Downing Street is in full spin mode after Southport murderer Axel Rudakubana pleaded guilty to multiple charges of murder, attempted murder, and terror charges. Axel had been referred to the counter-terrorism unit Prevent three times and was a known knife carrier — but authorities failed to act. Now The Sun (and other papers) plastered their front page with headlines like “The Amazon Killer” over Axel’s purchases of knives online. The Mirror screamed the headline: “Total disgrace he was able to buy knife on Amazon” while The Times also splashed “Southport killer got knife on Amazon.” Good luck with that guys…
Suella Braverman took to X: “This isn’t about Amazon, online ‘harms,’ or knife sales. It’s about why our country keeps failing to address Islamist extremism. No more deflection. We need honesty.” A reminder: there are claims Axel had been caught carrying a knife 10 times, with social services and the police fully aware of his disturbing history but did nothing…
Yesterday Yvette Cooper used her statement to call a public inquiry and blame shift to social media platforms for spreading “misinformation” that sparked last summer’s riots. Her attempt to defend the government’s months-long decision to withhold details of Axel’s activities…
Meanwhile Imran Ahmed— former Labour pAd turned CEO of the Centre for Countering Digital Hate— was front and centre at yesterday’s Science and Technology Committee to parrot the line that “social media content caused UK riots” rather than Starmer’s handling, pushing for more censorship online. Morgan McSweeney helped Ahmed found CCDH, and is still “close friends” with him. The public inquiry increasingly looks like a smokescreen to bolster the Online Harms Bill rather than tackling the real issues…
Krishnan Guru-Murthy asked John Healey: “Just finally, I mean Andy Burnham has been very clear he wants Britain back in the European Union in his lifetime. Do you?”
The Chancellor replied: “I’m older than Andy Burnham. I don’t expect to see that.”