Starmer, Southport and Social Media

Why the embattled British PM is keen to blame everyone but the state

During his six decades we know Sir Keir Starmer has had at least three ideologies in his life.

First, his dalliance with ‘Pabolism’ in the late 1980s via the post-Trotskyist bi-monthly Socialist Alternative (link), where Starmer was part of the “editorial collective”.

The then 20-something was also involved with the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers, who sat to the left of the more moderate Society of Labour Lawyers at the time.

Second, Starmer’s endorsement of ‘anti-racism’ ideology, which rejects a peace and reconciliation approach to community harmony and instead promotes a ‘victim/perpetrator’ worldview.

As Labour leader Starmer backed — in a very visual and memorable way (link) — the Black Lives Matter movement.

And the third and final ideology is perhaps the most pervasive one: Starmer’s tendency towards statism, fostered during his term as the head of The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

To give one grizzly example where Starmer has resorted back to this base – a belief that the existing authorities and their leaders know best – look no further than his endorsement of ex-Metropolitan Police Chief Cressida Dick.

Despite a series of scandals which undermined the public’s trust in the police (link), including the rape and murder of Sarah Everard by a serving police marksman, Wayne Couzens, and the subsequent violent policing of a peaceful vigil held in her memory (link), Starmer publicly backed Dick.

“I’ve worked with Cressida over many years in relation to some very serious operations when I was director of public prosecutions. I was pleased that her contract was extended and I support her,” he said in 2021.

This decision was odd. Starmer was leader of the opposition at the time, other major politicians had called for Dick to go and such a move seemed like an open goal, where Labour could attack the Conservative’s worsening record on crime and justice.

But Starmer’s statist mindset prevailed. Rather than Dick taking ultimate responsibility for the Met’s abject failures and falling on her sword, a new victim’s law should be introduced, he argued at the time.

It was the Labour Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, who eventually got the Met Police Chief axed by declaring that he had lost confidence in Dick. She later claimed that she “felt intimidated” into stepping down (link).

It’s worth re-visiting this episode as we analyse the UK government’s approach to the Southport attack and the public disorder which followed it.

Now, in power, Labour hit out against alleged misinformation, fake news and “untruths” surrounding the mass stabbing in the North West of England.

Here are some of the comments Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner made in July just days after the incident (link):

“I think there’s been a couple of instances recently where, especially particularly online, theories and things are whipped up whereas actually it turns out to be not true or not the full picture.

“And I think there’s a culture now where people want to get the facts, but it’s important that police and those people that are doing the work are able to carry out that work…”

“Speculation and some of the untruths that have been put around social media, not only is that creating tensions and fear in the community, but it’s disrespectful to a family who maybe wants those answers that haven’t got those answers.”

Reform leader Nigel Farage was also accused by a former counter-terrorism police chief of being a “conspiracy theorist” (link) for claiming that the full truth had been withheld from the public about Axel Rudakuban (link), who has now plead guilty to murdering three children and inuring 10 others at a Taylor Swift–themed yoga and dance workshop.

On 29 July, the same day as the atrocity and following Rudakuban’s arrest, Merseyside Police issued the below statement (link), note the language around “terror-related”:

“We can confirm that a 17-year-old male from Banks, who was arrested in connection to the stabbing in Southport this morning, Monday 29 July, remains in police custody and will be questioned about the incident.

“At this early stage, enquiries are ongoing to establish the motive for this tragic incident and we would urge people not to speculate while the investigation is ongoing.

“We can also confirm that the incident is not currently being treated as terror-related and we are not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident.”

Despite Merseyside Police’s statement, far-right agitators continued to speculate about Rudakubana’s background and religion online (he was born to Rwandan parents in Wales), and then riots sprung up in Southport and throughout the UK from 30 July onwards. There were even attempts to burn asylum hotels down (link).

This disorder, including mindless thuggery, was eventually put down by the police and Starmer promised to crackdown on further lawlessness. The Prime Minister later threatened the major social media platforms in August, urging them to uphold the law (link).

Here’s what he said:

"Let me also say to large social media companies, and those who run them, violent disorder clearly whipped up online: that is also a crime. It's happening on your premises, and the law must be upheld everywhere."

In the same month, the CPS announced (link) that it had been successful in prosecuting the first batch of people who had “caused panic and chaos on the streets of Southport”, to use the organisation’s own words. At a time when prisons were overcrowded (link) and the courts were creaking, the offenders faced serious custodial sentences.

The government was also still maintaining the public line that the mass stabbing was non-terror related. The media, no doubt worried about breaking any contempt rules and prejudicing a jury trial, also reported the same line.

That would change in October when Rudakubana faced two further charges under the Biological Weapons Act and the Terrorism Act. In short, the teenager was accused of producing the deadly poison ricin and possessing a training manual: ‘Military Studies in the Jihad Against the Tyrants – the al-Qaeda Training Manual’.

In a bid to calm tensions alongside the news of the charges, Merseyside Police issued a lengthy statement, some of which is outlined below (link):

“Following the announcement of the further charges today I wanted to reassure the public of Southport, and Merseyside, that we are committed to achieving justice for the families of Bebe, Elsie and Alice, the 10 victims who were injured at the Hart Space in Southport on that Monday, in July, and the other 16 people who were present.

“We are also committed to being open and transparent with our communities. However, I am sure you will all appreciate that we need to make sure we do not prejudice any trial.

“You may have seen speculation online that the police are deciding to keep things from the public. This is certainly not the case.

"We have been given extensive guidance by the CPS in relation to what we can say publicly to ensure the integrity of the court proceedings are protected, and therefore we are restricted in what we can share with you now, whilst the proceedings are live.”

The prosecutions of the rioters and those which spread “misinformation” online continued. Then, on 20 January, Rudakubana pleaded guilty to the murders of Alice da Silva Aguiar, Bebe King and Elsie Dot Stancombe and 10 charges of attempted murder as well as producing a biological toxin and the possession of an al-Qaeda training manual.

With reporting restrictions lifted, more details began to emerge about the case. The fact that Rudakubana had been referred to the government-led anti-terrorism initiative Prevent three times came to light, his history of violence, including attacking other pupils, came to light and allegations that the CPS effectively ‘gagged’ Merseyside Police (link) as the force wanted to share more information about Rudakubana’s background came to light.

Conservative MP Nick Timothy, an adviser to Theresa May when she was Prime Minister and Home Secretary, used his experience and insight to ask awkward questions of Starmer.

“I worked for a Home Secretary and PM and know what happens when an act of terrorism occurs. The PM and Home Secretary are briefed in almost real time. Starmer was undoubtedly immediately told of the discoveries of ricin and a terrorist training manual in Rudakubana’s home,” he said.

The Prime Minister has since admitted to withholding information from the public at the time of Rudakubana’s arrest and the riots. His justification? Starmer claimed revealing it would have jeopardised the trial, even though details of the charges were made public.

The Labour leader also claimed to have discovered a new form of terrorism. Here’s what he told a Downing Street press conference:

“The predominant threat was highly organized groups with clear political intent, groups like Al-Qaeda. That threat, of course, remains, but now alongside that, we also see acts of extreme violence perpetrated by loners, misfits, young men in their bedroom accessing all manner of material online, desperate for notoriety, sometimes inspired by traditional terrorist groups, but fixated on that extreme violence, seemingly for its own sake.”

The “lone wolf” terminology has been in circulation for some time (link). Starmer should be well aware, for example, that the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox in 2016 was deemed to be an act of right-wing terrorism conducted by another “lone wolf”, Thomas Mair.

But the line to take on Rudakubana is different. We’re told that he should be viewed as a quasi-terrorist, someone who was more obsessed with violence than political ideology, despite admitting to a terror offence.

And returning to the rest of Starmer’s obscure response, his statist tendencies seemed to kick-in again as he partly blamed social media platforms for the attack.

Here’s what he said (link):

“But I have to say, to face up to this new threat there are also bigger questions. Questions such as how we protect our children from the tidal wave of violence freely available online.

“Because you can’t tell me that the material this individual viewed before committing these murders should be accessible on mainstream social media platforms. That with just a few clicks, people can watch video after horrific video. Videos that in some cases are never taken down.”

Unsurprisingly, beyond blaming social media, the government has also announced a public inquiry (link) into the mass stabbing, giving Starmer’s administration the opportunity to kick the issue into the long grass.

And, somewhat prematurely, the The Science, Innovation and Technology Committee, chaired by Labour’s Chi Onwurah, has launched its own investigation into the incident.

The inquiry will examine the role of social media algorithms and generative AI in spreading “misleading and harmful content” (it sounds like the platform formerly known as Twitter is in its cross-hairs). It should be noted that the announcement of the probe came days before Rudakubana’s guilty plea (link).

But questions still surround Starmer’s judgement. If truth is the best antidote to conspiracy, why didn’t he tell the public the information he knew? Why has the government now decided to go after Amazon, working with the national media (link) to criticise its rules around knife ownership? And why was someone with a long history of violence able to roam the streets?

Social media and online retailers are easy scapegoats when the state faces existential questions about its citizens’ safety (link).

Shock and Awe

After all of that plotting at Mar-a-Lago, the US media was still surprised by the scale and scope of Trump’s Executive Orders, which are testing US law, Congress and how far White House power can go.

One of the more notable EOs in the tech realm was Trump’s decision to revoke Biden’s EO on addressing AI risks (link), stripping red tape from the AI development process.

Not long afterwards Stargate, a $500 billion joint AI initiative from OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank, was announced (link). The big jobs figure, which would have caught Trump’s eye, is that the infrastructure project will apparently generate 100,000 jobs.

I say ‘apparently’ because it’s currently unclear where the companies will get the $500 billion from.

Similarly, there’s been an awful lot written about the Big Tech leaders and their worldviews. Ultimately, Trump is new boss in town and he’s a big picture kind of guy.

Marc Andreessen and Mark Zuckerberg may not like the App Store, for example, but Tim Cook has already built his relationship with Trump after reshoring jobs back to America in 2018. Apple also promised to invest $350 million in the US economy during Trump’s first administration (link).

Dreams of decentralisation and non-monopolistic markets may be off the cards, especially if these aspirations get in the way of jobs, JOBS, JOBS!

Netflix Bump

Mike Tyson and Jake Paul have helped Netflix surpass 300 million subscribers and beat Wall Street growth estimates, the company’s Q4 earnings showed (link). The controversial fight drew 65 million worldwide viewers, while 68 million people watched the new series of Squid Game in its first week.

After generating quarterly income of $10 billion for the first time, Netflix plans to improve its core business, develop new initiatives such as live programming and games and sustain “healthy growth” in 2025, the company told its shareholders as it forecasted revenues of up to $44.5 billion for 2025.

Netflix’s shares rose on the good news and sit around $953 at the time of writing.

WaPo Latest

The New York Times’ Benjamin Mullin has been following the trials and tribulations at rival outlet The Washington Post very closely.

First, staff weren’t happy about the appointment of former News Corp man Will Lewis as CEO and publisher of the paper, and then a planned endorsement of Kamala Harris was pulled (link) ahead of the election.

Further turmoil ensued and now 400 staffers have demanded a meeting with owner Jeff Bezos (last pictured at Trump’s inauguration).

To top things off there’s a new internal mission statement for the outlet: “Riveting Storytelling for All of America” (link). I wonder how that’s going to go down.

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