MPs and election candidates are being provided with a guide on recognising conspiracy theories – ranging from false claims about 5G technology to others about vaccines and global organisations such as the International Monetary Fund. The guide was commissioned by Penny Mordaunt, the leader of the House of Commons, who launched it on Tuesday with the shadow leader, Lucy Powell, amid concern about the impact of conspiracies theories, in many cases with antisemitic overtones. Expert from the Antisemitism Policy Trust, Full Fact, Tell Mama, the Community Security Trust, the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), the Global Network on Extremism and Technology and the political analyst Arieh Kovler produced the guide, which provides examples of eight common conspiracies proliferating in the UK. Mordaunt described the proliferation as deeply disturbing, adding: “If they go unchallenged, we risk the public being conned and their wellbeing potentially damaged.”
Colleagues of Mordaunt on the Conservative benches are among those who have flirted with at least one of the conspiracy theories identified – that an urban design principle sometimes referred to as “15-minute cities” is a means of controlling movement and personal freedoms. The Tory backbencher, Nick Fletcher, asked Mordaunt in parliament in 2023 to set aside time for a debate on what he described as “the international socialist concept of so-called 15-minute cities”, which would “cost us our personal freedom”. Rishi Sunak has also attacked the concept, while a Department for Transport document claimed councils were using it to “police people’s lives”. The ISD identified “climate lockdown” as the catchphrase for the conspiracy that the climate crisis will be used as a pretext for depriving citizens of liberty. GB News was named as a rightwing outlet that had been used to “normalise” the narrative. “Events overseas have demonstrated the power of conspiracy theories to generate unrest and violence,” the guide warns. “It is imperative that Members of Parliament and candidates understand how conspiracy theories function and the distinct threat that they can pose to democratic elections.” Andrew Bridgen, the MP for North West Leicestershire, lost the Conservative whip after comparing the use of Covid vaccines to the Holocaust and has continued to voice extreme anti-vax rhetoric in parliament. Here we look at other conspiracy theories included in the guide. The Great Reset Originally a vague set of proposals from the World Economic Forum to encourage governments to move to adopt more equitable policies, the concept has been hijacked by conspiracy theorists claiming it is a bid by a small group to exert control. Spin-off theories have included claims – fuelled by attempts to reduce meat consumption – that the WEF wants to make people eat insects. The Great Replacement A belief that there is a plan to replace the European white population with minority ethnic groups. Far-right European politicians have repeated the claim, which has also been name-checked by more traditional rightwingers such as the French conservative presidential candidate, Valérie Pécresse. QAnon A claim that a paedophile ring is being run by a global elite, sometimes in the form of shape-shifting reptilians. It made inroads into the UK among some of the more extreme anti-vaccine activists during the pandemic. 5G Linked to the Great Reset theory, the belief holds that 5G technology is unsafe due to radiation from 5G waves. In the UK it has led to a spate of attacks on telecoms engineers since the start of the coronavirus crisis. The war in Ukraine Pro-Russia narratives, sometimes tied in with antisemitic messaging, have sought to portray the invasion as countering power-grabs by global elites. Elon Musk, the US billionaire and X owner, is singled out in the guide for tweeting a version of a meme associated with conspiracies about the conflict.