Jess Phillips: Social media giants must prevent hate preachers from profiting

Labour MP Jess Phillips has said social media companies must stop hate preachers from profiting, as she called for candidates to be barred from discussing raping politicians.

Police are investigating Ukip candidate Carl Benjamin after he said he “wouldn’t even rape” the Birmingham Yardley MP, before suggesting on YouTube that “with enough pressure I might cave”.

Ms Phillips said on Saturday there must be a “code of conduct” which would see parties sanctioned if candidates fall foul of the rules.

Carl Benjamin
Carl Benjamin

She told the Press Association: “I would back something that stopped somebody as part of normal political discourse talking about raping another politician, yes.”

Without giving explicit backing, Ms Phillips signalled she may support a Fawcett Society petition calling for a lifetime ban from standing for elected office for anyone who promotes rape or violence.

But she also called for Silicon Valley giants to show “much greater responsibility”, citing Mr Benjamin making “some astronomical figure being a hate preacher”.

“The man who has been basically a hate preacher and has targeted me for years – and not just me, he has done it to other women, too – only yesterday was he demonetised on YouTube,” she said.

“If you’re neutral in the face of fascism then you’re an appeaser, so yes, they’ve got to do much, much more.”

Jess Phillips
Jess Phillips

West Midlands Police are investigating Mr Benjamin’s comments “to establish if an offence has taken place”.

The Ukip candidate in the South West for the upcoming European Parliament elections released the video on YouTube, where he has a significant following under the pseudonym Sargon of Akkad.

“There’s been an awful lot of talk about whether I would or wouldn’t rape Jess Phillips,” he said, after announcing a list of spoof policies.

“I’ve been in a lot of trouble for my hardline stance of not even raping her. I suppose with enough pressure I might cave. But let’s be honest, nobody’s got that much beer.”

Ms Phillips addressed an audience at the annual conference for centre-left Labour pressure group Progress in London on Saturday.

In her speech, she blamed people across the political spectrum for a rise in abuse aimed at MPs, saying: “Ninety per cent of the hatred I have received this week was from the left. We should be very, very worried.”

She called for Labour to act progressively and not to attempt to play the Tories at their own game.

“We have a real opportunity to be the solution that the country needs and we will never, ever do it if what we do is, instead of seeking to progress, is that we play in the Conservatives’ territory and just seek to conserve and restore,” she said.

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