Strayside Sunday is our weekly political column written by Paul Baverstock, former Director of Communication for the Conservative Party
This week, two politicians, one an obscure local parish councillor, the other a Labour MP of some note, have both fallen foul of unwise activity on social media. The very ‘White British’ Harrogate district parish councillor Ernest Butler took to Facebook to claim that (sigh) “White Lives Matter” and, to boot, that Jonny Foreigner is taking over. Meanwhile, Rebecca Long-Bailey MP couldn’t resist attaching herself to the celebrity twitter coattails of actress and activist Maxine Peake, when retweeting the antisemitic claim that Israeli arrest methods caused the death of George Floyd.
Following multiple complaints from the public about the content of his statements, an unrepentant Mr. Butler has been suspended from work by his employers, Nidd Hall, while Ms. Long-Bailey’s unwillingness to take down her retweet gave Labour Leader Sir Keir Starmer the excuse he needed to rid his Shadow Cabinet of a leading and unreformed Corbynista.
Ms. Long-Bailey is a professional politician, working under the constant scrutiny of the British political media, and should know better. In fact, I believe she does know better, and that she provoked a deliberate stand-off with Sir Keir in order to cement her position as Momentum’s torch bearer. But to have done so with two such incendiary topics as Mossad and the murder of George Floyd demonstrates a deeply troubling triumph of ambition over reason.
Ernest Butler doesn’t know any better. He is an amateur politician, bustling around Darley’s rather lovely parish, trying sincerely to do his bit for his community. No one questions that. His ignorance of the evil ways of social media (once you publish your views they exist on a global media platform and can never be taken back) is not a sin and should be forgiven, especially of someone not born into the generation of so-called ‘digital natives’. However, ignorance of the current cultural context in which you make your rather fruity views known when using social media deserves less charity; the views Mr. Butler expressed are wrong.
Harrogate Council too has received complaints about Mr. Butler’s views, but has washed its hands of the affair, notwithstanding that its own code of conduct (to which, as a district councillor, Mr. Butler is subject) makes it entirely plain that, to paraphrase, you don’t get to publish your views in a purely personal capacity on social media. And that has to be right, doesn’t it? The very reason these pages have covered this story this week is because Mr. Butler is a Councillor, and therefore a representative of the Council. As such he is not free to publish his views absent of Council oversight and censure. One might have thought that, at the very least, the council would have taken the opportunity of Mr. Butler’s indiscretion to voice it’s support for a world in which Black Lives Matter, even here in Harrogate. True to form, the council said nothing, and did nothing. It pains me to say that Labour’s Sir Keir has this week shown our own Richard Cooper what real leadership looks like.
This is difficult and sensitive territory I know. Surely a right to free speech is part of what defines our democracy and our society? For my part I believe in a public discourse that celebrates a person who, in the brilliant words of screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, “would advocate at the top of their lungs that which I had spent a lifetime opposing at the top of mine.” I believe in passionate arguments well-made. But I don’t get to decide. And neither, individually, do you. It’s too late for that.
In order to support a business model based on targeted advertising, we have allowed companies like Facebook and Twitter to beg ‘platform,’ rather than publisher status. If they had been subject to the rules traditional news and content publishers comply with we may not have seen the hate-filled, mudslinging, tear it down, free-for-all that such social media platforms enable.
In reaction, a new tyranny has taken hold, one in which social media is a megaphone to rally like-minded support and to shout down the targets of ire. It gives expression to an ugly need to condemn, to shame, to bully and it gives an outlet to the primary school playground impulse to “all pile on.” Worst of all it is reductionist and intellectually lazy. If you can’t hashtag it then it’s not worth saying. Social media offers no space or inclination to inform and educate those who, like Councillor Ernest Butler, sometimes get things wrong.
Social media is but one area of contemporary life where personal responsibility is now at a premium. This week the Great British Public has reacted to the easing of lockdown measures with wanton abandon. From the packed beaches of Bournemouth to the packed green spaces of Harrogate’s Stray, we have seen a total disregard for social distancing guidelines as lovely weather and the frustrations of lockdown seem to have overwhelmed any sense of self-control; Dorset and North Yorkshire Police both have complained of large and rowdy gatherings of people drinking, drugging, littering and using common outdoor space as a toilet.
Boris Johnson’s strand of conservatism places personal responsibility at its core. He believes that the right to freedom (speech and otherwise) is balanced by the responsibilities of individual citizenship. It has been the compass he has used to guide his decision-making during the coronavirus crisis; so, when possible, Boris has chosen the path of least restriction and asked, rather than required people to change their behaviour. This worked well initially. However, it seems increasingly clear to me that, whether on Twitter or on the Stray, we can’t be trusted to behave.
That’s my Strayside Sunday.
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