“Make Orwell Fiction Again!” declared Elon Musk when he heard about Essex Police’s disgraceful doorstepping and investigation of award-winning journalist Allison Pearson over a year-old deleted tweet. The Telegraph has the story.
Essex Police is facing a backlash from critics, including Boris Johnson, over its investigation into Allison Pearson for allegedly stirring up racial hatred in a social media post last year.
The force has refused to give the award-winning writer details about which post on X, formerly Twitter, is being investigated, or who made the complaint against her.
Two police officers called at Pearson’s home at 9.40am on Remembrance Sunday to tell her she was being investigated and invite her to a voluntary interview. She was told, however, that the officers were not allowed to disclose the specific focus of an inquiry.
Chris Philp, the Shadow Home Secretary and former Policing Minister, said: “It is completely wrong that the journalist was not even told about the particulars of the allegation when she was doorstepped by the police, intruding into her Sunday morning without warning. I am deeply concerned this will have a chilling effect on free speech and free expression.”
In a post on X, Mr Johnson, the former prime minister, called the behaviour of the police “appalling”.
This is appalling. How can Starmer’s Britain lecture other countries about free speech when an innocent journalist gets a knock on the door – for a tweet? Our police have their hands full of burglaries and violent crime. They are being forced to behave like a woke Securitate -… https://t.co/HaXc1tsokW
“How can Starmer’s Britain lecture other countries about free speech when an innocent journalist gets a knock on the door – for a tweet?” he wrote. “Our police have their hands full of burglaries and violent crime. They are being forced to behave like a woke Securitate – and it has to stop.” …
In a statement on Tuesday night, Essex Police said officers had opened the investigation under section 17 of the Public Order Act 1986, relating to material allegedly “likely or intended to cause racial hatred”.
The force said the alleged offence was being treated as a criminal matter and not a non-crime hate incident, as Pearson recalled being told on Sunday.
On Wednesday, the force issued a second statement, accusing the Telegraph of presenting “wholly inaccurate information” as fact.
The complaint was passed to Essex Police by another force. It is understood to have been assessed twice by different officers before Essex decided to seek a voluntary interview with Pearson.
A spokesman for Essex Police said: “As a police force, we investigate matters which are reported to us without fear or favour, no matter who makes a report or to whom the incident concerns.”
Nigel Farage, the Reform U.K. leader, said: “This is Orwellian in the extreme. I’m absolutely appalled that Allison and others like her have to live in fear for months without ever being told what has been said against them. People must be worried sick. We are very much in the territory of a thought crime here, where the accusers are called ‘victims’.”
Liz Truss, the former Prime Minister, claimed the incident was “yet another affront to free speech”, adding: “We must speak out and fight back against this appalling bullying of Allison Pearson.”
Robert Jenrick, the Shadow Justice Secretary, said: “The police should be focusing on tackling the crime wave on our streets, not digging up years-old tweets.”
Sir Iain Duncan Smith, a former Tory leader, said: “What we are seeing is the police force turning into the thought police. The police have far more important things to do than following up on someone’s concerns about what someone wrote a year ago.
“This is definitely George Orwell’s 1984, very Big Brother-ish. I feel sorry for the police, who seem to be so badly led that officers are forced into this nonsense. What the public wants is for them to crack down on shoplifting, violent threats and anti-social behaviour.
“If you want to know what hate is, that is hate. They should deal with that rather than targeting journalists whose job is to speak freely.”
You’ll need to set up an account to comment if you don’t already have one. We ask for a minimum donation of £5 if you'd like to make a comment or post in our Forums.
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.