A Tory health minister has deleted a tweet in which she shared a doctored video a far-right conspiracy theory about Labour leader Keir Starmer.
Nadine Dorries shared a clip from an anonymous Twitter account which featured a heavily edited video of Mr Starmer during his time as the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
It was also shared, and deleted, by two other Conservative MPs, Lucy Allan and Maria Caufield.
The three MPs were giving a dressing down by Downing St after the incident.
Mr Starmer was DPP until 2013, and ordered a restructuring of how the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) dealt with grooming gang cases and admitted that victims had been failed.
In the unedited clip, which you can watch below, Mr Starmer is seen explaining why the system he inherited to prosecute people sexually abusing children wasn't fit for purpose.
But the edited video instead cuts bits from the video and claims to show in its own words “why he [Starmer] didn’t prosecute grooming gangs when he was head if [sic] the Crown Prosecution Service”.
The account which posted the edited clip has since been deleted.
The original clip reveals Mr Starmer is critical of his predecessors when discussing how the cases were handled
“The approach taken in the past was the wrong approach,” Mr Starmer said.
“It was based on a number of assumptions, which don’t withstand scrutiny.
“The guidelines change that, and they require the police and prosecutors to focus intensely on the allegation actually being made, and not so much on the weaknesses or vulnerabilities that are invariably there in some of the victims that come forward.”
Before Ms Dorries deleted the tweet a Labour source said: "This is a doctored video tweeted by far-right social media account.
"As a government minister, we hope Nadine Dorries acknowledges this and takes it down.
In the undoctored clip, Mr Starmer adds: “The assumptions that were made included the assumption that a victim of child sexual abuse will swiftly report what happened to them to the police, will be able to give a coherent and consistent account, first time. That they themselves will not have engaged in any offending or other behaviour, and that they will not have misused drugs or alcohol at any stage.”
“Those assumptions do not withstand scrutiny. They have got to change.”
Telford MP Lucy Allan deleted her Tweet but did not apologise.
Instead, she said: "There was a total failure by the authorities to understand #cse #grooming, a dismissive attitude towards victims, and a belief that victims brought it on themselves."
Which as many on twitter have pointed out was the point Mr Starmer was making.
Maria Caulfield's account disappeared from Twitter shortly after sharing the same tweet.
Shadow minister Dr Rosena Allin Khan said it was: "Disgraceful that a Government Minister and Tory MPs shared a smear about the Labour leader from a far-right account, without questioning it's accuracy.
"Why did this happen? Because the urge to score a political point beat the urge to seek the truth. Shocking."
Labour MP Wes Streeting said Ms Dorries was spreading “fake news”.
He tweeted: “You had time to do this despite being a Minister in the Department of Health during a public health crisis.
“It’s either malevolence or stupidity. Probably both.”
A Downing Street spokesman: "These Tweets have rightly been deleted.
"The MPs involved have been spoken to by the Whips’ Office and reminded of their responsibility to check the validity of information before they post on social media sites."
