‘Vote Genocide’: Satirical Poster Included in Dossier of Election ‘Abuse’

An artist has been left in shock after a political poster he designed was included in a dossier sent by a government advisor alleging a “concerted campaign by extremists” to intimidate general election candidates.

Meanwhile, the vandalism of a pro-Palestine candidate’s campaign headquarters did not feature in the document, which has been revealed by a freedom of information (FOI) request made by Novara Media.

Following the revelations, human rights campaigners warned against “knee-jerk responses” to an alleged culture of abuse in politics which would “prevent people’s ability to speak out about the matters they care about”.

A dossier of abuse.

In July, John Woodcock AKA Lord Walney, the government’s nominally “independent” advisor on political extremism, sent a dossier to the home secretary, following allegations of abuse during the general election.

In a letter accompanying the dossier briefed to the BBC, Woodcock wrote that evidence pointed to a “concerted campaign by extremists to create a hostile atmosphere for MPs within their constituencies to compel them to cave into political demands”.

He said the “conduct of the election campaign in many communities has underlined the gravity of the threat to our democracy”.

Political abuse was itself the source of a political row at the time, as many of the accusations were levelled at pro-Palestine independent candidates. Claims of abuse by Jonathan Ashworth – the defeated Labour candidate in Leicester South who had been central to the party’s national campaign – were dismissed as “sour grapes” by Shockat Adam, the pro-Palestine candidate who won. The Muslim Vote, which encouraged Muslim voters to engage with electoral politics on the issue of Gaza, was accused of being “sectarian”. The campaign said it had been “inundated” with Islamophic hate mail after it was accused by Ashworth of coordinating the alleged abuse.

Woodcock’s intervention did nothing to quell the furore. Indeed, he’s been a controversial figure for some time. Earlier this year, Novara Media and others raised questions about Woodcock’s moonlighting as a lobbyist for the arms trade and fossil fuel companies, and his support for Israel, which appeared to conflict with the independence of his role. In May, he released a long-awaited report into political violence and disruption which listed 41 new ways to crackdown on protests, and which focused on the “threat” from the “extreme left”.

An FOI by Novara Media can now reveal the contents of Woodcock’s dossier.

Vote for genocide, vote Labour.

In February, a poster was spotted at a bus stop in Ilford North reading “Vote for Genocide, Vote Labour”, with a blood-stained cross on a ballot paper. The east London constituency was being hotly contested by Labour front-bencher Wes Streeting and pro-Palestine independent Leanne Mohamad. Sitting on a majority of about 10,000, Streeting could have expected a comfortable election night, but he ended up limping over the line by just 528 votes, as Labour lost seats over its stance on Israel’s onslaught on Gaza.

The poster was designed by Darren Cullen, a political artist who also goes by the moniker Spelling Mistakes Cost Lives. “I designed that poster as a direct response to Labour’s voting record and statements on Gaza since Starmer became leader,” he told Novara Media.

The poster is of a piece with Cullen’s acerbic satirical art. Recent work of his takes aim at Barclays bank for “making a killing” from investments in fossil fuels and Israel. In 2016, the Sun slammed a spoof army recruitment leaflet he made – promising “free prosthetic limbs” and “like prison but with more fighting” – as “disgusting”. Cullen called it “an absurd and potentially offensive satire on military recruitment and the promises that come with life (and death) in the army”.

Cullen is used to riling rightwing tabloids. “I enjoy making bad people angry and good people laugh,” he told the Morning Star in 2017. But when Novara Media called to inform him that he’d been included in a dossier of allegations of abuse of candidates during the election which had been sent to the home secretary, he was shocked.

He said: “This feels like an attempt to paint voters as extremists for having the cheek to try and hold MPs to account. We’re getting to the point where asking MPs questions or simply campaigning against them is being painted as intimidation and abuse. That’s authoritarianism.”

The dossier lists Cullen’s poster alongside allegations which would be widely understood as examples of abuse and intimidation – such as a candidate having faeces stuffed through her office letterbox, or a campaigner’s tyres being slashed.

Cullen said: “The irony is that Walney calls this ‘extremism’ and a ‘threat to our democracy’, while attempting to proscribe political speech that is critical of MPs. It’s ridiculous.”

Following Novara Media’s revelations, human rights campaigners warned Woodcock against conflating abuse with legitimate political activity.

Sam Grant, director of advocacy at Liberty, said: “Any review coming out of Lord Walney’s dossier must respect everyone’s right to make their voices heard and avoid knee-jerk responses which would prevent people’s ability to speak out about the matters they care about.

“As we have seen in previous reports by Lord Walney, there is a danger of conflating two conversations that should be distinct. It’s concerning to see a broad range of political actions grouped up here as one. 

“Everyone should be able to safely participate in democracy and make their voices heard, whether they are an MP, campaigner or constituent.”

What Walney missed out.

While including Cullen’s poster amongst abuse allegations, Woodcock’s dossier makes a curious omission. 

Two days before the election, the campaign headquarters of Tanushka Marah, a pro-Palestine independent candidate who stood in Hove Portslade, were vandalised. Police investigated, and Marah said she was left “deeply saddened” after her campaign office had its doors glued shut and her banner was graffitied leaving the word “anus”.

Marah says the vandalism came after a “coordinated campaign” and “quite a lot of online disinformation” by “local, very active Zionists”.

On 28 June, an evening of “verse prose and music” for Marah’s campaign was picketed by pro-Israeli campaigners. Marah had previously described the 7 October attacks as “a terrible massacre”, and said: “If we do not actually make ways towards peace there will be continuous reactions like this.” The pro-Israel campaigners held signs accusing her of “whitewashing” the Hamas attacks, saying “Rape is not a ‘reaction’” and “Torture is not a ‘reaction’”.

“They were all standing in a line. It was absolutely NF [National Front] kind of intimidating … it really was frightening.”

“I just broke down,” Marah said. “Someone in the campaign said, ‘go home’. I was so tired. It’s that kind of bullying.”

Marah said that when her office was vandalised, it was “a relief”, because she was “expecting worse”. 

“I started to genuinely worry that someone, one of our campaigners or myself, would be attacked,” she explained.

Marah, however, has received no contact from Woodcock. Novara Media contacted Woodcock to ask why he had included Cullen’s poster and failed to include the vandalism of Marah’s office, but he did not respond.

A spokesperson for the Home Office said: “Political intimidation and abuse must have no place in our society and we take reports of intimidation, harassment and abuse extremely seriously.

“We are working with the police to provide appropriate mitigations to ensure locally elected representatives are able to go about the business for which they were democratically elected.”