Keir Starmer’s accusation at prime minister’s questions on Wednesday that Boris Johnson was “parroting” conspiracy theories of fascists is not the first time that members of the current government and its backbenchers have faced such claims about their language.
The Labour leader levelled his accusation during PMQs after Johnson made false claims about the Labour leader’s blame for the failure to prosecute Jimmy Savile.
In the recent past, controversies have included:
• The phrase “cultural Marxism” was used by Suella Braverman in a speech and, separately, by Tory backbenchers in a letter to the Telegraph. Braverman, who has since become the attorney general, was criticised by a leading Jewish group for using the term, a reference to a conspiracy theory often associated with the far right and antisemitism.
• The home secretary, Priti Patel, was accused of fanning the flames of far-right racism and violence in a manner akin to that of the former US president Donald Trump. Four charities wrote to her, warning that her words have “harmful consequences”, after she bragged in September 2020 about removing asylum seekers and had also spoken of “do gooders” and “lefty lawyers” offering support to the same people.
• Tory MPs who have retweeted Tommy Robinson include Bob Blackman and Nadine Dorries, now culture minister. She shared a tweet from the activist before using far-right tropes against the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and the writer and journalist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown.
Separately, the Tory MP Andrew Rosindell’s Facebook account was found to have joined a “Free Tommy” group.
• Johnson’s own use of the word “surrender” to describe legislation passed in 2019 that aimed to block a no-deal Brexit on 31 October was heavily criticised. But he was subsequently joined by formerly moderate Conservative cabinet ministers, Matt Hancock and Nicky Morgan, in defending the language of war, despite pleas by Labour and former Tory MPs to stop suggesting those against Brexit are guilty of treachery or betrayal.
• Jacob Rees-Mogg, before he became leader of the House of Commons, defended a tweet in which he quoted the leader of a German far-right party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD). The MP insisted in 2019 that he did not endorse the German party’s views but the opinions expressed had “real importance” after tweeting a YouTube video of a speech by Alice Weidel, the leader of the AfD’s 91 deputies in the Bundestag, the German parliament.
• Tom Hunt, Tory MP for Ipswich, was accused last year of fuelling racism after appearing to blame crime in his constituency on “certain communities”. Hunt was accused by the Ipswich and Suffolk Council for Racial Equality (ISCRE) of “an ill-judged piece of dogwhistling” in a local newspaper column. Linking crime to immigrant communities, the MP criticised those “who say we should be eternally tolerant of bad behaviour, which may be rife in other countries but is not traditionally in ours” and went on to say that integration should include “learning English, respecting women and obeying our laws”.
