PRITI Patel has been linked with a campaign which aims to protect British monuments from the supposed threat of Black Lives Matter protests.
The Home Secretary has ties to one of the administrators of the “UK Cenotaph and Military Memorial Volunteers” group, which the Guardian reports has attracted more than 40,000 Facebook members since June 4.
Philip Smith, a charity chief executive and former Tory local election candidate, is one of the campaign’s organisers. Other administrators have voiced support for Ukip and Islamophobic web pages, while racist comments have been posted on the Facebook group.
Patel has endorsed Smith’s charity, Friends of the British Overseas Territories (Fotbot), and was pictured alongside Smith and the organisation’s “parliamentary adviser”, Tory MP Andrew Rosindell.
Great to welcome Philip Smith and Robert Midgley of Friends of British Overseas Territories to my office, along with my friend The Rt. Hon. Priti Patel MP @patel4witham discussing FOTBOT’s plan to distribute the excellent book by Stewart McPherson, “Britain’s Treasuer Islands”! pic.twitter.com/mV66zUJIeb
— Andrew Rosindell MP (@AndrewRosindell) March 21, 2018
The Prime Minister’s videographer Robert Midgley was also listed as a member of the UK Cenotaph and Military Memorial Volunteers group until being approached by the Guardian.
He said: “I was led to believe this group was a moderate group for looking after the Cenotaph. I have now left the group to avoid any confusion over controversial associations.”
The Facebook group urged members to attend a gathering at London’s Centopah over the weekend despite a ban on mass gatherings. One comment on the page read “there is no black in the union jack”, while another stated a race war was imminent.
WATCH: Far-right protesters clash with police at anti-BLM demonstration in London
Smith, who said he became an administrator several days after the group was launched, told the Guardian: “I should make clear that we are not associated with any other group and are completely apolitical. We are a group of moderate members of the public who are concerned about public property and care for our memorials.
“The team has been overwhelmed with thousands of posts every day and we are working hard to keep posting within the rules of the group (these are clearly stated in our ‘about’ section.”
He added that users who had posted racist comments on the page had been removed and asked that any other members posting inappropriate content be reported.
But Imran Ahmed, the chief executive of the Centre for Countering Digital Hate and member of the commission for countering extremism’s pilot taskforce steering committee, told the newspaper: “This Facebook group is being used by some users to preach grossly offensive hateful extremism. Regardless of the intentions of the organisers, if they are promoting real world protests and have attracted elements who are spewing racial hated then it’s a threat to public order.”
A Home Office spokesperson commented: “The home secretary has, along with other government ministers, made repeatedly clear in interviews, in parliament, on social media and directly to the police that these protests are illegal and put public health at risk.
“She continues to urge the public in the strongest terms not to attend protests or gatherings.”
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