Fake news websites could cause another MP to be murdered, warns Cabinet minister Damian Green

'Fake news' spread by websites could result in another MP being murdered, Theresa May’s effective deputy Damian Green has warned. Mr Green, the First Secretary of State, said that websites which spread bile had to think more about “who is reading it and what are they going to do next”.

The Cabinet Minister warned that that websites that only present one side of the story risked “feeding an atmosphere of increasing hatred which at the most horrible of extremes led to the killing of Jo Cox”.

Labour MP Ms Cox was knifed to death days before the European Union referendum in June last year. A extreme rightwing terrorist was sentenced to prison for life in November for the murder.

Mr Green singled out websites such as Breitbart, The SkwawkBox and The Canary for particular criticism in a speech to journalists at a lunch organised by the Parliamentary Press Gallery.

He said: “The point is that our political discourse needs to be better than it currently is, an argument that will not be lost on many people in this room whose livelihoods are under threat from unscrupulous blogs and websites that have no regard for any attempt to check the truth like the Canary, Breitbart, SkwawkBox.

“If mainstream politicians and journalists start to behave like Twitter trolls and then democracy is in danger.

“I know there is a long history of insulting our leaders from Gillray cartoons onwards and I have no expectation or desire to go back to the era when journalists politely asked prime ministers if they wish to add anything else at the end of an interview.

“But I do think that we need to respect eachother motives, and treat eachother’s views with courtesy, whether we are on either side to the Commons chamber or even on either side of the much bigger chasm of politicians and journalists.

“If we don’t, then we risk feeding an atmosphere of increasing hatred which at the most horrible of extremes led to the killing of Jo Cox.”

Last month The Canary was criticised for running a story saying that BBC journalist Laura Kuenssberg could address the Tory party conference saying it "raises questions about the impartiality of the journalist and her organisation. Again."

The Centre for Social Justice had listed her name in a list of speakers, making it clear she was invited but had not confirmed she would come. The thinktank later made clear she would not be attending.

Earlier Mr Green said: “Everyone, before they go in studs up on a political opponent, needs to think long and carefully about who they are talking to.

“It might play well with your own troops to give your opponent a big kicking on the latest microsite but perhaps it behoves us all to ask: 'Who is reading it and what are they going to do next?'

“We have in the past few years witnessed a sad and completely ridiculous rise in routine comparisons to Hitler and the Nazis; it is symptomatic not just of a decline but a rapidly increasing viciousness discourse which is totally out of kilter with what I see day after day in the House of Commons.”

He added: “There is no doubt in my mind that the language of political discourse and the descriptions political opponents use against each other has become markedly worse in my time in the House.”

The Canary, Breitbart and The SkwawkBox were approached for comment by The Telegraph.

Nigel Farage MEP, a contributor to Breitbart, said: "Damian Green is a globalist still totally in denial about why 2016 happened.

"Breitbart doesn't deal in falsehood they deal with facts - sometimes very uncomfortable ones."

Raheem Kassam, a spokesman dor Breitbart London, added: "For Downing Street to roll out one of the government’s top dogs is proof of how terrified they are of our continued exposure of Theresa May’s track record of failure, on Brexit, on law and order, and on tackling radical Islam.

“Damian Green had no problem campaigning alongside me years ago against the idea of a national government ID scheme, but now he’s in government he’s warning that we are ‘dangerous’?

“Well I take pride in that. We are dangerous. Dangerous to the political elite. Dangerous to the status quo. And dangerous to the strain of left liberalism that runs through the Conservative Party. Deal with it”. 

During the speech, Mr Green made fun of former Chancellor George Osborne, who has published a series of articles in The Evening Standard attacking Mrs May since becoming editor.

He said: “I normally take all of my political analysis from the London Evening Standard. So I know that the Government and the Prime Minister personally is to blame for Ben Stokes' night life, Hurricane Ophelia and the fact that week after week with her as Prime Minister as we go through October into November the sun shines for a smaller time every day. The Evening Standard – Russia Today with less George Galloway.”

He also joked about why Mrs May has failed to have a major reshuffle since winning the election, referencing the "stronger in" slogan of the failed Remain campaign before the referendum.

He said: “As I often tell colleagues they are all better off inside the tent than making unhelpful noises outside. Put simply I say ‘we are stronger in’ that always goes well.”

Kerry-Anne Mendoza, Editor in Chief of The Canary, said "The Secretary of State does a disservice to himself and his office with these appalling comments.

"Jo Cox lost her life due to bigotry and intolerance - she was killed by a racist man with Nazi sympathies. For decades, such hateful ideas have been actively promoted by mainstream outlets like The Sun and The Daily Mail. 

“Every day, these outlets are attacking ethnic minorities, immigrants, LGBT+ communities and people who rely on the welfare state. 

“Instead of speaking out against these billionaire-backed peddlers of bigotry, Mr Green is attacking one of the few independently-owned, progressive outlets in the UK. An outlet led by a gay woman of colour as Editor-in-Chief. 

"The truth is that we set up The Canary precisely because of the one-sided reporting already happening in the mainstream media - we are presenting the other side of that story. And we do that as probably the most diverse media outlet in the whole country.

"Our mission is to disrupt the hateful messages of the right-wing UK press, reminding people that we have more in common than the superficial differences. By disrupting those messages, we have helped changed the public conversation. This will always be threatening to those who benefit from an unjust status quo."

A spokesman for Skwawkbox said: "The Skwawkbox takes every care to ensure correctness and if we get something wrong we publish a correction of equal prominence to the original, which is a lot more than the so-called MSM offer. We are also regulated by IMPRESS, the UK's only independent, Leveson-compliant press regulator.

"The Skwawkbox absolutely does not condone violence or abuse. However, Mr Green like many politicians and commentators, needs to learn to distinguish between legitimate, robust criticism and abuse - or to be less sloppy in the way he categorises.

"To suggest that criticism of political dishonesty will lead to violence against MPs is beneath contempt - and a blatant attempt to discredit criticism of the dire political behaviour all too common in Mr Green's party. He was presumably aware that a speech to journalists is not covered by parliamentary privilege when he made such scurrilous accusations."