Video
‘It’s dystopian’ - Presenter criticises Tory chair for ‘misleading’ the public over ‘fact check’ stunt
Speaking on BBC Newsnight, Emily Maitlis told the partys chairman James Cleverly that the decision was dystopian and went against the prime ministers claims about integrity. Photo: BBC - Credit: Archant
The Conservative Party's chair has faced criticism from the public and media for the party's decision to rebrand their Twitter as a fact checking service.
Speaking on BBC Newsnight, Emily Maitlis told the party's chairman James Cleverly that the decision was "dystopian" and went against the prime minister's claims about integrity.
She said: "The Conservative press office was pretending to be a fact-checking service, renaming itself with a credibility tick. You are misleading the public, you were trying to coach your propaganda as hardened fact."
One of the UK's most respected fact-checking organisations Full Fact had already criticised the Conservatives for changing their Twitter handle to "factcheckUK" for the ITV debate.
Full Fact tweeted: "It is inappropriate and misleading for the Conservative press office to rename their twitter account 'factcheckUK' during this debate."
You may also want to watch:
Emily Maitlis piled on the criticism, adding: "You were misleading the public. Why would you have to change it to soemthing that says fact check if people believed you?
"You dressed up party lines as a fact check service. That's dystopian."
Most Read
- 1 Susanna Reid takes on Priti Patel over government's gaslighting of public on coronavirus
- 2 Brexiteer musician accused of hypocrisy after demanding No 10 help bands with EU visa
- 3 Tory minister admits UK rejected EU's music visa offer in order to 'take back control' of borders
- 4 PMQs: Ben Bradshaw calls out Boris Johnson over Brexit lies
- 5 ‘Don’t haste ye back’ - Nicola Sturgeon's perfect farewell message to Donald Trump
- 6 Piers Morgan calls on Priti Patel to resign over missing crime records fiasco
- 7 Tory MPs vote down Lords bid to protect NHS from post-Brexit trade deals
- 8 9 of the best tweets of Donald Trump leaving the White House
- 9 Boris Johnson narrowly avoids defeat over vote on trade deals with genocidal regimes
- 10 Trump caller hangs up on James O'Brien after failing to cite ex-president's 'truths'
At the end of the debate the account even declared that Boris Johnson was the winner.
READ MORE: Tory party criticised after disguising Twitter as 'Fact Check UK' during ITV debate
READ MORE: Question Time audience member pulls apart Nigel Farage's 'man of the people' persona
Representatives for Twitter have said the social media platform will not allow users with 'verified' blue ticks to do this again, and that if this is repeated there will be "decisive corrective action".
Dawn Butler, the shadow minister for women and equalities, told Radio 4's Today programme: "It's not enough. We've been talking about the responsibilities of the social media platforms for quite a while. And they have to do better. And I think this is another example where social media has failed."
The Electoral Commission has released a statement saying they cannot intervene in the dispute because they don't have a role regulating what parties say during election campaigns.
Cleverly attempted to suggest the Tories were calling out 'wilful misinformation' from Jeremy Corbyn, claiming: "We called out the Labour Party's wilful misinformation about the NHS - any time they do that we will call it out."
Elsewhere in the interview Maitlis noted how it was in fact the Tories being dishonest about the NHS, with Boris Johnson lying about "building 40 new hospitals when we know they're only investing in six new hospitals."
Become a Supporter
The New European is proud of its journalism and we hope you are proud of it too. We believe our voice is important - both in representing the pro-EU perspective and also to help rebalance the right wing extremes of much of the UK national press. If you value what we are doing, you can help us by making a contribution to the cost of our journalism.