The Conservatives are having problems with their socials again. Having claimed last month that London was “the crime capital of the world”, the party has now deleted another social media exhortation not to let “the doomsters and the naysayers” talk down Britain.
The post on X claimed that Britain was the second most powerful country in the world, illustrated by pictures including a Canadian-owned Aston Martin, a US F-35 fighter jet and a Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft developed by a European consortium while the UK was in the EU.
But the image may have been deleted from social media because it included a picture of King Charles – a breach of protocol since parties are meant to avoid dragging the royal family into political debate. Buckingham Palace did not comment, but it is understood that the post had been noted by senior palace officials before it was deleted last Friday.
It also included a picture of the England men’s football team lining up for their friendly against Brazil last month – a match in which they were very much second best. But sports teams, like the royals, are usually considered to be beyond politics.
Political parties are free to make up any facts they like in political advertising, so long as they do not publish false statements about the character or conduct of a candidate. But despite using phrases plucked from Boris Johnson’s thesaurus, there was a hint of truth in the post – a report by BrandFinance had placed the UK second in its Global Soft Power Index.
British soft power is more about a thriving cultural scene than fighter jets, though, and the film director Nick Murphy pointed out that the party was celebrating the arts with a picture of the Oscar winner Christopher Nolan weeks after cutting arts funding – something that campaigners have called a “national emergency” for artistic venues.
Dragging the king and the England football team into politics was a bad idea, said Mark Borkowski, a PR consultant and author.
“This says a lot about how no strategic thought goes into social media,” he said. “It is a medium for clickbait and dogwhistle politics. The mistake most political parties and MPs make is that they don’t think before they tweet. Now dragging the king into a political debate indicates how foolish and thoughtless this is.”
Borkowski compared the move with the fact-free attacks made by Donald Trump during his presidential campaigns.
“There’s a generation bewitched by this sort of attitude, a Trumpian way of using social media. People see this is as a sketchpad for ideas about propaganda, but these aren’t disappearing tweets. It just shows a lack of strategy.
“It also indicates how bloody the battle is going to be running up to the election. We’re in a phony war situation now, but there is going to be full-on mudslinging and really dirty fighting on social media platforms. So if this is the team at Tory party central office being deployed at this stage, God help us for the future.”
The Conservative party did not respond to requests for comment.
FREDERICTON – A look at David Coon, leader of the Green Party of New Brunswick:
Born: Oct. 28, 1956.
Early years: Born in Toronto and raised in Montreal, he spent about three decades as an environmental advocate.
Education: A trained biologist, he graduated with a bachelor of science from McGill University in Montreal in 1978.
Family: He and his wife Janice Harvey have two daughters, Caroline and Laura.
Before politics: Worked as an environmental educator, organizer, activist and manager for 33 years, mainly with the Conservation Council of New Brunswick.
Politics: Joined the Green Party of Canada in May 2006 and was elected leader of the New Brunswick Green Party in September 2012. Won a seat in the legislature in 2014 — a first for the province’s Greens.
Quote: “It was despicable. He’s clearly decided to take the low road in this campaign, to adopt some Trump-lite fearmongering.” — David Coon on Sept. 12, 2024, reacting to Blaine Higgs’s claim that the federal government had decided to send 4,600 asylum seekers to New Brunswick.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
FREDERICTON – A look at Blaine Higgs, leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick.
Born: March 1, 1954.
Early years: The son of a customs officer, he grew up in Forest City, N.B., near the Canada-U.S. border.
Education: Graduated from the University of New Brunswick with a degree in mechanical engineering in 1977.
Family: Married his high-school sweetheart, Marcia, and settled in Saint John, N.B., where they had four daughters: Lindsey, Laura, Sarah and Rachel.
Before politics: Hired by Irving Oil a week after he graduated from university and was eventually promoted to director of distribution. Worked for 33 years at the company.
Politics: Elected to the legislature in 2010 and later served as finance minister under former Progressive Conservative Premier David Alward. Elected Tory leader in 2016 and has been premier since 2018.
Quote: “I’ve always felt parents should play the main role in raising children. No one is denying gender diversity is real. But we need to figure out how to manage it.” — Blaine Higgs in a year-end interview in 2023, explaining changes to school policies about gender identity.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
OTTAWA – The pressing issues of climate change and food security join more familiar ones like violent extremism and espionage on a new list of Canada’s intelligence priorities.
The federal government says publishing the list of priorities for the first time is an important step toward greater transparency.
The government revises the priorities every two years, based on recommendations from the national security adviser and the intelligence community.
Once the priorities are reviewed and approved by the federal cabinet, key ministers issue directives to federal agencies that produce intelligence.
Among the priorities are the security of global health, food, water and biodiversity, as well as the issues of climate change and global sustainability.
The new list also includes foreign interference and malign influence, cyberthreats, infrastructure security, Arctic sovereignty, border integrity and transnational organized crime.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
