The government’s anti-terror program Prevent is giving head teachers a training leaflet suggesting conspiracy theories about Princess Diana’s death are legitimate
- ‘The Conspiracy Chart’ groups conspiracies into five different categories
- Included under the ‘We Have Questions’ headline was Diana’s death in a car accident
- The painting suggested there were legitimate questions to be asked about his death
- The Home Office said the graphic was not part of its sanctioned training
Training under the government’s flagship counter-extremism programme, Prevent, showed school principals documents suggesting conspiracies over Princess Diana’s death raise legitimate questions.
A chart titled The Conspiracy Chart groups conspiracies into different categories based on how credible or pernicious they are.
Under the heading ‘We have questions’ were the death of Diana in a car accident, the assassination of JFK, the death of Marilyn Monroe and the statement ‘[Jeffrey] Epstein did not kill himself.
The chart suggested there were legitimate questions to be asked about these deaths, with the next section listed as ‘Equivocally false but mostly harmless’.
The Home Office said the graphic was not part of its sanctioned training and was being used by an “independent” trainer. It is unclear in what context the graphic appeared and there is no indication that there was any discussion of Diana during the training itself.
A chart titled The Conspiracy Chart groups conspiracies into different categories based on how credible or pernicious they are.
This group contained statements such as “Greta Thunberg is a time traveler”, “Prince Charles a vampire [sic]’ and ‘Elvis lives’.
The next group, titled ‘Dangerous for yourself and others’, included ‘Finland does not exist’, ‘anti-vaxxers’ and ‘anti-masks’.
The most dangerous conspiracy theories included QAnon, “deep state”, Holocaust denial and the idea that Bill Gates is trying to microchip humanity.
The graphic, produced by disinformation researcher Abbie Richards, was shown during a training session to help school principals determine which comments should be referred to Prevent, the Times reported.
A Home Office spokesperson said: ‘The Prevent program continues to play a crucial role in preventing people from being drawn into extremist views and terrorism. The main threat to the UK comes from Islamist and far-right terrorism, this fact is widely reflected in official training materials.
“We cannot comment on specific graphics used in training sessions without full and necessary context.”
The graphic was revealed on Twitter by Nick Timothy, Theresa May’s former chief of staff, who said it proved Prevent’s priorities were leaning towards right-wing extremism rather than its much deadlier Islamist equivalent.
Included under the ‘We Have Questions’ headline was Diana’s death in a car accident
A review of the scheme is currently underway by former Charity Commission Chairman William Shawcross.
There was expected to have been a “double standard in the face of the far right and Islamism”, according to leaked draft excerpts.
There were more referrals to Prevent about far-right extremism than Islamist radicalization for the first time last year.
Six of the 11 most significant recent terrorist attacks were perpetrated by individuals who went through Prevent.
The program works by Prevent coordinators appointed by the local council who receive referrals from officials such as teachers and social workers, with each person involved ranked according to their ideology.
Less serious cases are dealt with by councils, which may offer services like mentoring or parenting support, while more serious cases move on to the Channel phase, where a panel of local officials, including the police, will recommend next steps. .
The killer of MP Sir David Amess Ali Harbi Ali – who was sentenced last month to a life sentence – was returned to the scheme in 2014 but a year later it was concluded that he no longer posed a threat.
Mr Timothy tweeted: ‘A friend attended the Prevent training today and received it.’ Ignoring the “we have questions” about Diana’s death and other oddities, where’s the emphasis?
“2/3 of imprisoned terrorists and 9 out of 10 on MI5 watch lists are Islamists. The Shawcross review can’t come fast enough.
