LONDON (Bywire News) - A Twitter user who called for Labour MP Dawn Butler to get a ‘bullet in the head’ is a former UKIP and (prospective) Brexit Party candidate, an investigation for Bywire News can reveal.
The Tweet, from @peddiestephen said of the MP. “Egregious theft in a time of national emergency. Someone please explains to me why a bullet in the back of the head is anything but justified and wholly deserved.”
The egregious theft he referred to came from a news report shared by Toby Young which contained allegations that Butler had claimed excess expenses for food. However, the allegations are more than a decade old and were swiftly debunked at the time and are continuously debunked over and over again each time they are reshared and/or used as a tool to insight racism, hatred, and violence.
Young, however, decided not to delete the fake story, as such, his braying mob of Twitter twats were quick to answer the Trumpian style call for keyboard warriors. They ranged in tone from the insane to the outright racist, but only Peddie went so far as to actually call for murder.
Peddie’s account has since been deleted, but some digging reveals him to be a former Brexit party candidate for the Tonbridge & Malling seat in Kent.
In a letter to voters, he explained his decision to run for office was brought on by a desire to see more fighting in parliament. “I’ve chosen to stand for election this May because I believe this town is worth fighting for, needs fighting for and needs fighting for now. The Conservative party locally is clearly not interested in that fight.”
His campaign didn’t last long. He was one of a collection of candidates who resigned in protest at Nigel Farage’s policy at the time to contest every seat.
Twitter users for the most part were quick to leap to Butler’s defence including the unlikely hero Piers Morgan who Tweeted “this is an outrageous threat against a female MP. You must be held to account”.
Butler is no stranger to death threats. In June she had to close her constituency office due to threats and abuse made against he and her staff. She later shared some of the racist and threatening hate mail she regularly receives. Highlights include one which read:
“It is you Butler who is a racist, you blacks always have a chip on your shoulder.”
Another wrote: “You need to behave yourself… Remember what happened to Jo Cox.”
It is five years since Labour MP Jo Cox was stabbed to death by a terrorist who had also been hyped-up by fake news. To these individuals there is no such thing as debunking a story, if it is based upon something they want to believe, they will ignore the evidence and believe it anyway.
Young has so far made no comment about the death threat inspired by his misleading post and Stephen Peddie could not be reached for comment.
The Metropolitan Police have been informed and the story is ongoing.
(Written by Tom Cropper & Michael O'Sullivan, edited by Michael O'Sullivan)