The leftist Labour Party government in Britain is facing accusations of a cover-up over the mass stabbing at a children’s dance party in Southport after the suspect was charged with terror offences.
According to reports from the BBC and The Telegraph, top-level government officials were made aware over the past few weeks that Axel Rudakubana, 18, the second-generation Rwandan migrant suspected of killing three young girls and injuring ten others at a Taylor Swift-themed dance party in Southport on July 29, faced potential terror charges over allegedly producing the deadly toxin Ricin and downloading an Al-Qaeda terror manual.
The Southport mass stabbing sparked widespread anti-mass migration protests and riots in England over the summer, resulting in over a thousand arrests and hundreds sent to prison. In the immediate aftermath of the attack, speculation ran rampant on social media about the potential motive and identity of the then-unidentified suspect.
Authorities were quick to condemn “misinformation” about the case, which seemingly led to a protest-turned-riot outside a local mosque in Southport. Police initially merely identified the suspect as having been born in Wales. However, after the Liverpool Crown Court lifted reporting restrictions on the case to quell speculation on August 1, it was revealed suspect Axel Rudakubana was born to Rwandan migrants living in Wales in 2006.
Figures, such as Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, had faced heavy criticism for questioning whether the attack was terror-related amid the information vacuum in the aftermath of the Southport killings. On Wednesday, he questioned whether the new developments may have vindicated his original position.
The Free Speech Union, meanwhile, stated of the new charges and how they may impact some of those who were jailed after the attack for social media posts: “We suspect some of the prosecutions of people for saying supposedly inflammatory things on social media may now be unsafe – for instance, the man in Cumbria sentenced to eight weeks in jail for reposting three allegedly ‘Islamophobic’ memes on Facebook. At the very least, it may be grounds for appealing their often draconian jail sentences.”
Although prosecutors still won’t be drawn on whether the mass stabbing itself was a terror attack, Rudakubana was charged on Tuesday with violating Section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000 over allegedly downloading a pdf file named: “Military Studies in the Jihad Against the Tyrants: The Al-Qaeda Training Manual”. He was also charged with breaching Section 1 of the Biological Weapons Act 1974 over the alleged production of a biological toxin, with Ricin said to have been found in his home.
Former top Downing Street official Dominic Cummings has alleged that a cover-up is continuing, accusing the BBC of spreading “disinformation for Number 10” by reporting that the government was only made aware of the charges in the past few weeks.
Boris Johnson’s ex-chief advisor—who is notable among critics for having seen the very top of UK crisis planning from the inside—said that the prime minister’s office would have been “immediately” informed about the police discovering Ricin and an Al Qaeda manual, even if the decision to charge was not reached weeks later.
“The BBC uses clever wording re ‘aware of CHARGES’ to spread more disinformation. The ‘mainstream’ IS the disinformation,” Cummings said, adding that “the news has been dropped amid the budget [and] US election to try to hide the disinformation operation against the voters.”
The government has denied intentionally withholding information about the case amid growing accusations that it engaged in a cover-up. A Whitehall source quoted by The Times accused the opposition Conservative Party of spreading “conspiracy theories and the undermining of public faith in our institutions and public servants.” Nevertheless, the police themselves say the Criminal Prosecution Service has advised them not to reveal further details.
Both Conservative leadership candidates, former equalities minister Kemi Badenoch and former immigration minister Robert Jenrick, demanded the government disclose when it was made aware of Rudakubana’s alleged terrorist activities.
Jenrick said: “Any suggestion of a cover-up will permanently damage public trust in whether we’re being told the truth about crime in our country… Keir Starmer must urgently explain to the country what he knew about the Southport attack and when he learned it. Across the board, the hard reality of mass migration is being covered up. We need the truth – and we need to change.”
Badenoch added: “After the Southport murders and the ensuing protests and riots, some people asked me why I wasn’t commenting. This is why… Too many on all sides rush to conclusions before all the facts are clear. As more information emerges, it is quite clear that there are serious questions to be asked of the police, the CPS and also of Keir Starmer’s response to the whole situation.”
On Wednesday, during Prime Minister’s Questions, Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice questioned if Sir Keir Starmer agrees with Jonathan Hall KC, the government’s independent reviewer of terrorism laws, who “has said repeatedly recently that it is important in incidents of terrorism that the authorities put out more information sooner in order to prevent and information gap.”
Responding, Prime Minister Starmer declined to answer directly, merely taking the opportunity to score some political points. He said: “Erm, Mr Speaker, obviously, I’ll tread carefully in answering this question for the very reasons you yourself set out at the beginning of this session. I think it’s very important, first and foremost, that in all cases, including the particular difficult case that the Speaker mentioned earlier that the police and prosecutors are able to do their difficult job.”
Appearing to criticise the opposition for daring to ask questions about the case, Starmer continued: “All of us in this house have a choice to make, including both candidates to be the next Tory leader. They can either support the police in their difficult task or they can undermine the police in their difficult task, and I know what side I’m on.”