United Kingdom Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced that his government will put together a new center to combat “hostile state information attacks,” a move that has been condemned as a version of a “Ministry of Truth.”
Speaking before the United Nations General Assembly, Burnham addressed what he said were Russian attacks to “spread lies and disinformation and prey on people’s fears” through “far right narratives.”
“Today I am tasking our security chiefs to begin work on a new National Centre for Information Defence – to detect, attribute and disrupt these kinds of hostile state information attacks. To support and defend our democracy,” he said, adding, “So we’re ready to share our understanding of how these actors work, and how we can respond – because this is vital for our collective security and resilience.”
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage condemned Burnham’s declaration, comparing it to a “Ministry of Truth” with free speech implications.
“So, Andy Burnham’s latest ruse is to launch a National Centre for Information Defence to stop disinformation,” Farage said. “Now, of course, they’re using the excuse that Russia wants to interfere with elections.”
“Be in no doubt, there are bots online, they come from Russia, come from India, and elsewhere, that do try to influence our thinking, and that’s not a good piece of news,” he said. “But, you know what will happen with this Government. Already, he’s said it’s to stop far-right tropes, etc.”
Farage declared that Burnham’s idea is “like George Orwell’s Ministry of Truth, and this will be used to clamp down on free speech.”
Burnham became the UK’s prime minister in July. Delivering his first speech as prime minister, he pledged to create a “new political model and a new economic model.” He explained that changing politics entails making it “more collaborative, more about problem solving than point scoring,” adding that doing so will “build a new economy where we put life’s essentials back under stronger public control to make them affordable to you again.”
