FORMER Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell has accused the Green Party of "nastiness" for publishing a list of MPs who did not back a ceasefire in the recent House of Commons vote - even though it is public record.
Campbell’s comments came when he appeared on a panel of the Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips and was asked his opinion of earlier comments made by Rachel Reeves.
Reeves, the shadow Labour chancellor had said some demonstrations aimed at MPs over their stance on the war in Gaza have “crossed the line from protest to intimidation”.
The Labour frontbencher also condemned protests outside MPs’ homes as “totally unacceptable” and urged those calling for a ceasefire to do so “in a responsible way”.
When asked by Phillips about Reeves’ view on protesters, Campbell agreed and compared the “intimidating behaviour” with the killing of representatives Jo Cox and David Amess.
He said : “I think a lot of MPs are talking about this.
“I think there’s something very, very strange about this – there’s nobody in the world that doesn’t want the violence to stop, and doesn’t want the bombing to stop, nobody that’s really happy about it.
“And, for example, the Green Party doing that huge social media campaign that they did – listing all the Labour MPs – and saying, ‘these people, if you want to know the people who voted to keep the bombing going’ – there’s a nastiness to the whole thing.”
However, many viewers were quick to point out the list is a matter of public record on the parliamentary website.
A search online also shows multiple news publications and broadcasters published the full list of MPs who voted against the ceasefire, as well as those who broke ranks in a major rebellion against Keir Starmer.
The National, The Mirror, The Herald, i newspaper, Evening Standard, The Daily Express, The Spectator, The Independent, The Guardian, Newsweek, The Tab, several local newspapers, as well as the BBC and Sky News continue to have lists on their websites.
Campbell continued, stating people had “such short memories”, before stating: “Jo Cox, I’m doing a memorial lecture Jo Cox later this week, David Amess, two MPs got killed, and you now see this situation because MPs are doing what they’re paid to do, which is represent and take part in votes.
“Yes – follow the lines sometimes from the party, but then to see - thousands of people marching on her offices, Keir Starmer, whether people like him or they don’t like him, is entitled to a private life, he’s entitled to a family life.
“I think Rachel is absolutely right, protest is fine, trying to intimidate people and silence them is wrong.”
One viewer wrote on Twitter/X: “Rubbish. Their names are freely available anyway if people wanted to look, they can find them. We should hold our elected ‘leader’ accountable for their actions."
Another added: “The Greens did the right thing, constituents have a right to be upset that their elected ‘representatives’ not only ignored their wishes for a ceasefire but flat out voted against them.”
