Johnson’s ex-right hand man reveals Labour vote
Former Tory minister ignites debate on election rules after disclosing how he cast ballot on Twitter
BORIS JOHNSON’S former chief of staff revealed he voted Labour in yesterday’s local elections.
Nick Boles, a former Tory MP and a minister under David Cameron, tweeted: “First time I’ve voted Labour since an equally glorious May morning in 1997,” referring to Tony Blair’s landslide general election victory.
The 56-year-old, a former MP for Grantham and Stamford, was Mr Johnson’s chief of staff while he was mayor of London but resigned from the Conservative party in 2019 over what he called its “refusal to compromise” over Brexit.
He was one of a handful of MPS who had pushed for a Norway-style soft Brexit which was ultimately rejected by the Commons.
His intervention prompted demands from senior political figures that “unfair” and “farcical” election regulations should be overhauled to ensure Twitter played by the same rules as the media.
Election law means newspapers and broadcasters can be prosecuted if, for example, they reveal how anyone has cast their vote while the polls are still open – but Twitter remains exempt.
Julian Knight, the chairman of the allparty Commons culture committee, said it demonstrated how the rules were a “farce”.
He added: “We have electoral rules that are built for the last century and not built for now.
“We need a thorough overhaul of the rules. The Electoral Commission needs to think a bit more closely about how it interacts with social media to ensure that it doesn’t run roughshod over the electoral process.”
A Government source suggested that the way traditional media outlets were treated appeared unjust. “It seems unfair that some media is regulated on some things and other forms of media that have a very similar output and impact are not,” they said.
Another insider suggested that it would be difficult for the Government to force Twitter to stop people telling others how they voted but questioned whether the restrictions on newspapers in the digital age were appropriate.
Under the Act, it is an offence to publish, before the polls close, “any statement to the way in which voters have voted where it is given by them after they have voted”.
Under pressure to clarify the law amid the growth in social media, the Electoral Commission stated in 2015: “A voter may volunteer information about who they voted for, provided no undue influence is exerted on them to do so.
“There is no explicit provision in law that prevents people from tweeting or
‘We have electoral rules that are built for the last century – we need a thorough overhaul’
re-tweeting that information. There is, however, provision to prevent exit polls to be published until polls have closed.”
Steve Brine, a former Tory minister, said: “Once again, social media finds itself out of kilter and trying not to behave like a publisher when it obviously is. It’s exactly the sort of thing that could be easily handled in the forthcoming Media Bill or Online Safety Bill.”
Mark Stephens, a leading media lawyer, said: “It is an obvious ambiguity and lacuna that frankly has caught the Electoral Commission asleep on the job because the whole purpose is to prevent people influencing the outcome of elections.”
The commission said it did not have a role in regulating the pre-election period nor what broadcasters or newspapers could report on polling day.
Ofcom, the broadcasting regulator, declined to comment.
The Representation of the People Act dates back to 1918 when it tripled the electorate and for the first time granted the vote to some women over 30 as long as they or their husbands owned property.