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Police Probing ‘Dead Tories’ Banner and Effigies Hung on Manchester Bridge Ahead of Tory Conference

© Photo : Kerry Boyd/twitterThe banner was draped across a bridge in Manchester on Saturday, 28 September, along with two hanging effigies
The banner was draped across a bridge in Manchester on Saturday, 28 September, along with two hanging effigies - Sputnik International
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The banner appeared amid a spike in death threats sent to MPs; last week, Prime Minister Boris Johnson was pressed in Parliament to stop using what lawmakers called inflammatory speech in relation to Brexit, but he dismissed their concerns.

Greater Manchester Police have launched an investigation into a grim banner hinting at physical revenge against Conservative Party members that appeared on a bridge in Manchester, England, prior to the party’s annual conference.

The banner read, “130,000 killed under Tory rule. Time to level the playing field,” with two dummies dangling beneath in nooses, according to a photo shared by Tory councilor Kerry Boyd as she was doing a pre-conference run.

The number likely refers to a figure cited in a 2019 study by the Institute for Public Policy Research think-tank, which estimated that the number of preventable deaths slowed down between 2012 and 2017 because of budget cuts under the Tory government and cost the nation some 130,000 lives.

As per a screenshot shared by the local tabloid Manchester Evening News, the image of the banner has also been tweeted out by Labour grassroots group Manchester Momentum with the caption: “Good morning @Conservatives. Welcome to Manchester.” The Labour activists, however, later deleted the post and denied any role in putting up the banner.

It has since been removed from the bridge, along with the effigies, while no group claimed responsibility. Andy Burnham, a former Labour cabinet minister who now serves as Greater Manchester’s mayor, said the message was “completely unacceptable,” while Health Secretary Matt Hancock described the stunt as “totally outrageous”.

A similarly threatening message, reading “Hang Tories,” was displayed on a footbridge in the nearby Salford in the run-up to the party’s 2017 conference.

Death Threats on the Rise

The Manchester banner appeared just days after a row on the floor of the House of Commons over the language used in the Brexit debate as the number of death threats sent to MPs is on the rise.

Between January and April this year, British lawmakers reported 152 cases of abuse to police; if the trend continues, police warn, this number would grow to 450 by the end of the year. There were 342 death threats reported in 2018 and 151 in 2017.

During a heated debate in Parliament on Wednesday, Prime Minister Johnson was challenged by opposition MPs over his use of the words “surrender”, “traitor” and “betrayal” when referring to Brexit.

Several members of parliament, including House Speaker John Bercow and Labour MP Jess Philipps, said they had received anonymous death threats, and Johnson was pressed to stop using potentially divisive language so as not to incite violence.

Johnson shrugged off pleas from Jess Philipps to moderate his language following the murder of Jo Cox, the legislator who was murdered by a political activist in 2016.

The Prime Minister described Phillips’ concerns as “humbug” and told another MP that the best way to honour the memory of Jo Cox was to “get Brexit done”.

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