Denis Healey famously likened being taken to task by his Tory opposite number Geoffrey Howe to being “savaged by a dead sheep”. The same could be said about David Clews, co-founder and lead correspondent of Unity News Network (UNN) who, this weekend, has managed to unite the Left-wing and Right-wing legacy media in condemnation of him.
The Left, represented by Scotland’s Daily Record and the Right represented by the Sunday Times, have both published articles about Clews referring to him as being a “far-Right” influencer.
UNN, an online newspaper and alternative news channel co-founded in 2018 by Clews and former UKIP member Carl Pearson, has long featured Clews as an anchorman on its nightly shows. The shows offer Clews’s unique take on world events and feature a cast of interviewees on all manner of subjects. UNN, along with the Daily Sceptic, was quick off the blocks in 2020 with a critical perspective on COVID-19, lockdowns, face masks and Covid vaccines.
Clews’s unique take on the news is always entertaining and his joining of disparate dots to form conclusions has, of course, led to him being called a “conspiracy theorist”, something he denies. However, he does give airtime to some cringeworthy characters such as the arch conspiracy theorist David Ike and the prominent anti-vaxxer Andrew Wakefield. Clews is a free speech absolutist and, in giving a platform to some people who are considered beyond the pale, he is careful to tell his viewers that they can make their own minds up.
Certainly, when it comes to disagreements with interviewees, Clews takes no prisoners and refuses to be pulled on to the turf of his opponents. He sticks doggedly to his guns and many a guest has cut short the interview as a result. In the same vein, Clews makes little effort to form a coalition of like minds and many, including Tommy Robinson, come in for forthright criticism if Clews thinks they are compromising or ‘shilling’ for causes he is opposed to. He has made no secret of his opposition to the current actions of the Israeli government in Gaza.
But none of the above formed the substance of the attacks on him in the newspapers this weekend. Both articles make much of Clews’s reaction to the Southport stabbings and death of three children. He initially speculated on the religious affiliation of the attacker, but was also quick to state the truth about the attacker’s nationality and religion and, knowing that he was a minor in the eyes of the law, did not reveal his name.
Yet his reaction “fanned the flames” of the unrest that followed, according to the Sunday Times. In fact, he advised people not to take part in the protests last weekend or they would simply become targets. He has consistently expressed his support for non-violent resistance over issues such as mass immigration, yet the Daily Record considered it controversial when he said: “Peaceful non-violent protest is a democratic right so of course people should still have the right to do so. To suggest otherwise is dictatorial communism.”
Clews was quick to act when frankly racist comments and calls for violent protest were being added to the UNN Telegram channel in the comments section. There has long been a pinned posting on the channel warning people they’ll be banned if they use racist language or call for violence, and he recently suspended the chat function due to a ‘tsunami’ of posts which he considered unacceptable.
But none of this has prevented some sloppy journalism by both the Daily Record and the Sunday Times, selectively quoting Clews calling for “resistance” and “self-defence”, whether related to the Southport killings or not. Much is made of Clews speaking at the annual conference of Patriotic Alternative, a political group which Wikipedia describes as “Islamophobic, fascist and racist” and which the Sunday Times describes as “neo-Nazi”. Not everyone’s cup of tea, obviously – whether or not the description is fair – but it would presumably have gone unnoticed if Clews had addressed a far-Left group intent on undermining parliamentary democracy and calling for a socialist uprising.
Where the Daily Record article is short and mainly focused on Clews’s associations and UNN, the Sunday Times has published a more detailed critique. While it contains most of what was in the Daily Record piece, the Sunday Times article is more of a character assassination. Thus, Clews is mocked for having had the good fortune to attend a fee-paying school in Glasgow and study theology at the University of Glasgow.
His early record as a political activist and local councillor – changing allegiance from Conservative to Labour in the process – is referred to and the journalist manages to get some less than complimentary quotes from former council colleagues, who conclude that Clews was “putting on an act to seem posher than he was”. Hardly a hanging offence.
The most egregious aspect of the Sunday Times article are the references to Clews’ residential address and his wife’s place of work and the age of their son. In fact, Clews no longer lives where Hauschild places him (in “an area ranked among the most deprived in Scotland”) and he has been legally separated from his wife since 2019.
The Sunday Times article does say early in the piece that “there is no suggestion Clews has broken the law” which, under the present circumstances, one would have thought might draw a line under things. But the article is also replete with some of Clews’ more fringe claims such as the possibility that MI5 may be implicated in the Southport killings. The fact that Clews has expressed support for Sam Melia, who was jailed earlier this year for stirring up racial hatred, is also referred to by the Sunday Times.
I must declare an interest in that, along with many others, I am a regular contributor to the pages of UNN. Many of David’s views do not accord with mine, but many do. As a free speech absolutist, David tolerates my opinions on most issues, happily publishes rejoinders and continues to seek my views on areas specific to my expertise.
You know how this goes: if David Clews is Spartacus…
Roger Watson is a retired academic, editor and writer. He is a columnist with Unity News Network and writes regularly for a range of conservative journals including The Salisbury Review and The European Conservative. He has travelled and worked extensively in the Far East and the Middle East. He lives in Kingston upon Hull, UK.
This piece was first published in the Daily Sceptic, and is reproduced by kind permission.
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Because the ‘Far-Right’ inconveniently isn’t a single political party (as constantly implied by MSM, TPTB and lazy unthinking people), it’s considered fair game to very publicly go after individuals who as a consequence become bogeymen in the minds of the majority. Just how long these maligned people will be allowed to remain free to speak remains to be seen, once they’ve been silenced another tranche of deplorable individuals will be selected – maybe even TNC contributors might make the cut.