How online groups plot confrontations with MPs over COVID rules

Published

3 years ago

October 21, 2021

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Anti-vaccination and anti-lockdown protesters are organising themselves online to confront MPs in person, Sky News has found.

One online group is going after politicians because of their “evil actions” – and shares tips on how to find constituency offices and MP’s homes.

Photos and videos of members and other like-minded protesters approaching politicians or their offices are being widely shared on the messaging app Telegram. One video shows an MP revealing he was forced to call the police after his home was targeted by anti-vaxxers.

It comes as concerns around MPs’ safety have risen following the killing of Sir David Amess. The death of the MP for Southend West is being treated as terrorism related and is not thought to be linked to the anti-vax or anti-lockdown movements.

This week, Michael Gove was escorted by police officers after being surrounded by anti-vaccine protesters, while MPs have spoken out about receiving threats and harassment.

At least six groups discussing how to locate and confront MPs were found on Telegram during an investigation by the Sky News Data and Forensics team.

One such group that encourages members to speak in person with MPs and protest outside their offices and homes was set up five months ago. It has already built up around 2,350 members across the UK.

The Telegram channel’s description says the group is a “community outreach movement to make people aware of their MPs evil actions and to target their political seat under pressure or alternatively, replace.”

They say their intention is to confront MPs in a non-violent way.

They want to convince them of what they believe are the dangers of the coronavirus vaccine. They also seek to prevent any further COVID-related restrictions impacting the UK, in particular lockdowns and vaccine passports.

New users are encouraged to share where they live in the UK and who their local member of parliament is. More than 100 MPs across the country are named – including Sir David.

There are frequent requests for help finding the offices and homes of politicians appearing in the chat.

One such message reads: “How do I find out where Oliver Heald MP lives?!!!”

New users are directed to a publicly accessible business directory where they claim some MPs’ addresses can be found.

Some users who join are enthusiastic but do not know who their MP is.

One user writes: “From Wakefield! Sorry don’t know who is our MP all these idiots are the sane just tell where to go and stand at 2pm please”

One of the MPs the group managed to find and speak to is Chris Heaton-Harris, who represents Daventry.

An hour-long video of around 30 people surrounding the Conservative minister was uploaded on 2 October. The MP has one female aide with him.

The conversation with the crowd has moments where voices are raised against the MP, but is largely calm.

One moment of tension happens after Mr Heaton-Harris refuses to say he would not rule out voting for vaccine passports.

The MP then describes to the group how a person or people attempted to put a large number of stickers protesting against vaccine passports on his house. However, the protesters mistook the MP’s house for his neighbour’s.

“For the first time since I was elected in 2010, that was the first time someone has tried to physically intimidate me to do something,” he tells the group.

He adds: “It’s the first time I’ve ever had to call the police in my time as an MP.”

One member of the crowd responds: “It’s hardly murder.”

At the end of the meeting, Mr Heaton-Harris encourages the group to ask questions of him as their MP, but asks them to try to dissuade others from approaching his family home.

Other MPs confronted in person by the group include Labour’s Anneliese Dodds as she walked alone to her party’s conference. She is described in the Telegram group as “treasonous”.

Labour’s John McDonnell and Lisa Nandy are also confronted.

Despite many in the group emphasising the need to keep protests peaceful, some advocate for violence and intimidation.

One user writes: “At this point I feel like ANY kind of disruption is a good thing. We have had peaceful protests for over a year and achieved nothing! I don’t agree with out right abusing people, but the fight is coming Weber you peaceful or not n I want to do my part”.

Accusations and offensive insults are thrown at MPs, from claims of accepting bribes and corruption to calling them “traitorous”.

One user posted a link to an article about how Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab shared that he had received violent threats. The user writes: “Scare the MPs so they vote to extend special measures and vote on the security bill.”

The group discussed the death of Sir David on 15 October.

“Someone killed an MP today, probably they’re all really scared now,” one user writes.

Several conspiracies about the killing are also shared in the group.

A group member writes: “Seems a bit suspicious, now they’re talking about special protection for MPs. Quite a coincidence.”

To which another member replies: “Excalty.. that why we need to serve them all and fast.”

Partially scuppered by many MPs and their staff working from home, the group have continued to turn up at constituency offices in the hope they may run into their local representative.

In early June, the first photo showing a small group of protesters outside an MP’s office was shared in the chat. It was the office of Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer in north London.

The poster wrote: “A picture outside MP Kier Starmers office when a few of us first arrived. We got a great community reception, if we stay persistent they will all know we are there every week! Not a bad start!!”

They added: “The police were good to us too as long as we don’t storm the office, leave rubbish behind, put stickers on it and are peaceful… it’s our democratic right.”

Another user shared a selfie in front of a Scottish MP’s office in Glasgow, while others wrote messages claiming to have gone to other offices.

The most recent photo was shared on 15 October.

This picture showed two people holding up a “No to COVID passports” banner with the office for Lee Rowley, MP for North East Derbyshire, clearly visible in the background.

As well as attempting to confront MPs in person, the group also write to their MPs and create leaflets to encourage others to join them.

The group has created local groups, as well as operating alongside other Telegram channels which also encourage people to physically approach MPs.

Videos showing confrontations with MPs – including with the Leader of the House of Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg – are shared in these Telegram groups.

The person filming questions MPs about coronavirus conspiracy theories involving Bill Gates and Klaus Schwab, the executive chairman of the World Economic Forum.

Many of these videos are uploaded to a video hosting site popular with the anti-vaccine community.

Videos shared in the groups or on the video site show MPs Lee Anderson, Chris Grayling and Sir Desmond Swayne also being targeted, as well as the Prime Minister’s father Stanley Johnson. These videos appear to be filmed during the Conservative Party conference.

David Lammy and Angela Rayner are accosted over vaccines at the Labour party conference. Other similar videos feature Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty.

A number of different videos of Michael Gove being harassed in Westminster this week are also on the site.

The videos are uploaded with comments such as “Throw him to the lions! String him up!”

One comment makes a direct reference to the killing of Sir David, saying: “Whers the boogyman terrorsit now to stab up c***s like GOVE, how they have the brass face to walk the streets is beyond me.”

One short clip of Matt Hancock running in a marathon is also shared on the video site. It is uploaded with the caption: “WHERES THE GUY WITH THE GUN, ARRRRR DAM.”

The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.

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Politics

Sir Keir Starmer to launch plan for two million more NHS appointments

Published

8 hours ago

January 6, 2025

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Sir Keir Starmer to launch plan for two million more NHS appointments

Sir Keir Starmer will launch his plan to deliver millions more appointments across the NHS and to reduce waiting times to 18 weeks over the next five years.

The prime minister will lay out how greater access to community diagnostic centres (CDCs) will help deliver up to half a million more appointments, alongside 14 new surgical hubs and three expanded existing hubs.

Up to a million appointments could be freed up by giving patients the choice to forego follow-up appointments currently booked by default, the government says.

Overall, the plan will involve a drive to deliver two million extra appointments by the end of next year.

The aim of the reforms is that by the end of March 2026, an extra 450,000 patients will be treated within 18 weeks.

Figures published by NHS England last month showed an estimated 7.54 million treatments were waiting to be carried out at the end of October – the lowest figure since March 2024.

According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), the last time the NHS met the target of 92% of patients receiving treatment within 18 weeks was in 2015.

The reforms for England will also see an overhaul of the NHS app to give patients greater choice over where they choose to have their appointment and will also provide greater detail to the patient including their results and waiting times.

The first step in the digital overhaul will be completed by March 2025, when patients at over 85% of acute trusts will be able to view their appointment details via the NHS app, the government said.

They’ll also be able to contact their provider and receive updates, including how long they are likely to wait for treatment.

In the effort to free-up one million appointments, patients will be given more choice over non-essential follow up appointments, while GPs will also be given funding to receive specialist advice from doctors before they make any referrals.

Sir Keir is expected to say: “This government promised change and that is what I am fighting every day to deliver.

“NHS backlogs have ballooned in recent years, leaving millions of patients languishing on waiting lists, often in pain or fear. Lives on hold. Potential unfulfilled.

“This elective reform plan will deliver on our promise to end the backlogs. Millions more appointments. Greater choice and convenience for patients. Staff once again able to give the standard of care they desperately want to.”

The CDCs will be open 12 hours a day and seven days a week wherever possible. Patients will be able to access a broader range of appointments in locations that are more convenient for them and which may speed up the pace of treatment.

The government believes its plan will help it to deliver the equivalent to 40,000 extra appointments a week in its first year – which was one of Sir Keir’s six key pledges.

Chancellor Rachel Reeve pledged £22bn over the next two years to cut NHS waiting times in her October budget, but some in the sector fear a workforce shortage means the prime minister’s ambitions will be hard to achieve.

There have been some concerns that giving patients choice of the location of their treatment may see some hospitals in greater demand than others – but Health Secretary Wes Streeting said this was a “matter of principle”.

“When I was diagnosed with kidney cancer, I was inundated with colleagues in parliament who were asking who my surgeon was, whether I was going to the best place for treatment, whether I was exercising my right to choose in the NHS,” he said.

“Now, it turned out I had one of the best kidney cancer surgeons in the country assigned to me by the NHS, so I was lucky.

“But frankly, someone like my mum as a cleaner should have as much choice and power in the NHS as her son, the health secretary.”

NHS chief executive Amanda Pritchard said the government’s plan was an “ambitious blueprint”.

“The radical reforms in this plan will not only allow us to deliver millions more tests, appointments and operations, but do things differently too – boosting convenience and putting more power in the hands of patients, especially through the NHS app.”

Politics

As he falls out with Farage, how should politicians handle Elon Musk?

Published

13 hours ago

January 5, 2025

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As he falls out with Farage, how should politicians handle Elon Musk?

For British politicians, the question of the moment is how do you handle Elon Musk?

The billionaire owner of X and Tesla, soon to take up a role as efficiency tsar in the Trump administration, has been throwing grenades almost every hour about British politics on his social media platform and dominating the headlines.

Much of it is inflammatory claims about Keir Starmer and his government – despite their efforts to build good relations with Donald Trump.

And until today, enthusiastic backing for Nigel Farage, who only in mid-December met Musk in the glitzy surroundings of Mar-a-Lago to talk money, amid reports he was considering a $100m donation to Reform.

Then bam! – after Farage repeatedly hailed Musk as a “hero” who made Reform “look cool” and was looking forward to a chat at Trump’s inauguration – the tables have turned rather dramatically.

Musk tweeted that Farage “doesn’t have what it takes” to lead the party and that Reform needs a new leader.

His change of heart comes after Musk has spent days intensively tweeting about grooming gangs in the UK, and his support for jailed far right activist Tommy Robinson, who has seized on this issue.

Farage, who has tried to distance himself from Robinson for most of his career, thinks this is the reason for the fall out, responding that he was surprised but added: “My view remains that Tommy Robinson is not right for Reform and I never sell out my principles.”

Last week, Musk posted a series of tweets calling for Robinson – real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – to be released from prison, where he is serving an 18-month sentence for contempt of court for repeating false allegations against a Syrian refugee.

What does this spat mean for Reform?

In the short-term, Reform would hardly have wanted an unexpected falling out just as they are trumpeting rising membership figures and Farage is poised to meet him in Washington.

But Farage sees Robinson as toxic for his brand, and a distraction from his mission of building a campaign machine to fight the next UK general election – even if he loses powerful friends.

The prospect of a donation from Musk – who has donated huge sums to Donald Trump’s campaign, would have been an enticing one, but there were already significant legal questions around it, under UK election rules.

Farage’s friendship with Trump, going back to his first term as president, also does not seem to have been affected, so a hotline to the White House is still possible.

What does it mean for Starmer and Labour?

It’s unclear what Trump thinks about Musk’s recent obsession with British politics altogether – as he rails against Keir Starmer and other US allies hour by hour, and whether this online trolling will be tolerated after he takes up his job in the White House.

This is a question that Labour officials are eagerly awaiting the answer to, although there may be some relief that the criticism is now being turned on Farage.

Musk has – in the last day or two alone – made a series of incendiary and unfounded accusations against Starmer, claiming he was “complicit in the rape of Britain”, that he is “guilty of terrible crimes” and questioning whether he, as director of public prosecutions, “allowed rape gangs to exploit young girls without facing justice?”

Wes Streeting, the health secretary, doing interviews today, said Musk’s criticism was “completely ill-judged and ill-founded” and that Starmer had done a huge amount to support victims and achieve prosecutions in grooming cases. But largely, the government are trying to ignore the noise.

Kemi Badenoch was accused of dancing to Musk’s tune by calling for a national inquiry into grooming gangs – the Conservatives having rejected one when in government just two years ago.

An unelected US-based billionaire is now setting a cat among the pigeons for all parties in Britain – and throwing issues into the limelight which none will find easy to ignore.