Katie Hopkins looked at me during a Weekend Truth Festival and said: ‘I smell a virgin’
“I smell a virgin…” Katie Hopkins said, looking straight at me. “I smell lefty, pressy scum!”
The far-right commentator was addressing an audience of 500 people in a soggy tent in a rural corner of northwest England.
I was standing at the back but that didn’t stop her singling me out. The crowd theatrically booed me, as if I was a pantomime villain. I blushed.
This was one of many strange moments I witnessed at the three-day event, officially called the Weekend Truth Festival (WTF), that some may call a conspiracy theory gathering.
As well as being called out by Hopkins, I saw children chanting anti-vax slogans and had a magnet applied to my arm to prove my COVID vaccinations are the antenna of a bioweapon.
This was the first WTF and its organisers hailed it as a success.
Its programme featured talks from speakers, including celebrities of the movement like Hopkins and former Southampton footballer Matt Le Tissier, as well as workshops and other activities with dozens of RVs and tents arranged around a giant marquee.
The first Weekend Truth Festival took place in a rural corner of north west England
The festival attendees, who describe themselves as part of the “freedom movement”, paid a £100 donation to see their “truth heroes”.
There are many political and ideological dividing lines in British life, but perhaps the deepest, and most damaging, is that which was on show here – when one part of the population rejects the others’ view of reality.
Attendees paid a £100 donation to see their ‘truth heroes’
This summer a number of similar truther gatherings are being held across the country from Glasgow to Dorset, with the biggest having a capacity of several hundred.
That’s why I found myself in a muddy field on the first May bank holiday: to understand why a movement born in lockdown appears to be evolving out of the dark corners of the internet into real-life meet-ups like this.
My presence there was the result of careful negotiation with the organisers, who agreed to let me come and report. They wanted the world to see what it was really like.
“It’s a gathering of like-minded people who basically think alternatively to the mainstream,” said organiser Kevin Dowling, a man in his fifties with a dry sense of humour.
He and Nicola Mayoh organise regular meet-ups in Buxton, near Manchester, in the top room of a pub.
Nicola and Kevin hailed the event a success
But this was much bigger, and they’d spent a long time preparing.
I asked whether this movement had longevity beyond the headline-grabbing pandemic protests.
“I think COVID woke people up to other things that go on,” Nicola said. “We’ve gravitated towards each other because we’re all very similar.”
I got lucky with where I pitched my tent – next to Theresa Clark and Andy Ryan, friends from Stockport, who met through the movement. They make unlikely conspiracists and their journey from COVID scepticism to WTF attendees was revealing.
Friends Theresa and Andy met during lockdown
Both were in their sixties. Theresa, a former civil servant, was wrapped up in a parka coat with a woolly hat covering her hair, while Andy was similarly attired in a padded black jacket.
They were warm and friendly, and offered me endless cups of tea from Andy’s stove.
On the first night, I found myself sitting around a blazing fire, sharing a glass of wine with them.
Theresa explained she wasn’t originally an anti-vaxxer; she made sure all her children and grandchildren had their recommended vaccinations. But then came COVID.
Living alone during lockdown, Theresa connected with online groups that led her here. “It’s been a great journey for me because I’ve met such wonderful people,” she told me.
Her path first crossed with Andy, and many of the other people who have come to Cumbria, through an activist group called Rebels on Roundabouts.
At the height of lockdown, they gathered on roundabouts and held yellow signs up to passing motorists with slogans such as “Please don’t jab kids” and “Media masking truth”.
This summer will see a number of similar truther gatherings held across the country
Since the pandemic, they’ve expanded. Their Telegram group now has more than 3,000 members.
Their website currently lists events from Newcastle to Tunbridge Wells, and explains their belief that COVID was “ruthlessly exploited by a global elite through their puppet politicians and the mainstream media” and is part of a “sinister CONTROL and DEPOPULATION agenda”.
What does that all mean?
Let’s take Theresa as an example. She went from lockdown and vaccine scepticism to thinking there was a bigger conspiracy at play.
Central to that view is a concept called the Great Reset, originally a short book from the World Economic Forum (WEF) outlining the post-COVID recovery.
But many of those in the movement see it as a blueprint for a totalitarian world government headed by the WEF.
“That scared me,” Theresa said. “Is that the world that we’re aiming for?”
The Great Reset is arguably not the smartest name – it does have an air of the conspiratorial. And those at the festival were willing to connect all sorts of unconnected things – net zero, Ultra Low Emissions Zones (ULEZ) or Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) – as proof that the WEF was trying to take away our freedoms.
I pushed back on the idea that the WEF is able to control the world to that extent, suggesting it was an influential lobby group but not a shadow government.
“It’s not a fiction book, is it,” Theresa pointed out, in reference to the Great Reset.
Her views, like many others who gathered round the campfire, were deeply held.
They relished the chance to set me – the embodiment of the loathed mainstream media – straight. Behind much of their thinking, it seemed, was strong emotion.
Not least for Theresa.
Her father moved into a care home just weeks before lockdown, something she only mentioned after we had been talking for more than an hour.
“It wasn’t nice to go and visit your father and see him through the glass,” she said, tearfully.
“Those last few months, to not be able to give him the love that he deserved… You just don’t get over that.
“These are the harms the COVID lockdown did.”
Crowds gather for an event at WTF, which took place over the bank holiday
That said, there were some limits to her beliefs. For instance, she was sceptical about reptilians, the idea pushed by conspiracy theorist David Icke that suggested shape-shifting lizard people control the world.
Many consider the theory antisemitic, although Icke has always strongly denied this.
Theresa admitted that it was a “bit far-fetched” for her. “But then who am I to say to somebody what you’re saying is utter rubbish. That’s their belief,” she added.
The next day, the sun was shining as Gillian England showed me the ley lines in the field behind the festival site and explained that the weather had improved because she “thanked the elementals”.
“I’m a being from a realm beyond planet Earth,” she said, as we walked through the field.
“My job is to assist the developing consciousness of humanity… I believe in the higher Galactics. I’ve got my star family that I connect to, but this is the fifth dimension and beyond.”
“And where is that?” I asked.
“Well, it’s beyond this reality.”
The Freedom Movement is a broad church that includes people like Gillian, a former NHS psychotherapist turned mystic healer. As we approached a stone circle, the divining rods in her hands started to twitch, then crossed. We had found our ley line.
The divining rods in Gillian England’s hands as we reached a stone circle
You might wonder what Gilian’s new age vibe had in common with anti-lockdown protests on a roundabout, or the Great Reset, or what ley lines had to do with ULEZ.
But when COVID prompted people to do their own research, they found a world of conspiracies ready and waiting to draw them further in. People like Gillian who already had their own alternative understanding of reality and were willing to help those along the same journey.
It doesn’t mean signing up to all the exact same beliefs. Another attendee told me: “I hate that woo woo stuff. There’s loads of that here.” But they were all on the same side, against the mainstream.
“COVID woke people up,” Gillian said. “They were stuck at home, got off the rat race for a little while and started questioning.”
Down at the festival site a little later, Gillian and other adults gathered the children – mostly primary school aged – in a tent near the food stalls. They had dragon puppets, glitter and music and were teaching them to chant the freedom movement slogan: “I do not consent”.
This was the most troubling part of the festival, where legitimate free speech perhaps crossed into something darker.
Among the more troubling claims made by speakers were that COVID was an attempted genocide and a Satanist cult was planning to murder everyone. But just as quickly, a party mood returned.
Matt Le Tissier gave an entertaining talk with occasional anti-vax comments. Then it was time for drinks and dancing.
The DJ played fairly hardcore techno. The crowd ranged from young adults to pensioners and the fashion was hemp hippies meets cyber ravers. Theresa waved as she boogied away.
My tent at the three-day gathering, WTF
This is perhaps the true counterculture of the UK now. It may not have its own music or fashion, but it does have its own Podcasters, Twitter users and YouTubers who reach hundreds of thousands.
On the final day, I wandered down to the main tent. A man had put up a large placard advertising the formation of a “people’s party”. Many people here insist they are neither on the left nor right, but many of the talking points echo the far-right.
Mark Steele, a self-styled “weapons expert”, was one of the speakers. He served time in prison back in the 1990s for shooting a teenage girl in the head.
He believes that ULEZ cameras can be used in conjunction with vaccinations to turn people into literal zombies and cast doubt on Rishi Sunak’s Britishness.
As we spoke, he held a magnet to my arm to prove my COVID vaccination was the antenna of a bioweapon. If a ULEZ camera activated a beam at the right pulse it would be “carnage”, he warned.
The magnet supposed to prove my COVID jab is the antenna of a bioweapon
After packing up my tent, I caught up with Nicola and Kevin who were delighted with how it had gone.
When I said I found some elements surprisingly aggressive, Kevin’s response was that there “has to be a bit of edginess” because as a society we are facing “difficult conversations and difficult times”.
He also reminded me that I wanted to use my visit to test the “political climate and how people are feeling about things”.
That’s true. And what I found was a wider sense of alienation from the main parties, with several attendees talking of finding candidates to stand as independents in the general election.
Hopkins was the final speaker and I followed the rapturous crowd into the main tent to watch her.
Theresa and Andy were there, enjoying the show, although Theresa said she felt sorry for me when Hopkins called me a virgin.
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After saying my goodbyes, I watched them walk up the hill in the twilight, hoods up, carrying their camp chairs, readying themselves for another evening by the fire.
While they had lives and families outside, in that moment this was their people, and this was their place.
UK
MPs to debate emergency law to keep British Steel open as prime minister warns national security ‘on the line’
MPs will today debate emergency laws to save British Steel after the prime minister warned the country’s “economic and national security is on the line”.
Sir Keir Starmer said the future of the company’s Scunthorpe plant – which employs about 3,500 people – “hangs in the balance” after its owner said the cost of running it was unsustainable.
The prime minister said legislation would be passed in one day to allow the government to “take control of the plant and preserve all viable options”.
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MPs and Lords are being summoned from their Easter recess to debate the move and will sit from 11am.
The last time parliament was recalled was on 18 August 2021 to debate the situation in Afghanistan.
The government has been considering nationalising British Steel after Jingye, the Chinese owner, cancelled future orders for iron ore, coal and other raw materials needed to keep the blast furnaces running.
The furnaces are the last in the UK capable of making virgin steel.
Jingye last month rejected a £500m state rescue package – raising fresh doubts about the Lincolnshire plant and fears it could close in the coming days.
The steel from the plant is used in the rail network and the construction and automotive industries. Without it, Britain would be reliant on imports at a time of trade wars and geopolitical instability.
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Inside the UK’s last blast furnaces
In a statement on Friday, Sir Keir said: “I will always act in the national interest to protect British jobs and British workers.
“This afternoon, the future of British Steel hangs in the balance. Jobs, investment, growth, our economic and national security are all on the line.”
The prime minister said steel was “part of our national story, part of the pride and heritage of this nation” and “essential for our future”.
He said the emergency law would give the business secretary powers to do “everything possible to stop the closure of these blast furnaces”.
This includes the power to direct the company’s board and workforce. It will also ensure it can order the raw materials to keep the furnaces running and ensure staff are paid.
The Scunthorpe plant is the last in the UK that can make virgin steel. Pic: Reuters
One of the two blast furnaces at Scunthorpe
Chancellor Rachel Reeves said the government was “taking action to save British steel production and protect British jobs”, while Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said the owner had left the government with “no choice”.
Mr Reynolds said Jingye had confirmed plans to close the Scunthorpe furnaces immediately despite months of talks and the offer of £500m of co-investment.
The company said it had invested £1.2bn since taking over in 2020, but that the plant is losing £700,000 a day.
Read more:
Govt intervention in British Steel ‘a remarkable step’ – analysis
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What will happen with British Steel?
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said the government had landed itself in a “steel crisis entirely of their own making”.
She said when she was business secretary, she had negotiated a plan with British Steel “to limit job losses and keep the plant running”.
Ms Badenoch said the government had “bungled the negotiations, insisting on a Scunthorpe-only deal that the company has deemed unviable”.
She added: “Keir Starmer should have seen this coming. But instead of addressing it earlier in the week when parliament was sitting, their incompetence has led to a last-minute recall of parliament.”
The Unite union said the prime minister’s recalling of parliament was “absolutely the right thing to do to begin the process of nationalisation”.
While the government hasn’t confirmed those plans, the chancellor also said earlier this week that “all options” are on the table.
Sky News understands accountancy firm EY is being lined up to play a role in a nationalisation process.
The government’s intervention over British Steel comes six months after the last blast furnace was closed at Port Talbot in Wales.
Plaid Cymru has questioned why the government didn’t take similar action there.
The party’s Westminster leader, Liz Saville Roberts, said: “Parliament is being recalled to debate the nationalisation of Scunthorpe steelworks.
“But when global market forces devastated Welsh livelihoods in Port Talbot, Labour dismissed Plaid Cymru’s calls for nationalisation as ‘pipe dreams’.”
Veteran cabinet minister Michael Gove has been awarded a peerage in Rishi Sunak’s resignation honours list.
Mr Gove – now editor of The Spectator magazine – was first elected to parliament in 2005 and immediately joined then-Conservative leader David Cameron’s shadow cabinet.
He was appointed education secretary when the party entered government in 2010 and held multiple cabinet posts until the 2024 general election, when he stood down from parliament.
Mr Sunak elevated seven allies to the House of Lords, including former cabinet ministers Mark Harper, Victoria Prentis, Alister Jack, and Simon Hart. Former chief executive of the Conservative Party, Stephen Massey, also becomes a peer, as well as Eleanor Shawcross, former head of the No10 policy unit. He also awarded a number of honours.
It is traditional for prime ministers to award peerages and other gongs upon their resignation from office – with key political allies, donors and staff often rewarded.
An outgoing prime minister can request that the reigning monarch grants peerages, knighthoods, damehoods or other awards in the British honours system to any number of people.
In the case of peerages, the House of Lords Appointments Commission vets the list, and for other honours, the Cabinet Office conducts checks.
Resignation honours are separate from dissolution honours, which are awarded by the incumbent prime minister and opposition leaders after the dissolution of parliament preceding a general election.
Here are the biggest names given honours by Mr Sunak:
Michael Gove – peerage
Former cabinet minister Michael Gove. Pic: PA
From when the Conservatives returned to government in 2010, Michael Gove spent almost the whole time in a ministerial role.
After reforming the education system, he went on to hold roles like chief whip, environment secretary, justice secretary and housing secretary.
He led the pro-Brexit side of the 2016 referendum alongside Boris Johnson, and famously sunk the latter’s leadership bid with his own.
However, both failed at that juncture, and Mr Gove’s reputation never recovered to allow him another go at the top job.
The debt was repaid when Mr Johnson fired Mr Gove as his administration collapsed in 2022.
Mr Gove returned to government under Rishi Sunak, and ultimately retired from the Commons at the 2024 election.
James Anderson – knighthood
Lancashire bowler James Anderson. Pic: PA
One of England’s most successful cricketers, Jimmy Anderson, has been awarded a knighthood in avid cricket fan Rishi Sunak’s resignation honours list.
He is regarded as one of the greatest bowlers in the history of the sport, and holds the record for the most wickets taken by a fast bowler in Test cricket.
Jeremy Hunt – knighthood
Jeremy Hunt.
Pic: Reuters
A former chancellor and serial runner-up in Tory leadership competitions, Jeremy Hunt was ever present in Conservative cabinets while the party was in government.
He was both foreign secretary and defence secretary before failing to take over the party after Theresa May stood aside.
Following a stint on the backbenches, Mr Hunt returned as chancellor under Liz Truss in a bid to stabilise markets – retaining this position under Rishi Sunak.
Despite persistent speculation he was set to be ditched in favour of Claire Coutinho, Mr Hunt kept his job until the 2024 general election – where he won his seat and now sits as a backbencher.
James Cleverly – knighthood
James Cleverly.
Pic: PA
A former leader of the Conservatives in the London Assembly, James Cleverly entered parliament at the 2015 general election as the MP for Braintree.
In 2018, he was appointed deputy chairman of the party, and in April 2019, was appointed a minister in the Brexit department.
Boris Johnson appointed him as party chairman after taking over the top job, and he took on a succession of junior ministerial posts before becoming education secretary following Mr Johnson’s resignation as prime minister.
Liz Truss appointed him as foreign secretary – a post he held until November 2023 when Rishi Sunak brought back David Cameron for the role, and he took over as home secretary – a post he held until the general election.
Mr Cleverly was one of the lucky cabinet ministers to survive the Labour landslide and retained his seat. But he was less successful in the Conservative Party leadership contest, losing out in the final round of MP voting.
Andrew Mitchell – knighthood
Andrew Mitchell.
Pic: PA
The former deputy foreign secretary has been a fixture in Westminster since 1987, when he was first elected as the MP for Gedling. He was appointed to the government in 1994, but lost his seat in the 1997 Tony Blair landslide.
He returned to parliament in 2001 as the MP for Sutton Coldfield, and took on a number of shadow cabinet and then cabinet roles, culminating in his appointment to the Foreign Office in 2022, before becoming deputy foreign secretary to David Cameron in 2024.
He rose to public prominence in September 2012 when he allegedly swore when a police officer told him to dismount his bicycle and leave Downing Street through the pedestrian gate rather than the main gate. The incident became known as “Plebgate”.
Mel Stride – knighthood
Shadow chancellor Mel Stride.
Pic: PA
One of Rishi Sunak’s closest aides, he chaired his campaign to be Tory leader against Liz Truss and was rewarded with the Work and Pensions brief when his man finally entered Number 10.
He was also a prominent figure in the downfall of Ms Truss as chair of the Treasury select committee – regularly requesting information from the Treasury and Bank of England that highlighted damaging information.
A capable media performer, he was ever present during the general election as he tried unsuccessfully to get Mr Sunak back into office.
Mr Stride kept his seat after the vote, and was rewarded by Kemi Badenoch with a role as shadow chancellor of the exchequer.
Stephen Massey – peerage
Stephen Massey
Described as a “sensible man” by former chancellor George Osborne, Stephen Massey was appointed chief executive of the Conservative Party in November 2022 after Rishi Sunak took over as leader in the coronation leadership contest following the collapse of the Truss government.
Having spent his career as a financial adviser, Mr Sunak probably thought he was a safe pair of hands in which to entrust the leadership of the party machinery as they built their war chest ahead of the general election to come.
The personal donations of £343,000 to the party and £25,000 to Mr Sunak’s leadership campaign also likely made him an attractive candidate for the job.
Has Rishi Sunak previously awarded honours?
Mr Sunak previously granted peerages to former prime minister Theresa May, Sir Graham Brady, the former chairman of the influential Conservative backbench 1922 committee, as well as his right-hand man Liam Booth-Smith on 4 July 2024 – the day of the general election.
He lost the election by a landslide to Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party, and resigned as prime minister that day. He remains in parliament as the MP for Richmond and Northallerton.
UK
This is a remarkable step by the government – and Donald Trump, China and Reform UK have all played their part
When the sun sets on Scunthorpe this Saturday, the town’s steelworks will likely have a new boss – Jonathan Reynolds.
The law that parliament will almost certainly approve this weekend hands the business secretary the powers to direct staff at British Steel, order raw materials and, crucially, keep the blast furnaces at the plant open.
This is not full nationalisation.
But it is an extraordinary step.
The Chinese firm Jingye will – on paper – remain the owner of British Steel.
But the UK state will insert itself into the corporate set-up to legally override the wishes of the multinational company.
A form of martial law invoked and applied to private enterprise.
That will come at a cost to the taxpayer.
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No number has been specified, but there are wages to pay and orders to make at a site estimated to already be losing £700,000 a day.
There is also clear frustration in government at how the Chinese owners have engaged in negotiations around modernising the Scunthorpe site.
“Jingye have not been forthright throughout this process”, said the business secretary in his department’s official announcement about the new laws.
Time is so tight because of the nature of the steel-making process.
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Inside the UK’s last blast furnaces
Once switched off, blast furnaces are very hard to turn back on.
If this had happened in Scunthorpe – as seemed likely in a matter of days – then it would have been game over.
This move keeps the show on the road and opens up more time for talks over the long-term future of the plant.
While the official line in Whitehall is that “all options are on the table”, nationalisation seems increasingly likely.
That would need more legislation, if it was done – as seems likely – without the approval of the current owner.
Finding an alternative commercial partner has not been ruled out, but one is not waiting in the wings either.
As for what that long-term future looks like, with just five years of life left in the Scunthorpe blast furnaces, modernisation is inevitable.
Port Talbot’s plant saw its blast furnaces closed last year amid a switch to the more environmentally friendly electric arc furnaces and a loss of thousands of jobs.
A general view shows British Steel’s Scunthorpe plant.
Pic Reuters
Political figures in Wales are now questioning why nationalisation wasn’t on the table for this site.
The response from government is that the deal was done by the previous Tory administration and the owners of the South Wales site agreed to the terms.
But there is also a sense that this decision over British Steel is being shaped by the domestic and international political context.
Labour came to power promising to revitalise left-behind communities and inject a sense of pride back into places still reeling from the loss of traditional industry.
With that in mind, it would be politically intolerable to see the UK’s last two blast furnaces closed and thousands of jobs lost in a relatively deprived part of the country.
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One of the two blast furnaces at British Steel’s Scunthorpe operation
Reform UK’s position of pushing for full and immediate nationalisation is also relevant, given the party is in electoral pursuit of Labour in many parts of the country where decline in manufacturing has been felt most acutely.
The geo-political situation is perhaps more pressing though.
Just look at the strength of the prime minister’s language in his Downing Street address – “our economic and national security are all on the line”.
The government’s reaction to the turmoil caused by President Donald Trump’s pronouncements on tariffs and security has been to emphasise the need to increase domestic resilience in both business and defence.
Becoming the only G7 nation unable to produce virgin steel at a time when globalisation appears to be in retreat hardly fits with that narrative.
It would also present serious practical questions about the ability of the UK to produce steel for defence and the broader switch to green energy production.
Then there is the intriguing subplot around US-China trade.
While this decision is separate from discussions with the White House on tariffs, one can imagine how a UK move to wrestle control of a site of national importance from its Chinese owner might go down with a US president currently engaged in a fierce trade war with Beijing.
This is a remarkable step from the government, but it is more a punctuation mark than a full answer.
The tension between manufacturing and decarbonisation remains, as do the challenges presented by a global economy appearing to fragment significantly.
But one thing is for sure.
As a political parable about changes to traditional industry and the challenges of globalisation, the saga of British Steel is hard to beat.
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