“People will be shocked at how normalised violent rhetoric and evidence-free conspiracy theories have become in Britain”, so warns Marianna Spring, the BBC’s specialist disinformation and social media correspondent. 

There are certainly occasions where unmerited conspiratorial thinking can burst out of the online sphere and into the mainstream of British politics. Take, for example, former MP Andrew Bridgen’s plunge into the deepest depths of Covid conspiracism. Yet mainstream politics’ antibodies to conspiracism were strong, with Bridgen soon removed from the Conservative benches after comparing the Covid vaccine rollout to the Holocaust.

With Bridgen crushingly defeated at the last election, coming second-last with a measly 3.2 percent of the vote, it could be tempting to let complacency take hold and assume Bridgen took the last vestiges of conspiracism in Parliament with him. But in recent weeks, worrying signs have emerged that conspiratorial thinking may have gained a foothold in Parliament once again, this time emanating from Labour’s side of the House.

Dawn Butler, the former Shadow Secretary of State for Women and Equalities, has marked this year’s Black History Month in increasingly bizarre ways. She started the month by posting a spoken poetry video informing us that “the global majority are of the first ones”. Butler deleted the original video after it was pointed out that it included an image venerating various black power activists who have been convicted of murder and rape. But the collage of wrong ‘uns was far from the most troubling part of the video; what Butler was saying was far more strange and concerning. As has already been covered in these pages, Butler’s video was laden with overt references to kooky Afrocentric conspiracies. Could this be another case of an MP going down the conspiracy wormhole?

Worryingly, Butler then posted another bizarre video to mark the second week of Black History Month. In her second video, Butler left the poetry behind, delivering a charged monologue about “structural discrimination”. In it, she claims the “people that are in charge are rigging the system”. Apparently, the “big bosses” are choosing people because “they liked them, they’re one of them, they’re in the club, they’re the right skin colour, they’re the right class”, allowing “mediocre” people to get the top roles at the expense of those who “know [they’re] good, but in the circles that matter, it’s not being recognised”. 

What follows is “gaslighting to the top degree, because somebody else who’s not so good gets praised for doing the smallest thing”. Butler rails against this discriminatory system and the mediocre people it rewards: “the point is they might have had a hard life, they might have struggled, but are they the best person for the job?”. Butler, it seems, has had enough of inadequate people being overpromoted solely due to being the right characteristic, the right race.

The claim that British society is wholly tainted by an intentionally discriminatory system is quite a stark accusation from Butler, with rather significant ramifications for the government if it were shown to be true. So does she have any evidence? Well… sort of.

Butler brings up two cases that are meant to show how this insidious system of discrimination operates. The first sign that “they” are rigging the whole system comes in the form of a powerful anecdote from the MP: “I remember once watching Strictly Come Dancing, and there was a criticism of a black male dancer, and they said ‘oh well your bum was sticking out’. It is this structural system that is rigged so that you’re not recognised”. And if that is not evidence enough, Butler then highlights the fact that when the Australian Olympic break dancer Rachael Gunn became a source of widespread mockery following her excruciating performance at the Paris Games, some of her teammates and Australian officials rallied to defend and support her. And there we have it. With evidence as strong as this, how could one even doubt that British society is not irredeemably structurally discriminatory?

Here it is worth returning to our BBC expert Marianna, who warned that “conspiracy theories often exploit valid questions or go far beyond legitimate concerns – instead suggesting elaborate plots for which there is no evidence”. Does that not sound exactly like what Butler is doing here? She has wondered, as many did, how such an inadequate athlete could make it to the Olympics, and in her quest for an explanatory theory she has come up with an elaborate plot completely lacking in evidence to make sense of it all. 

Nor is this kind of ungrounded conspiratorial thinking new to Butler

Nor is this kind of ungrounded conspiratorial thinking new to Butler. In 2020, Butler was the passenger in a car being driven by her (black) friend when the police briefly pulled the vehicle over, suspicious that a car registered in North Yorkshire was being driven around Hackney, East London. Having checked the driver’s registration details, the officers soon realised they had incorrectly entered the car’s registration plate, apologised to the occupants for their mistake, and let them on their way. An innocent mistake with an innocent explanation? Not according to Butler.

For Butler, this was yet more proof that “they” are out to get her. “It’s obviously racial profiling,” she said of the incident. Her evidence? Well, there were two black people in a car, and they were stopped. Therefore, the police must have stopped them because there were black people in a car. And like all good conspiracy theorists, Butler adopted a position that was completely unfalsifiable. Even when senior Met Police officials intervened to explain how such an innocent mistake could transpire, Butler remained steadfast in her interpretation of the incident as but one manifestation of the racially motivated conspiracy that permeates all aspects of British society.  

“It’s exhausting doing things whilst black,” Butler told the media, and her exhaustion should be of no surprise. Imagine thinking there is a malign subtext to every interaction you have, and every time you interact with somebody, it is not just they who you are dealing with, but a whole “institutional structure” which will brutally “gaslight” you if you dare speak up. How exhausting such an existence must be! Such is the mental burden of being a fully-fledged conspiracy theorist.

That a Labour MP openly espousing crankish and racially problematic views has so far avoided greater media scrutiny is a telling problem

However, the recent rise in attention towards those who have fallen into dark conspiratorial rabbit holes ought to offer a real sliver of hope for Butler. Along with highlighting the danger of falling into conspiratorial mindsets, there has never been more advice on how to help those suffering to return to a healthy, balanced and sane frame of mind. As our state broadcaster’s very own specialist disinformation reporter helpfully advises us, it is vital to “[a]ddress the issue as soon as possible – but do it with empathy”. Butler has been lucky that, apart from the shock jocks at GB News, no other broadcasters have yet highlighted her latest batch of loony ramblings. That a Labour MP openly espousing crankish and racially problematic views has so far avoided greater media scrutiny is a telling problem in itself. But for Butler it means she has an opportunity to seek rehabilitation and distance herself from her dangerous kookery before it engulfs her whole reputation. She still has the chance to avoid the rather sad fate of her former parliamentary colleague Andrew Bridgen. But Butler must act fast. Otherwise, it’s surely just a matter of time before our good friend Marianna comes knocking, isn’t it?