The Conservative Woman
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God Save the King? |
“”The Conservative Woman has found a gap for a Marmite strand of thinking, which is to say one that is either loved or hated.
|
—Laura Perrins[1] |
The Conservative Woman aka TCW Defending Freedom is an untrustworthy[note 1] far-right[note 2] political webshite[2] launched in London, UK, in 2014[3] which claims to have 1.5 million monthly views.[4] It was founded by former TV-am producer Kathy Gyngell[5] and former barrister Laura Perrins[6] as a "counter-cultural offensive against the forces of Leftism, feminism and modernism."[7] The founders, who describe their values as “unashamedly those of faith, married family and nation-state,” have supported Brexit, denied climate change and COVID-19, and promoted a smorgasbord of right-wing conspiracy theories. The website derives its revenue through donations and sponsored content and is published by The Conservative Woman Limited.
TCW Ltd is majority owned by Gyngell, with Perrins having ceased to be co-editor and a minority stake holder in 2021.[8] According to its latest filing (as of September 2024)[9] the company holds assets worth just over £4,000 (down from just over £19,000 in 2022), capital reserves just over £40,000 (up from just over £24,000 in 2022) and has no employees (down from 2 in 2022).
The British Board of Film Classification has, following a 2022 review,[10] classified the website, under the BBFC Mobile Classification Framework, as being suitable only for adults and required it to be placed behind adult filters due to comments left unchallenged by the blog's administrators representing unbridled racism, sexism, and Islamophobia as well as advocating for white supremacy.
Content warnings[edit]
Climate change denialism[edit]
TCW's opposition to climate quackery sees it regularly publishing work by the Global Warming Policy Foundation, of which TCW editor Kathy Gyngell is a Trustee and Director, and it's leading lights Ruth Lea, Harry Wilkinson and John Constable.[7]
COVID-19 denialism[edit]
TCW promoted the use of the unproven treatment of COVID-19 with hydroxychloroquine and pushed the disredited ideas of Peter A. McCullough, thereby earning itself an impressive seven-failed fact checks for a single article.[2][11]
Key people[edit]
Kathy Gyngell[edit]
Kathryn Julia Gyngell née Rowan (1950–)[5] is the co-founder and editor of The Conservative Woman as well as a director of The Conservative Woman Ltd.[7][12]
Gyngell holds a Bachelor’s in social anthropology from Cambridge and a Master’s in sociology from Oxford and was a Research Fellow under Jay Blumler at the Centre for Television Research at Leeds University. She worked in the Features and Current Affairs Department at LWT and was a Features Editor at TV-am before leaving her career to become a stay-at-home mother to the children she had with her then boss and now late husband Bruce Gyngell.[note 3][7][12]
In 1999 she and fellow TV-am alumni David Keighley founded the anti-BBC watchdog Minotaur Media Tracking, which was the precursor to News-watch.[7][12]
In 2006, Gyngell was appointed as a research fellow working on drugs and early-years policies at the influential free-market think tank Centre for Policy Studies co-founded by her and her late husband's close personal friend Margaret Thatcher.[7][12]
Since 2019, Gyngell has been a Trustee and Director of the climate-change denialist Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF), founded by Nigel Lawson.[7][12]
Laura Perrins[edit]
Laura Jean Mary Perrins née McGowan (1981–)[6] is the co-founder and former co-editor of The Conservative Woman as well as a director of The Conservative Woman Ltd.[7]
Perrins qualified as a barrister before leaving her career to become a stay-at-home mother. A 2013 LBC radio interview in which she confronted then Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg for discriminating against single mothers brought her to public prominence.[7]
Editorial board[edit]
- Alan and Margaret Ashworth, former journalists.[7]
- David Keighley, director of the anti-BBC watchdog News-watch who writes the regular BBC Watch column.[7]
Notable contributors[edit]
- James Delingpole, who claimed the 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes were targeted at Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for refusing "to toe the globalist line."[4][7]
- John Ellwood, who claimed "the New World Order are in the ascendency", "bolstered by the success of their COVID-19 Bioweapon" and "climate nonsense".[7]
- David Kurten, leader of the Heritage Party.[2]
- John Longworth, executive director of the Centre for Brexit Policy, former co-chair of Leave Means Leave and a Brexit Party MEP sacked by Nigel Farage.[7]
- Nick Wood, chairman of Westminster-based PR firm Media Intelligence Partners (MIP) and a director and minority stakeholder of TCW ltd until 2017.[7]
Footnotes[edit]
- ↑ TCW, according to Media Bias/Fact Check (MBFC),[2] engages in poor source citation and the promotion of conspiracy theories.
- ↑ TCW's story selection and opinion pieces are, according to Media Bias/Fact Check (MBFC),[2] consistently biased in favor of the far-right.
- ↑ Bruce Gyngell was Margaret Thatcher's favourite broadcaster and received a personal letter from her when government legislation inadvertently killed off TV-am.
References[edit]
- ↑ The Irish woman who became a leading Brexiteer by Shane Hickey (10 Oct 2007) Irish Times
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 The Conservative Woman – Bias and Credibility Media Bias/Fact Check
- ↑ THE CONSERVATIVE WOMAN LIMITED Companies House
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 CASE FILE: Conservative Woman Hope Not Hate
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Kathryn Julia GYNGELL Companies House
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Laura Jean Mary PERRINS Companies House
- ↑ 7.00 7.01 7.02 7.03 7.04 7.05 7.06 7.07 7.08 7.09 7.10 7.11 7.12 7.13 7.14 TCW Defending Freedom (formerly The Conservative Woman) DeSmog
- ↑ THE CONSERVATIVE WOMAN LIMITED - Persons with Significant Control Companies House
- ↑ THE CONSERVATIVE WOMAN LIMITED - Filing History Companies House
- ↑ Statement on The Conservative Woman website British Board of Film Classification
- ↑ Conservative Woman article falsely claims vaccines don’t work by Abbas Panjwani (Aug 18, 2021) Full Fact
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 Cambridge Professor and Anti-BBC Campaigner Join Board of Climate Science Denial Campaign Group by Rich Collett-White (Aug 9, 2019) DeSmog