1464178302017544196?t=9RSUFOJXspkUS3AX-nDc5w&s=19

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.