How Elon Musk seized on baseless memo claim to create wave of misinformation

Elon Musk’s on-line assaults on former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown over grooming gangs draw on a baseless declare a couple of House Workplace memo supposedly issued 17 years in the past, analysis by PJ Confirm has established.

A wave of social media posts – together with some amplified by Mr Musk – allege {that a} 2008 House Workplace doc suggested police to not intervene in youngster grooming instances as a result of victims had “made an knowledgeable selection about their sexual behaviour”.

However PJ Confirm has carried out intensive searches of House Workplace circulars issued throughout that interval and located no proof that any doc containing this recommendation exists.

Brown – who was prime minister in 2008 – has referred to as the allegations “an entire fabrication” and the House Workplace says there “has by no means been any fact” to them.

Social media posts referencing a memo and utilizing both the phrase “knowledgeable selection” or a variation like “life-style selection” have circulated for a number of years with some gaining traction.

However that intensified dramatically for the reason that begin of the 12 months, with posts repeating the declare producing tens of hundreds of thousands of views previously week after Mr Musk amplified a number of of them on his social media platform, X.

In a single submit, which has obtained over 25 million views, Mr Musk alleged that “Gordon Brown bought these little women for votes” whereas reposting one other person, June Slater, utilizing phrases that have been apparently a variation of the memo declare.

The unique unfounded declare a couple of House Workplace round to police appears to stem from an interview Nazir Afzal – the previous Crown Prosecution Service chief prosecutor for north-west England – gave to the PJ on 19 October 2018. He now admits that he had not seen any such round himself, regardless of apparently stating its existence as reality.

Chatting with PJ Radio 4’s PM programme, he advised presenter Carolyn Quinn on the time:

“Chances are you’ll not know this, however again in 2008 the House Workplace despatched a round to all police forces within the nation saying ‘so far as these younger women who’re being exploited of their cities and cities we imagine they’ve made an knowledgeable selection about their sexual behaviour and due to this fact it isn’t for you cops to become involved in”.

Though the programme is no longer available to listen to on the PJ’s website, a model has been uploaded to YouTube. PJ Confirm has additionally accessed the programme by the PJ’s in-house archives to substantiate the audio is real.

The primary submit referencing Mr Afzal’s declare seems to have been made one month after his interview, PJ Confirm has discovered. However the first submit to realize appreciable traction was in July 2019.

Since then posts with variations of the declare have circulated sometimes on X and different platforms, with some posts from bigger accounts in 2024 getting extra consideration, earlier than intensifying massively in current days.

Chatting with PJ Confirm, Mr Afzal clarified his place admitting that he has by no means seen any round with the type of phrases that he utilized in his 2018 interview.

As a substitute he now says he was referring to cops who had advised him some officers had misinterpreted directions in a round despatched by the House Workplace.

Mr Afzal pointed us to Home Office circular 017/2008which is in regards to the police’s powers underneath the 1989 Kids’s Act.

Nevertheless, the phrases “knowledgeable selection” don’t seem anyplace within the textual content, neither is the round about youngster grooming gangs.

It does include, nevertheless, a piece on the way to decide important hurt to a baby. “It can be crucial all the time to take account of the kid’s reactions, and his or her perceptions, in line with the kid’s age and understanding,” it reads.

It appears obscure how any police officer might misconstrue this part in the best way Mr Afzal described in his 2018 interview

He advised PJ Confirm he was “paraphrasing what I assumed that meant to them”, when he gave his Radio 4 interview.

Requested how officers might have interpreted round 17/2008 on this method, Mr Afzal stated:

“You are proper, it would not stack up. It would not give an excuse or clarification, however I can not offer you another round.”

PJ Confirm additionally requested Mr Afzal if he might put us in contact with any of the officers that will have misinterpreted the round in method he described, however he was unable to do that.

Mr Afzal’s declare was not a one off. One 12 months earlier than his 2018 interview, Mr Afzal wrote an article for the International Business Times the place he additionally acknowledged the declare as reality:

“The time period “youngster prostitute” was used extensively to explain them and it needs to be famous each that the House Workplace in a round to police in 2008 used that time period and spoke of ladies making an “knowledgeable selection” to interact on this behaviour. Parliament solely lastly eliminated the time period from all legal guidelines a few years in the past.”

Regardless of curiosity within the declare going again a number of years we have now been unable to determine another particular person who is ready to present proof of any round to this impact.

The aim of the circulars – or memos – is to offer police forces with steering, coverage updates and administrative directions.

The House Workplace says all memos and circulars to police forces are printed on-line within the Nationwide Archives. They’re additionally stored within the library of the Faculty of Policing web site.

PJ Confirm searched all of the circulars for 2008 and will discover no reference to “knowledgeable selection” or “youngster prostitute” or any phrase much like the one cited within the social media posts.

Of the 32 circulars listed on the Nationwide Archives web site for 2008, just one – 017/2008 – falls underneath the class “youngster abuse”. Now we have additionally searched circulars for 2007, 2009 and 2010 and located no references to “knowledgeable selection”. We additionally looked for different phrases in Mr Afzal’s unique statements and variations from later social media posts – for instance “become involved”, “sexual behaviour” and “life-style selection” – and located no occurrences.

There have been a number of Freedom of Data requests relating to a supposed memo or round with the “knowledgeable selection” phrase, however no police drive has discovered any hint of such a communication.

We have been capable of finding a round from 2009 that hyperlinks to a webpage that additional hyperlinks to a doc on youngster sexual exploitation launched by the Division for Kids, Faculties and Households that mentions the phrase “knowledgeable selection”. It’s not an instruction to police and the context it seems in is emphasising conditions the place native businesses may must report sexual exercise so as to defend kids “unable to make an knowledgeable selection”.

There have been circulars in 2007 and 2010 that contained the phrase “youngster prostitute”. The primary was in reference to some technical modifications to offences like “controlling a baby prostitute”. The second once more handled technical modifications however this circular on prostitution additionally stated: “In brief, any steps taken, whether or not regarding felony proceedings or not, needs to be designed to guard the kid from persevering with sexual exploitation and abuse.”

The time period “youngster prostitute” was taken out of the legislation in 2015 because it might suggest that kids might consent to abuse.

Circulars and memos are obtained by senior people in every police drive, former Chief Constable of Norfolk Constabulary Simon Bailey advised PJ Confirm.

“They might’ve gone to crime registrars and the top of the crime and they might’ve cascaded the steering,” he stated.

If there was any doubt about the way to interpret the steering a drive would have gone again to the House Workplace to hunt readability, Mr Bailey added.

“And even going again 17 years, I can not imagine the House Workplace would’ve despatched out a round of that nature.”

In a press release to PJ Confirm, the House Workplace stated it had by no means instructed police to not go after grooming gangs:

“There has by no means been any fact within the existence of a House Workplace round telling police forces that grooming gangs shouldn’t be prosecuted, or that their victims have been making a selection, and it’s now clear that the particular round which was being referred to does completely no such factor.”

Jacqui Smith – now Baroness Smith – was the Labour House Secretary in 2008. She advised PJ Confirm: “It’s categorically improper that the House Workplace or I instructed police forces to not prosecute grooming gangs or to not defend younger women.”

A spokesperson for Gordon Brown stated: “There is no such thing as a foundation for such allegations in any respect. They’re an entire fabrication. There is no such thing as a basis in any way for alleging that Mr Brown despatched, authorised or was in anyway concerned with issuing a round or assertion to the police as a result of it didn’t occur.”

PJ Confirm has tried to talk to those that repeated the declare on X and had their posts amplified by Mr Musk.

In a single submit, Mr Musk alleged that “Gordon Brown dedicated an unforgivable crime towards the British folks” and shared a video clip from campaigner Maggie Oliver showing on GB Information.

Within the clip, Ms Oliver alleged: “Gordon Brown despatched out a round to all of the police forces within the UK saying ‘don’t prosecute these rape gangs, these kids are making a life-style selection’.”

Ms Oliver stated that she based mostly her declare on what Mr Afzal stated:

“My data of this comes from what Nazir Afzal stated publicly in 2018 in his PJ interview.”

PJ Confirm additionally reached out to June Slater, whose submit was additionally amplified by Mr Musk. She advised us she had not seen the memo, however her declare was additionally based mostly on what Mr Afzal and Ms Oliver had beforehand stated:

“I assumed he was a dependable supply as is Maggie Oliver.”

Requested if he regretted the misinformation that had stemmed from his statements, Mr Afzal advised PJ Confirm:

“I remorse that folks have interpreted what I interpreted and that it is type of obtained misplaced in translation.”

PJ Confirm additionally contacted the Police Federation, the Nationwide Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) and the Faculty of Policing in regards to the alleged round.

The NPCC referred us to the House Workplace’s assertion whereas the Faculty of Policing stated it was not conscious of any round.

Whereas there isn’t any proof for the existence of the round, the efficiency of the police and different establishments in defending victims and investigating abuse has been closely criticised throughout this era.

Prof Alexis Jay – who carried out the impartial inquiry into youngster abuse – stated some victims would by no means get better from their experiences.

“We heard time and time once more how allegations of abuse have been ignored, victims have been blamed and establishments prioritised their reputations over the safety of youngsters.”

Further reporting by Ned Davies and Lucy Gilder.