During the summer, a SKWAWKBOX interview with Labour MP Laura Pidcock not only went viral on social media but was also picked up – often with a large side of faux outrage – by virtually every mainstream media outlet in the UK and many around the world.
Of the faux-outrage articles, several compared Ms Pidcock unfavourably with ‘centrist’ Labour MP Stella Creasy. It was a straw-man attack, because Ms Pidcock had stated she had no interest in being friends with Tory MPs, while the ‘outraged’ authors were praising the success of Ms Creasy’s amendment to make abortion more accessible to Northern Irish women, with the co-operation of a number of Tory MPs, which the SKWAWKBOX praised at the time.
Apples and pears.
Ms Pidcock was also criticised by another ‘centrist’ MP, Jess Phillips, with whom Stella Creasy has close links.
So it was of interest to note that Ms Creasy does more than work with Tory MPs, as revealed by a tweet by former right-wing Labour MP Michael Dugher:
The fact of a Labour MP socialising not only with Tory MP Therese Coffey but also with a journalist not known for particular warmth toward Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is of legitimate public interest to Labour members, supporters and voters – whether they would approve or disapprove. So we sent Ms Creasy a press enquiry by email to ask for her comment.
We didn’t receive a response directly, but had our attention drawn to tweets and an accompanying Instagram post by Ms Creasy – posts that were interesting because they attacked questions we hadn’t asked.
Ms Creasy first posted a tweet referring, bizarrely, to ‘victim blaming’:
The link in the tweet went to an instagram post of the press enquiry:
Note that the press enquiry does not query the band she went to see, but the rather the fact that she went with a Conservative MP and a journalist.
Ms Creasy clearly felt this tweet was insufficient to make her point, as she quickly posted a follow-up with a further non-sequitur:
Remember, the press enquiry neither asked about, nor raised any issues with, her taste in music – yet the response, if it can be called such, ignores the actual question about possible over-cosiness with Tories and veers off into irrelevant ‘office stereo’ defiance and the unwieldy and self-important hashtag ‘noshittakingindiemp’.
Ms Creasy’s accusation of misogyny triggered ‘dogpiling’ by her supporters.
The victim-blaming smear appears to refer to a tweet she sent out in December after the SKWAWKBOX exclusively published a verbatim transcript of the statement issued by Labour MP Kelvin Hopkins after he was suspended over allegations of inappropriate conduct.
The article contained no criticism of his accuser – and Ms Creasy was challenged by various Twitter users to substantiate her claim:
To the SKWAWKBOX’s knowledge, Ms Creasy never responded to the multiple requests to show evidence for her slur.
Ms Creasy wasn’t yet done with her misdirected ‘outrage’. She issued a further ‘straw man’ tweet:
Again, the emailed enquiry made no attempt to ‘defin[e] the labour movement’ nor any mention of her taste in music – yet she ‘defiantly’ promises ‘as long as I’m here there will be indie discos‘.
Ms Creasy accused the SKWAWKBOX of victim-blaming in its article about Kelvin Hopkins’ statement – yet when challenged to substantiate her allegation she provided no answer.
Today, she was asked about the appropriateness of socialising with Tory MPs. It would have been simple enough to respond that she’ll socialise with whomever she wishes. Instead, she again raised ‘victim-blaming’ and an accusation of wishing to ‘control women in the Labour party’ today – as if her gender has anything to do with a question about how she chooses to spend her time.
As this blog tweeted in response to Ms Creasy’s post, it was an extraordinary response to a straightforward press enquiry.
When another Twitter user ventured that it was a legitimate one, Ms Creasy didn’t address the point raised but instead suggested that he, another user and the SKWAWKBOX were all one and the same:
Attack is the best form of defence? Perhaps. Some months ago, when this blog queried Ms Creasy’s failure to join or even mention a major NHS campaign by the Labour Party when she found time to tweet about fruit pastilles, she retorted:
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