- The Guardian Saturday 3 August 2019
(^12) National
Politics
Frank Field
Ex-Labour
MP to stand
against his
former party
Lobbying
MPs want
to question
Crosby on
propaganda
PA Media
The former Labour minister Frank
Field will stand against his ex-party
at the next general election.
Field sits as an independent after
resigning the Labour whip last year,
citing anti semitism and “nastiness”
in the party. The 77-year-old has been
MP for Birkenhead in Merseyside since
1979 and is one of the longest-serving
MPs in the Commons.
Field said he would fi ght the next
Jim Waterson
Media editor
Sir Lynton Crosby could be called to
give evidence to a House of Commons
select committee on disinformation
after the Guardian revealed how his
lobbying company CTF Partners was
involved in running a propaganda net-
work on Facebook on behalf of foreign
states and major corporate clients.
MPs said they would seek to sum-
mon representatives of Crosby’s
lobbying company to discuss their
role in running a disinformation net-
work which reached tens of millions of
people. It comes as trade groups seek
to distance themselves from CTF Part-
ners and its activities.
Jo Stevens, a member of the select
committee, said she wanted to sum-
mon Crosby himself to give evidence
and to compar e his company’s tactics
with those used by the defunct busi-
ness Cambridge Analytica.
“The parallels between the types
of work SCL [Cambridge Analytica’s
parent company] and Cambridge Ana-
lytica did and Lynton Crosby’s CTF are
unnerving,” she said. “Crosby appears
to be something of an expert in fake
news and disinformation so evidence
from him would be very helpful to our
ongoing inquiry.”
She added: “The latest revelations
also add to the long list of unanswered
questions our committee has for Face-
book. Yet again, it s systems appear to
have failed to do what they were sup-
posed to.”
Her fellow committee member Ian
Lucas also said he wanted to call rep-
resentatives of Crosby’s company to
give evidence: “I’d be very interested
in hearing what they have to say. I will
raise this with the select committee
when we next meet in September.”
CTF Partners , which was co-
founded by Crosby, a close ally of
the prime minister, Boris Johnson ,
has strongly denied it broke any of
Facebook’s rules while running its
propaganda networks and said it
operate d entirely within the law. It
repeatedly declined to discuss its
activities on behalf of specifi c clients
when contacted by the Guardian. It
election – due in 2022 – as the Birken-
head Social Justice candidate.
Speaking outside Birkenhead town
hall, he said: “Mark Twain would
have said my political death has been
much exaggerated. I'm here today to
announce I will be fi ghting the next
election and I will be standing as
the Birkenhead Social Justice party
candidate.”
He said it was “ultimately a sov-
ereign decision for the people of the
town to decide who they wish to repre-
sent them in the House of Commons. I
will be standing again as a candidate at
said it had no ability to infl uence John-
son or his new cabinet and stated it did
not create “fake news”.
Among its campaigns, CTF Partners
ran dozens of pages on behalf of the
Saudi government, as well as political
campaigns on behalf of major polluters
and big- budget campaigns pushing for
a no-deal Brexit. The links between the
Facebook pages were not visible to the
general public, who had no idea who
was funding them.
Lucas said the lack of transparency
on how Crosby’s company used Face-
book to run campaigns raised issues
for his committee. “Facebook is a plat-
form that is beyond regulation at this
time. It’s the most important political
battleground at the next election and
is being used by small groups of people
who can use it eff ectively and deci-
sively in the election to come.”
He said there remained major holes
in the regulatory system. “Those holes
were exploited in the 2016 referendum
and are capable of being exploited
in exactly the same way [in an elec-
tion]. It seems to me that operation
has already been started.”
Lobbying trade groups have been
swift to distance themselves from
Crosby’s company. The main trade
body for British lobbyists said the
company’s astroturfi ng activities on
Facebook were “entirely unethical”.
Rachael Clamp , of the Chartered
Institute of Public Relations, said:
“The alleged practices featured in yes-
terday’s report are entirely unethical
and do not – in any way – represent
professional lobbying. Lobbying is
an essential element of public pol-
icy making and the vast majority of
lobbyists operate ethically.”
George McGregor, co-chair of the
Public Aff airs Board, said Crosby’s
activities were out of step with the
wider industry. “Such alleged activity
is a million miles from the profes-
sional public aff airs industry in the
UK, which operates with the highest
ethical standards ,” he said.
the next election with the aim of doing
what I have done for 40 years: always
putting the interests of our town and
our country fi rst while championing
the views and interests of the under-
dogs in our society. ”
Field, the chair of the work and
pensions select committee , held
Birkenhead for Labour with a majority
of more than 25,500 and a vote share
of almost 77% in 2017. The next elec-
tion will be a test of how much of that
was because of his popularity and how
much was the appeal of Labour.
Birkenhead Labour party is
expected to fi nish choosing its can-
didate for the next election shortly.
A party spokeswoman said: “The
people of Birkenhead voted for a
Labour MP in 2017 with a near-10%
increase in vote share, and deserve a
Labour MP again. Birkenhead CLP is
selecting its Labour candidate to fi ght
the next general election whenever it
comes, so we can defeat Boris John-
son's hard-right government off ering
tax cuts for the super-rich and elect a
Labour government that will trans-
form society in the interests of the
many, not just a privileged few. ”
▲ Sir Lynton Crosby is a close ally of
the prime minister, Boris Johnson
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