Why is a journalist’s tweet being investigated by Essex Police?
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Telegraph columnist Allison Pearson was visited by police officers in relation to a post on Twitter/X made in 2023.
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In brief…
- In a now deleted tweet Pearson allegedly called UK police “Jew haters” on social media.
- She is now under investigation by Essex Police after a complaint was made.
- Keir Starmer, Kemi Badenoch and Elon Musk have all commented on the situation.
Telegraph columnist Allison Pearson is under investigation by Essex Police after a complaint was made regarding a post she shared on Twitter/X in 2023.
In November 2023, tensions were rising in the aftermath of the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel and Israel’s following assault in Gaza, with protests taking place across the country.
That month, Pearson allegedly retweeted an image showing two police officers seemingly posing for a photo with people of colour carrying a red, green and white flag. Outlets including the BBC and The Guardian have seen and verified the tweet.
"How dare they," Pearson is believed to have written in the now-deleted tweet, tagging Met Police.
"Invited to pose with the lovely peaceful British Friends of Israel on Saturday police refused. Look at this lot smiling with the Jew Haters."
But there was a problem with the post. The photo wasn't taken the day she suggested, wasn’t taken in London (it was in Manchester and therefore wasn’t Met Police pictured). It also wasn’t from a protest in support of Palestine.
Instead, the photo was of two men holding what is widely believed to be the flag of Pakistani political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, and dated back to August 2023. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf is one of the biggest political parties in Pakistan.
During a police visit at her home on Remembrance Sunday, Pearson says she was told the investigation was into a “non-crime hate incident” but Essex Police have denied this.
A statement from Essex PCC Roger Hirst said: “To be clear: this controversy is not about a non-crime incident, the alleged offence has been assessed as passing the threshold for criminal investigation.”
Pearson has since tweeted saying; she is not a racist, did not post a racist tweet, and that her tweet did not incite violence against any protected characteristic. She added that the accusation had been “upgraded” to an offence under the UK’s Public Order Act.
The story has sparked somewhat of a media frenzy, with outlets, politicians and prominent figures.
What has Keir Starmer said?
Keir Starmer has said it is up to individual forces to decide what incidents to focus on, but they should prioritise what is important to the people they serve.
"This is a matter for the police themselves, police force by police force," he told reporters while travelling to the recent G20 summit.
"They can make their decisions and will obviously be held to account for those decisions.
“There is a review going on of this particular aspect but I think that as a general principle the police should concentrate on what matters most to their communities.”
Kemi Badenoch has called for a review of hate laws in the UK to protect free speech.
"There has been a long-running problem with people not taking free speech seriously," the Tory party leader has said.
“We shouldn’t have journalists getting visited by the police for expressing opinions. That’s absolutely wrong, we need to look at the laws around non-crime hate incidents.”
Nigel Farage has said that "free speech is under attack".
Elon Musk has said police investigation into online posts "needs to stop".
Why is a journalist being investigated by Essex Police?
What’s been said about the police response?
Pearson’s police visit has generated huge press interest, and more specifically backlash from right-wing media, and Emily Mailis says this has put the actions of Essex Police in the “cross hairs”.
“They were asked to investigate this, they believed it passed the threshold for a criminal investigation, not a non crime,” Emily says.
“The fact that they turned up at her door was because they were following the law as it stands in this country.
“If you flipped it on its head, if somebody had been complaining about online harassment and had contacted the police and the police hadn't turned up, then that would have been a dereliction of duty, and there'd be a lot of people now screaming, ‘where were the police?’”
Emily adds that instead of any focus on the potentially “slandered” men pictured in the alleged tweet, the focus has instead been on Pearson herself, giving the journalist a “moment of victimhood”.
Lewis Goodall adds that a “culture of grievance” has become “a central part of the political thinking of the modern radical right.”
What questions have been raised about ‘free speech’?
The incident has reignited debate on social media and traditional media outlets about free speech in the UK – but The News Agents question the commitment to the issue from some of those getting involved.
Lewis says that many of the people who are now enraged by Pearson’s situation, are the same people who claimed some of the protesters on marches in support of Palestine were saying things that should lead to prosecutions.
“Now, lads, which is it?” he asks.
“You cannot only believe in free speech or free speech absolutism – as many of these people claim to do – when it is about the people that you dislike, you have to believe in free speech in every direction.
“What they mean is, it's free speech when they like the thing that is being said.”
Jon Sopel says that some of the headlines and claims on TV debates on the issue have exaggerated the issue.
“The claim that's also been made is that free speech just died in the UK with this action,” he says.
“Of course it didn't. Free speech is allowed, but there are limitations on free speech. There always have been.”
As far as Emily Maitlis is concerned, the real story here is the very modern implication of posting anything public online.
“I think we have to get used to something else, which is that a tweet is not just a tweet,” she adds.
“If you are libelling people, there have been libel actions. If you are defaming people, there have been defamation actions.
“If you say something online, it has value. It has merit.”
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