Facebook claims another political victim – Matt Lewis of ‘Conservative Future’
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Dear Matt Lewis,
Waking up on a Saturday morning is difficult enough for most people, but for you waking up today must be a pretty horrible experience. Almost every paper has run with the story about your questionable decision to dress up as a dead Madeleine McCann at a fancy dress party, with the Daily Mail leading the charge in the British press. Seeing as I vociferously support everyone’s right to privacy, including those in politics, you may have been expecting some sympathy from me. In all honesty, I think you do deserve some sympathy, but not a lot.
As I’ve said before and in my ‘Why I blog’ page, I believe that everyone has a right to a private life – that includes you, me, politicians, pop stars, footballers and other ‘celebrities’. The only exception to this is that elected officials and senior public servants have a duty and a responsibility to act in accordance with the esteem in which their office is held and should be exposed for any behaviour that is clearly not appropriate. My first instinct was therefore to defend you, seeing as you attended a private fancy dress party which clearly constitutes part of your private life. Even though you discussed your antics with your friends on your Facebook wall, I still consider your private discussions with your friends to be none of anyone else’s concern (up to a point). A little bit of perspective wouldn’t hurt either. The media have portrayed you as some sicko who thrives on other people’s misery, whereas you were in fact an attendee at a ‘bad taste’ party and were therefore required to dress up in bad taste (which I think it’s fair to say you did). Another attendee at the same party dressed up as ‘Baby P’ and I daresay there were probably a few child abusers, serial killers and other fairly distasteful costumes at the same party. I also suspect that hundreds if not thousands of other people around the country have dressed up as Madeleine McCann at similar parties around the UK since her disappearance, making your press coverage grossly out of proportion.
Dressing up as Madeleine McCann is your decision and it’s your life and you can do with it whatever you want. I believe in a meritocracy in which people are judged on their ability to do their job, not what they get up to in their spare time (save for breaking the law in public office). Your mistake was not to dress up as Madeleine – it was to leave your Facebook profile visible to the entire congregation of Facebook and probably Google searches as well. If you had put your ‘privacy settings’ on full, I would consider everything that happens on your profile to be completely private and if this country ever bothered to protect people’s private lives, that information would have belonged to you and you alone. Unfortunately, my understanding of the situation is that your profile did not have the privacy settings on, meaning that anyone and everyone could snoop around. Harsh as this may seem, this one small mistake is the reason that I cannot offer you much sympathy. Chatting about dressing up in bad taste is fine with me, I couldn’t care less, but leaving this information open to those who aren’t necessarily your friends or even acquaintances was a huge error of judgement on your part.
Kate and Gerry McCann were understandably upset to hear about what happened. In your statement to them you said: “I unreservedly apologise to Mr and Mrs McCann for my actions. I completely regret my behaviour that night and since, and cannot express how sorry I am for the incredible hurt I have caused. Whilst my actions were not meant to be malicious, I fully understand the pain they have brought.” I’m sure you are very sorry about what happened and it is unfair that your future career has been so badly hit by what happened at a private party. You’ve also predictably been expelled from the Conservative Party and from ‘Conservative Future’ (the young wing of the party). Although it is not much consolation to you now, this whole incident raises three important issues: firstly, people in all walks of life should be very careful about what they put on their Facebook profile; secondly, every user of Facebook should have their privacy settings on full; thirdly, you should make damn sure that people on your ‘friends’ list are actually your friends.
Yours sincerely,
A.Tory
Witanagemot Blogs
Your headline reads ‘Facebook claims another political victim’.
Umm, no. Stupidity, arrogance and lack of thought claims another political ‘victim’. Facebook is blameless. No sense in blaming the medium for the message…
Well, ok, I guess I was refer to the existence of the technology rather than blaming the technology per se.
Is this the really the future of the Conservative party ?
No wonder the Conservatives are destined to remain in opposition for the next millenia.How absolutely and unbelievably appalling.
At the risk of pointing out the blindingly obvious, Matt Lewis will clearly not be in the future of the Conservative Party.
While his actions are in bad taste it was a ‘bad taste’ party and let us also remember that this guy is a complete and utter irrelevance in the grand scheme of things. Thousands of people dress up in stupid and tasteless ways for parties every weekend and for one guy suddenly to hit the headlines for it seems pretty ridiculous.
“At the risk of pointing out the blindingly obvious…”
Sometimes, with some people, you just have to.
“No wonder the Conservatives are destined to remain in opposition for the next millenia…”
Take a wager on that…?
o/t but on wikiipedia under List of political scandals it says
“The ’suicide’ of Dr David Kelly and the Hutton Inquiry.”
Suicide in air quotes? Her Majesties Government won’t like that implication at all.
What a lot of scandals there are. I’d forgotten about Taxigate..
{I was looking for Jellicoe.}
I remember Matt Lewis from Keele. We never became fully-fledged mates, but he struck me as an ok sort of person & we always spoke if I saw him out. I haven’t seen him in 3 years, the last time I saw him was at his leaving party before he went to South Africa. Well, we didn’t keep in touch but I followed his CF career.
I am actually not particularly outraged (nor am I surprised, at him, or at the fact that it would be viewed as a laugh amongst CF members) but he can hardly complain about being punished.
Another person I knew ended up in prison for selling secrets to a double agent. I remember this case, because he was well known as on the far right (he also turned up on that BNP members’ list) & I remember thinking how unsurprising it was that he became a bailiff after graduating. At the interview they must have asked him “Are you a complete & utter vicious, evil-minded ****?” & he answered yes & was offered the job.
http://tinyurl.com/86eory
You also got an active far-left cell, who were utter []. There was never a chance to get bored at Keele.
I pretty much agree with the post, it wasn’t so much the choice of costume but advertising the fact to the world that was the stupid part.
Pratty thing to do, all the same.
Well, yes, obviously! I don’t think there are many people who would go as far as he did, even at a bad taste party.
It’s a bit of a shame that this guy will now be condemed for his entire life. He should not have been so stupid as to ignore the privacy settings on Facebook but now everytime he goes for a job the employers will search on google and find this. What chance will he have? A name change is in order me thinks!
in law school they teach you to write nothing down as it may be end up having to be echanged with the opposition. This is no different. Shoot the message, not the messenger and also premise whether the fact that going to a bad taste party as a charachter then held to be in bad taste is shuch an awful, inappropriate thing or if its just caving in to populist tabloid opprobrium. What if he’d gone as Hitler, or a waffen-SS guard? What about a Hamas fighter who’s charter calls for the death of all jews? How can you do a bad-taste party and politically survive without going as a white middle class heterosexual male which is clearly in bad taste for our politically correct overlords and if you were a monogamous male you may even pass the tabloid test.
This is a nonsesne story that has Mandy slapped all over it. I mean, why are we discussing a Tory student and not, for example, how the parties to the Gaza conflict ignore our Great Leader’s calls for ceasefire or indeed why the great leader feels Israel should cease fire and just suck up 6000+ rocket strikes like a man. Or not talk about the failing economy or why borrowing to get get out of a borrowing driven collapse is not oxymoronic. No, can’t talk about that. Better to talk about a Tory student. Oh yes.
I think the most important two lessons we can all learn from this entire affair is firstly, be very careful who you call a friend (and by extension accept the friend request from on facebook) as it was a member of his own friends list who took the screencaps which got him into so much trouble, so security settings for non-friends wouldn’t have done an awful lot of good.
And secondly, the old adage “keep your friends close, but your enemies closer” is clearly completely flawed. Keep your friends close, and just don’t be facebook friends with your enemies.
Am I the only person who is disgusted by Harry Cole’s role in all this? He rides the high horse, claiming to be outraged & po-facedly insiting that “it is best in the long run that they were outed now, rather than allowing people who can show such lack of compassion and intelligence to progress up the greasy pole”, which I’d accept as a valid opinion if it came from Sir Bufton Tufton who fought in the Boer War & has seen society go to the dogs ever since, but not from someone like him.
I prefer the alternative solution, that he’s knifing Lewis in the back to get attention from the higher ups & generally further his own career.
Utterly shameless & despicable & I for one hope it backfires.
Delete this if you like, at least you’ll know I said it.
Because he doesn’t believe a word of what he is saying: it is an opinion I’d respect if not agree with, if it weren’t for the fact that he plainly doesn’t hold it.
Actually we should thank Facebook for helping weed out this complete idiot from public life for a very long time. Just imagine if Facebook had been around in the old Bullingdon club days or when Ann Winterton was a student.
This is a complete non-story. it was a ‘bad taste’ party and he dressed up in bad taste. There was absolutely no offence caused to the McCanns until the moment that Harry Cole and the Daily Mail wrote about it. It’s political correctness gone mad!
If you go down to the woods today
You’re sure of a big surprise
If you go down to the woods today
You’d better go in disguise.
For Tory Bear‘s been checking on facebook
gathering facts and cut’n’pasting
Today’s the day Tory Bear has Matt for breakfast .
Every Tory Bear who’s been good
Is sure of a treat today.
There’s lots of marvelous things to say
And wonderful games to play.
Beneath the trees where nobody sees
They’ll stab in the back as long as they please
‘Cause that’s the way the CFers have their play.
Picnic time for Tory Bear
The little CFers are having a lovely time today
Watch them, catch them unawares
And see them panic on their holiday.
See them gaily gad about
They love to play and shout;
They never have any care;
At six o’clock their Mummies and Daddies,
Will take them home to bed,
Because they’re tired little Tory Bears.