Accuser of Shapps was Lib Dem
THE Wikipedia official who accused Grant Shapps of doctoring his own biography was exposed yesterday as a former Liberal Democrat member.
The Tory party chairman has been suspected this week of using an anonymous user identity to delete embarrassing facts about his past and add unflattering details about his political rivals.
Yesterday it emerged that the senior Wikipedia administrator who investigated the allegations – f ollowing a ti p- off f rom the Left-wing Guardian – had been a political activist.
Richard Symonds, who goes by the online name ‘Chase me ladies, I’m the Cavalry’, is one of the UK’s t op administrators f or t he website. The 29-year- old once described himself as ‘Liberal Democrat to the last’. Mr Symonds decided to block a user called Contribsx on Tuesday after concluding the account was probably operated either by Mr Shapps or under his ‘clear direction’.
Mr Shapps angrily denied the claims, insisting the story was ‘untrue from start to finish’.
Mr Symonds’ decision was criticised by other Wikipedia activists, who warned the site should not be used to ‘ play politics’. They referred the case to an arbitration committee.
Mr Symonds, from Bow, east London, has now deleted his Twitter profile describing himself as a Lib Dem. The internet expert, who has served in the Royal Naval Reserve, has been a Wikipedia volunteer since 2004 and became an administrator for the website in 2007.
Responding to the criticism yesterday, Mr Symonds insisted he was not a Lib Dem activist and would never let his political views interfere with his Wikipedia role.
Mr Symonds initially claimed Mr Shapps ran the Contribsx account either directly or indirectly, but later he changed this to suggest simply that the account was run by a user l i nked to the Tory chairman’s office by the Guardian in 2012.
Mr Shapps said: ‘It’s absolutely nothing to do with me. It’s just ridiculous. It looks like an extreme dirty tricks campaign.’