Liberal Democrat MP calls for riot “if the LPUK have control of the NHS”

DavidSwifty took to twitter to “call on the people to riot,” insisting “I am sober as sober as can be… rioting is what we will do if the LPUK have control of the NHS prices.”

A Liberal Democrat MP for the East of England has called for riots over prescription charges.

East of England Liberal Democrat MP DavidSwifty has told the Guardian that he tweeted “in anger at the betrayal of our government” when he tweeted last night that “if the LPUK have control of the NHS then I call on the people to riot.” His tweets came after the government’s NHS Charges (Repeal) Bill was met with anger by MPs in the House of Commons and on twitter last night over the lack of any protections for lower income patients as previously promised by the Health Secretary.



Mr Swifty published his first tweet at 11.49pm on Tuesday night which was swiftly followed by Classical Liberal MPs Joep95 and Tommy1Boys saying that “violence is never the answer” and “I do not think rioting is a good idea” respectively. Mr Swifty quickly shot back with “well, I do.” When told to “go sober up”, he said “I am sober as sober as can be… rioting is what we will do if the LPUK have control of the NHS prices,” referring to them having control over the price of prescription charges, following this up shortly after with “it must not get that far.”



In a separate string of tweets some hours later at 5.33am yesterday morning, Mr Swifty said that he had “Had the worst nights sleep ever… I genuinely think that if we hand control of the NHS prices to Fried of all people we’ll be spending 38k a year on seizure medicine for infants… These members do not care for people they care only for profit… I do not take back what i said yesterday… If Fried gets control of NHS pricing… we must riot.” The last tweet in the thread was liked and re-tweeted by Social Democrat HKNorman, independent lord Baron Pembroke, goodboi_baa, and People’s Movement spokesperson Kernow_Rydh.



When questioned over their support for the tweet, Mx Norman told the Guardian that “I was agreeing with the sentiment of the tweet. The sentiment of the tweet is an opposition to NHS privatisation. Of course, I condemn any language that incites violence or riots.” Neither Baron Pembroke or Kernow_Rydh have responded to the Guardian’s requests for an interview at the time of writing and this article will be updated should that change.



Encouraging a crime to be committed is a criminal offence under the Serious Crime Act 2007. An offence is committed if a person “does an act capable of encouraging or assisting the commission of an offence; and… intends to encourage or assist its commission. But… is not to be taken to have intended to encourage or assist the commission of an offence merely because such encouragement or assistance was a foreseeable consequence of [their] act.”

Mr Swifty talked to the Guardian this evening and as well as explaining that he tweeted his comments “in anger,” when asked if they were meant to be a joke or serious he responded that they were “semi serious. I mean the comments were made in anger but if Fried gets the powers to dictate NHS prices the country should react in anger.” Asked if he still thought people should riot, he answered “if fried gets control of NHS medication prices, yes.”



The Former Green Principal Speaker was then asked to describe what these riots should look like and said “a picnic in the park. It should start of peaceful and when the government decides it’s time to tear gas the people they should riot”. By “riot”, what do you envisage, he was asked. “I envisage the people defending their right to free medication.” Mr Swifty did not respond when told that the bill legalising the use of tear gas did not permit its use on peaceful protestors and did not explain why that would lead to a riot. He did not answer any further questions, and should that change this article will be updated.



Official Opposition – of whom Mr Swifty is a part as a Liberal Democrat MP – spokesperson sam-irl told the Guardian that “The Official Opposition condemns in the strongest possible terms any calls for violence. While we encourage all citizens and members to express their discontent with the cruel and needless NHS Charges Bill, we do not condone rioting. We will conduct a review of our acceptable conduct policies and I will consult with the leadership regarding disciplinary action against the member making those statements.”

The LPUK Leader, Friedmanite19, told the Guardian that “It’s clear Mr Swift hasn’t really a clue on what prescription charges are or how they work, furthermore from the script of your interview it also appears to me he is still clueless on the matter of the law when it comes to tear gas. It’s clear he has no real arguments to make and has resorted to inciting violence and riots.

“In any decent political party inciting violence would rule you out from being an MP. Advocating for political violence has no place in modern politics.It is not liberal to advocate violence because you don’t get your way. If he’s not sacked as an MP it shows the public another reason why the official opposition are not fit for government.”