 | |
Type of site | New media outlet |
|---|---|
| Editor | Steve Walker |
| URL | skwawkbox |
| Launched | 2012 |
The Skwawkbox is a left-wing news site based in the United Kingdom, founded in 2012 by Steve Walker.
| | |
Type of site | New media outlet |
|---|---|
| Editor | Steve Walker |
| URL | skwawkbox |
| Launched | 2012 |
The Skwawkbox is a left-wing news site based in the United Kingdom, founded in 2012 by Steve Walker.
The Skwawkbox states that its aim is to "present information and analysis that will rarely make it into the mainstream media." [1] Founder Steve Walker has said: "The people we're trying to reach are what we call the outer parts of the Venn diagram. Not the real dedicated people on the left, but maybe their auntie or their uncle who reads their Facebook page." [2]
According to BuzzFeed , The Skwawkbox has published a "regular run of stories that appear to have been briefed by insiders close to the top of the Corbyn project", suggesting that certain senior individuals in the Labour Party use it to get their messages out. [3] [4] It has been involved in rallying online support for pro-Corbyn hashtags on Twitter [5] and emailing and petitioning MPs within the Labour Party. [6]
In common with other left-wing alternative media sites, The Skwawkbox's stance towards the Labour leadership became more critical after Corbyn stepped down and Keir Starmer was elected as Labour leader in 2020. [7]
In June 2017, The Skwawkbox published an article suggesting that the real death toll from the Grenfell Tower fire was being covered up, based on claims from "multiple sources" that the government had placed a D-Notice on coverage. [8] A correction was published later. [9]
There was no such notice, which led MailOnline and The Sun in turn to publish articles accusing the site of spreading "fake news". [8] Walker complained about the MailOnline article to the Independent Press Standards Organisation. IPSO concluded that the MailOnline characterisations of the D-Notice story as "fake news" and of allegations against Theresa May in the article as "false" were not misleading and the complaint was not upheld. See 16690-17 Walker v Mail Online. [10]
The MailOnline D-Notice story referred to Steve Walker's business dealings with the NHS. This aspect was also covered by The Sun. [11] Both outlets published corrections to their accounts of these dealings. [12] [13] The IPSO ruling noted that MailOnine had offered to append the following footnote, with a similar wording to be published as a standalone correction:
A previous version of this article said that Foojit made money from the NHS “by selling its mailing system to the Levenshulme Health Clinic in Manchester”. Mr Walker has contacted us to point out that in fact Foojit’s mailing system software was provided to the Clinic for free. What the Health Clinic pays for is any letters it sends using Foojit’s services. In addition the article has been amended to say that the Skwawkbox blog posts published by Mr Walker reported on claims made by other sources. We are happy to make this clear. [14]
In November 2019, Labour MP Anna Turley sued Unite the Union and Steve Walker, editor of The Skwawkbox, for libel in respect of an article which appeared on The Skwawkbox on 7 April 2017. [15]
On 19 December 2019, following a six-day trial at the Royal Courts of Justice, Turley won the libel claim against Unite and Walker and was awarded damages of £75,000. [16] [17]
An application to appeal was filed, [18] [19] but refused on 7 May 2020. [20]
The Skwawkbox subscribes to independent, Leveson-compliant press regulator IMPRESS. In March 2018, Skwawkbox considered cutting ties with IMPRESS following the publication of a controversial 1961 political pamphlet by key IMPRESS supporter Max Mosley; [21] however, it has remained a member. [22] According to the regulator's 2017/18 annual report, it upheld three complaints against The Skwawkbox in the year up to 31 March 2018, the most of any member over the period. The same number of complaints were dismissed. [23]
In November 2018, IMPRESS ruled against The Skwawkbox for breaching standards in its reporting on Labour MP Wes Streeting. The complaint upheld was that the publishers did not take all reasonable steps to ensure accuracy, because Streeting had only been given four hours to respond to the blog's enquiry. [24] The panel did not make a judgment on the factual accuracy of the article. [25]
Jeremy Bernard Corbyn is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left, Corbyn describes himself as a socialist. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington North since 1983. As of October 2020, Corbyn sat in the House of Commons as an independent, following the suspension of the whip. On 24 May 2024, Corbyn was expelled from the Labour Party.
The Jewish Chronicle is a London-based Jewish weekly newspaper. Founded in 1841, it is the oldest continuously published Jewish newspaper in the world. Its editor is Jake Wallis Simons.
Stephen Pollard is a British author and journalist. From 2008 until December 2021, he was the editor of The Jewish Chronicle and remains a senior advisor and writer on the paper.
Labour Briefing was a monthly political magazine produced by members of the British Labour Party.
Benjamin David Bradley is a British Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, since the 2017 general election.
John Zak Woodcock, Baron Walney is a British politician and life peer who acts as the government’s independent adviser on political violence and disruption. He formerly served as a Labour and then independent Member of Parliament (MP) for Barrow and Furness from 2010 to 2019. He has sat as a crossbencher in the House of Lords since 2021, previously sitting as a non-affiliated peer.
Iain Mackenzie McNicol, Baron McNicol of West Kilbride is a British politician, trade unionist and life peer who served as General Secretary of the Labour Party from 2011 to 2018. He was National Political Officer of the GMB trade union from 2004 to 2011.
Thomas Zoltan Newton Dunn, known as Tom Newton Dunn, is an English broadcast journalist and former newspaper journalist. He presented First Edition, an evening news programme on talkTV.
Anna Catherine Turley is a British Labour and Co-operative politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Redcar from 2015 to 2019.
Jessica Rose Phillips is a British politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham Yardley since 2015. A member of the Labour Party, she was Shadow Minister for Domestic Violence and Safeguarding in Keir Starmer's Opposition frontbench from 2020 to 2023.
Cuba Solidarity Campaign is a British organisation founded in 1962 that campaigns against the US embargo of Cuba, for an end to the US occupation of Cuban land at Guantánamo Bay, and against foreign intervention in Cuba.
Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) is a British non-governmental organisation established in August 2014 by members of the Anglo-Jewish community. It publishes research, organises rallies and petitions, and conducts litigation.
The Canary is a left-wing news website based in the United Kingdom. While focusing on UK political affairs, it also has a "Global" section, a satire section, and "Science", "Environment", and "Health" sections. Founded in 2015 by Kerry-Anne Mendoza and her wife Nancy Mendoza, the website increased in popularity around the time of the 2017 United Kingdom general election. It was initially funded through a combination of advertising and a group of about 1500 supporters, but by 2020 had moved to a largely reader-funded model.
The 2016 Labour Party leadership election was called when a challenge to Jeremy Corbyn as Leader of the Labour Party arose following criticism of his approach to the Remain campaign in the referendum on membership of the European Union and questions about his leadership of the party.
The Independent Monitor for the Press (Impress) is an independent press regulator in the UK. It was the first to be recognised by the Press Recognition Panel. Unlike the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), Impress is fully compliant with the recommendations of the Leveson Inquiry. Impress regulates over 200 titles, consisting of a variety of independent local, investigative and special interest news publications across the UK. No national newspaper has signed up to the new regulator; most continue to be members of the unrecognised IPSO. Its founder is Jonathan Heawood and its current Chief Executive is Lexie Kirkconnell-Kawana.
Emma Dent Coad is a British architectural historian and politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Kensington from 2017 to 2019. A former member of the Labour Party, she has been a member of Kensington and Chelsea London Borough Council since 2006. She resigned her Labour membership on 27 April 2023, but remains on the local council as an independent.
The Grenfell Tower Inquiry is a British public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire, which killed 72 people and destroyed Grenfell Tower on 14 June 2017. It was ordered by Prime Minister Theresa May on the day following the fire.
There have been instances of antisemitism within the Labour Party of the United Kingdom (UK) since its establishment. Notable occurrences include canards about "Jewish finance" during the Boer War and antisemitic remarks from leading Labour politician Ernest Bevin. In the 2000s, controversies arose over comments made by Labour politicians regarding an alleged "Jewish lobby", a comparison by London Labour politician Ken Livingstone of a Jewish journalist to a concentration camp guard, and a 2005 Labour attack on Jewish Conservative Party politician Michael Howard.
The Corbyn wreath-laying controversy refers to a political controversy in the United Kingdom surrounding the visit of Jeremy Corbyn to the Hamman Chott Cemetery in Tunis in 2014.
Dangerous Hero: Corbyn's Ruthless Plot for Power is a 2019 biography of British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn written by British conservative writer, investigative journalist and biographer Tom Bower. It is an unfriendly portrait of Corbyn.