Social media is full of claims that France’s far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen has endorsed part of Theresa May’s speech to the Conservative party conference with a handclap on Twitter.
Alastair Campbell and the Labour MP Angela Rayner are among those who have commented about it on Twitter.
Just one problem. It isn’t actually true.
While there’s no doubt that Le Pen would find some common ground with the Conservative party’s sudden focus on the impact of foreign workers on employment, the account that made the tweet is not Le Pen’s.
Instead it belongs to a 46-year-old Front National supporter from Toulouse. “It is funny that British MPs cannot recognise an unofficial account. It’s clearly marked on my profile,” the supporter said in an exchange of messages on Thursday morning.
This has not stopped several news sources claiming the handclap emoji came from Le Pen herself.
May’s speech at the Conservative party conference has attracted considerable criticism for its anti-migrant rhetoric. The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, issued a statement saying: “Conservative party leaders have sunk to a new low this week as they fan the flames of xenophobia and hatred in our communities and try to blame foreigners for their own failures.”
A joint statement from the Scottish National party, Plaid Cymru and the Green party described the Conservative conference as producing “the most toxic rhetoric on immigration we have seen from any government in living memory”.
An apparent show of support for May’s views from one of the leading far-right figures of European politics plays perfectly into people’s desire to paint Conservative proposals on immigration and foreign workers as a significant and worrying lurch to the right. However, as is often the case, you can’t necessarily believe everything you read on or about social media.
