Momentum ‘abuse’ turns campaign trail nasty
‘All they do is try to intimidate and shut people down. They’re not just having a go at me but ordinary people’
When Iain Duncan Smith posted an image of his campaign office in Chingford daubed with the words “Tories Out” and “Tory Cuts Kill”, he expected to provoke a low-key local reaction.
Dubbing the people who spraypainted the building with black graffiti on Sunday night “democracy-hating thugs”, he suspected that Momentum activists were “up to their old tricks”.
But if having the door and window of the Chingford and Woodford Green Conservative Association vandalised was bad enough, it was nothing compared with the hard-left backlash the picture sparked on social media.
“Seems perfectly acceptable to me,” wrote John Browning, as hundreds of abusive comments began appearing on Mr Duncan Smith’s Facebook page.
“Also acceptable would be lining you up against a wall in front of a firing squad.”
Skyler Davy added: “You deserve even worse, you sociopathic mass murderer”, while Jon Anderton wrote: “Cause and effect. Surprised the office is still standing.”
And Matthew Lang, whose profile picture features him with two young children, added: “Should have put your windows through as well.”
At one point the comments were coming so thick and fast, that the former Tory leader, 65, suspected the actions of “bot” accounts: “Some of the messages do look suspicious,” he said. “There’s pages of vile abuse which we have now had to refer to the police, who are already investigating the vandalism. Some seriously violent threats have been made. All I did was say, ‘This is not acceptable’ and then this is the backlash.
“It’s got Momentum written all over it. All they do is try to intimidate and shut people down. They’re not just having a go at me but ordinary people who have posted saying they agree the graffiti is unacceptable in a democratic society. But that’s the hard-left approach these days – try to bully people into submission.” As the architect of the Universal Credit benefits system while work and pensions secretary, Mr Duncan Smith has personally been targeted.
A Momentum spokesman said it was “beyond ludicrous” to suggest they had “participated in or encouraged vandalism or abuse”.
“Of course we haven’t. We’re busy running a positive campaign speaking to thousands of voters about the real change Labour is offering them,” the spokesman said.
Faiza Shaheen, 36, Mr Duncan Smith’s Labour opponent, who has been supported by Momentum in the past, said: “I condemn all acts of intimidation and criminal behaviour, so I was disappointed to see that the local Conservative office has been subject to vandalism.
“Our campaign to win in Chingford and Woodford Green is positive and non-confrontational so whoever has done this is clearly trying to undermine the ethos of our campaign.
“Several of our volunteers and I have been subject to abuse and threats including at our local office. It is completely unacceptable. We must take action to stop the current toxic political environment.”
The once safe Tory seat has long been a target for Momentum, which launched a campaign to #Unseatids after Mr Duncan Smith’s long-held majority was slashed to 2,438 in 2017. The London suburb includes Winston Churchill’s former constituency while Lord Tebbit, a cabinet minister under Margaret Thatcher, portrayed as the “Chingford Skinhead” in the television satire Spitting Image, was MP before him for more than two decades.
“I never say she [Ms Shaheen] is standing here, I say Corbyn is,” said Mr Duncan Smith, who says he is walking up to 12 miles every day canvassing voters in what could be one of the closest constituencies to call on Dec 12. “Here, there’s a distinct dislike of Corbyn so she has had to keep him off her leaflets.” Addressing the vandalism, he said: “I don’t know who is responsible but it certainly isn’t Conservative supporters and I’ve never had this from the Libs before. All this started in 2017. During 2018 we had our office defaced. I received a death threat a few weeks ago that I’ve had to refer to police – you know, ‘I know where your family lives’, that sort of thing. These people are haters.”
After the 2017 election, Emma Rees, the Momentum campaign chief, was forced to apologise over abuse aimed at Labour MPS. Momentum Facebook groups have discussed the deselection of MPS who defied Jeremy Corbyn, and described Blairite factions as hardright extremists and “scabs”. Female MPS repeatedly complained to the party over abuse allegedly from Momentum supporters.
Ms Rees said: “I don’t think that any kind of personalised attack at an MP is acceptable but I do at the same time understand why people are angry about the way society is run.”
Momentum has been credited with Labour’s surprise strong election performance in 2017, with Ms Rees having organised a network of thousands of volunteers. She insisted that some of the hostile comments may have come from fake accounts, set up by non-members who don’t support Labour’s code of ethics.
But now Momentum’s reach appears to be extending beyond social media. A BBC source said activists had taken to picketing television studios to give a skewed impression to viewers when Mr Corbyn and Boris Johnson arrive at debates. The source said: “They are trying to frame the leaders’ debate so Corbyn arrives to cheers and Johnson to boos. Sophisticated is not the word but they do know what they are doing.”