London’s Conservative mayoral race had been in a tense mood since last week. But last Monday, the stock hit a new low due to misinformation and an attack video that used footage from New York to portray London as the “crime capital” of the world.
The ad, reportedly produced by the Conservative Party’s campaign headquarters, makes a number of false accusations. The film, modeled after American disaster movies, depicts London as “under siege” with “criminals controlling the city”. This means London has one of the lowest anti-social behavior rates in the country, murder rates have fallen in recent years, and although knife crime rates are higher than average, they are more prevalent in the West Midlands. Despite the fact that. We have a Conservative mayor.People are less likely to be victims of crime in London above the average for England.
The misinformation doesn’t stop there. The advert claims that the Urez system, which charges polluting vehicles £12.50 a day to enter London’s low-emissions zones and uses cameras primarily to catch non-payers, “wears black and covers their face with a mask. It alleges that the executions are being carried out by police officers who are “causing fear.” The community is following the Mayor of London’s orders. ” The paper claims that Mayor Sadiq Khan wants to decriminalize the use of illegal drugs, but he has said nothing of the sort. Perhaps most insidiously, the article accuses Mr Khan of having “seized power”, an odd way of referring to the fact that he twice won democratic confidence in London-wide elections.
The Conservative Party removed the ad after it was widely criticized for making footage of New York look like London, but then reissued the ad with the footage removed. This behavior is unbecoming of any political party that wants to be taken seriously by voters, much less a ruling party. The Conservative Party has happily spread misinformation since the Brexit referendum campaign, chaired by Boris Johnson. The claim that leaving the EU would free up £350m a week for the NHS has since been Misuse of official statistics. The claim that remaining in the EU meansnew border“” against Syria and Iraq was wrong.Johnson misled the public as prime minister. Northern Ireland Protocol and lied to Congress about his actions. in the middle of a pandemic. Rishi Sunak continues this trend, for example by misleading voters about Labour’s immigration proposals.
this is, Risk of disinformation. This is harmful to our political culture and violates the implicit code of honor that politicians are not allowed to lie or spread false claims.
But it is also a continuation of the shockingly bigoted campaign the Conservatives have long waged against Khan, London’s first Muslim mayor. In 2016, Prime Minister David Cameron and Conservative mayoral candidate Zac Goldsmith falsely smeared Mr Khan as a security threat and tried to link him to Islamic extremism.
Current Conservative mayoral candidate Susan Hall responded positively to a tweet that used an Islamophobic metaphor referring to Mr Khan as the Mayor of “London”, claiming last year: The Jewish community was ‘scared’ It was because of Khan’s divisive attitude that the claim was dismissed by the British Jewish Parliamentary Committee.
It is emblematic of a party that has adopted Donald Trump’s campaign strategy of lying and dog whistles to inflame regional tensions because it believes it will gain an electoral advantage. It is dangerous and toxic, and Conservative politicians who believe that truth and decency still have a place in public life should shout this out loud.
