Strap yourselves in folks, one of the political stories of the century is brewing…
1. A concerned mother shares a photo of her 4-year-old boy who was forced to wait hours on a hospital floor with suspected pneumonia.
2. The photo circulates online so a journalist challenges Boris Johnson about it during an interview by showing him the picture of the boy on his phone.
3. Johnson repeatedly refuses to even look at the boy, let alone acknowledge responsibility for the situation, and eventually steals the journalists phone and puts it in his pocket.
4. There is uproar about Johnson’s lack of compassion so Health Minister, Matt Hancock, is dispatched to the hospital to deal with the situation.
5. Matt Hancock briefs journalists that, while at the hospital, one of his advisors was “punched” by a Labour activist.
6. Much of the media unquestioningly report the “punch” by the “Labour activist” as fact without checking the validity of the allegation. Widespread rage about “violent Labour activists” spreads like wildfire online.
7. Video footage then emerges online showing that the story had been entirely fabricated and was 100% false.
8. The media sheepishly backtrack on what they have posted out to the world.
9. A Facebook post then appears claiming to be from a “good friend” of a nurse working in Leeds hospital. The post says that the photograph of the 4-year-old was faked by a “Labour activist”. The post is shared more than 30,000 times.
10. The claim is unquestioning reported as fact by much of the media without checking its validity.
11. Suspicions of the validity of the claim are then raised as it is discovered there are literally thousands and thousands of Facebook and Twitter accounts posting exactly the same claim, word for word.
12. It becomes clear that bots are being used to spread disinformation. The hospital also confirms the accuracy of the photo and that it had already apologised to the mother.
13. The media sheepishly backtrack on what they have posted out to the world.
14. The account where the post originated then comes into question. It belongs to a (real) woman named Sheree Jenner-Hepburn who claims her account has “hacked”.
15. Further investigation shows that Sheree Jenner-Hepburn was not the innocent victim of a hack, but that the post was made from her account intentionally, as she responded to her friend’s comments on the post.
16. It’s then discovered that Sheree Jenner-Hepburn’s son has a Facebook friend with a very prominent role within this story which may cast light on the motives behind the fake post.
17. It’s… Matt Hancock’s account!!!
In summary: it appears that the actual Health Minister of the British Government has not only fabricated a “punch” to deflect the heat from his boss, but, after being found out the first time, he *may* have used his friend’s Facebook account to circulate another entirely fabricated story to try and smear his political opponents.
Even the writers of The Thick Of It would find this story too incredible to script!
https://mobile.twitter.com/ToryFibs/status/1204535324103364608
Election campaigns have been getting gradually more dishonest and deceitful in the last few decades, but this one has been, without doubt, the dirtiest campaign ever fought by the Conservative Party.
The depths to which they will plumb to cling on to power is truly shocking.