Boris Johnson has criticised the jailing of a childminder for a tweet about the Southport murders.
The former prime minister said the 31-month sentence does ‘huge damage to this country’s global reputation as a haven for free expression’.
He called the jailing of Lucy Connolly, who is married to a Conservative councillor, a ‘propaganda gift to our enemies’.
On July 29 last year, Axel Rudakubana stabbed 13 people at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport, Merseyside, including eight children, three of whom died.
Almost immediately, false rumours spread online that Rudakubana was an illegal migrant. In fact, he had been born in Cardiff to parents who had emigrated from Rwanda.
That afternoon, in a post on X which Mr Johnson concedes was ‘disgusting’ and ‘vile’, Connolly, still believing Rudakubana was in the country illegally, said: ‘Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f*****g hotels full of the b******s for all I care, while you’re at it take the treacherous government and politicians with them.
‘I feel physically sick knowing what these families will now have to endure. If that makes me racist so be it.’
She deleted the post within four hours after a backlash but it had already been viewed 310,000 times.
Boris Johnson has condemned the jailing of 42-year-old Lucy Connolly (pictured) over a social media post published in the wake of the Southport stabbings
The former PM, pictured here in 2021, said the 31-month sentence harms the UK’s reputation as a protector of freedom of expression
In July, Axel Rudakubana (pictured) stabbed 13 people at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Merseyside, including eight children, three of whom died
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In the days following the murders, Britain was engulfed by riots where hotels housing asylum seekers were targeted by arsonists.
Connolly, 42, of Northampton, was jailed for two years and seven months in October after admitting publishing threatening or abusive material intending to stir up racial hatred. The judge drew a direct link between her post and the violence.
Speaking to the Mail, Mr Johnson claimed the lengthy deterrent sentence could serve to bolster the likes of Vladimir Putin if Britain is seen as a country which does not tolerate ‘free speech’.
‘A mother and childminder with no previous convictions was jailed for 31 months – because of a rapidly deleted tweet,’ he said.
‘This has caused amazement among our friends and allies – notably in America where they have constitutional protections for free speech.
‘And it has caused glee among the despots and tyrants of the world. Putin can point to this and other such cases and claim that you are far more likely to be arrested in the UK for what you write on social media than you are in Russia.
‘The claim is in one sense absurd since his regime actually murders journalists and brutally suppresses free speech. But we are handing a propaganda gift to our enemies.’