Influencer Nicola Thorp Cuts Ties with UK Home Office Over Palestine Action Proscription

Strategic Insights -

Nicola Thorp, a social media influencer and former Coronation Street actress, has severed ties with the UK Home Office after the department proscribed Palestine Action as a terrorist group. Thorp had been promoting policies on violence against women and girls on her Instagram account but claimed she could no longer "essentially promote and do PR" for the Home Office due to its complicity in acts of violence against women and girls in Gaza. Thorp's decision comes after she was asked to do more social media promotion of the Home Office's strategy to combat violence against women and girls, which is led by Jess Phillips, the Home Office minister.

Key Takeaways:

  • Nicola Thorp, a social media influencer and former Coronation Street actress, has severed ties with the UK Home Office after the department proscribed Palestine Action as a terrorist group.
  • Thorp had been promoting policies on violence against women and girls on her Instagram account but claimed she could no longer "essentially promote and do PR" for the Home Office due to its complicity in acts of violence against women and girls in Gaza.
  • The Home Office requested Thorp to do more social media promotion of its strategy to combat violence against women and girls, led by Jess Phillips, the Home Office minister.
  • Thorp has continued to criticise the Government for its policing of pro-Palestinian protesters in the UK, including an incident where an armed police officer threatened to arrest a protester holding a Palestinian flag.
  • Thorp has declined an invitation to appear at the Labour party conference in September as part of a panel on violence against women and girls organised by the NSPCC, citing the Government's hypocrisy in supplying arms licences to Israel.

Statistics:

  • Thorp was stalked online by a man who was subsequently given a 30-month prison sentence and lifelong restraining order.
  • Since the Covid pandemic, Government departments have increasingly used paid and unpaid social media influencers to promote areas of policy to audiences that might not be reached by traditional media.
  • In 2020, the former Conservative government paid influencers who had appeared on Love Island to promote the launch of the NHS's Test and Trace service.
  • The Government Communication Service (GCS) published an influencer due diligence policy in March this year, setting out how civil servants should vet influencers before asking them to participate in campaigns.

Sources:

  • The Telegraph
  • Nicole Thorp's Instagram account
  • Love Island
  • NHS
  • Government Communication Service (GCS)
  • NSPCC