David Clews

David "The Emperor" Clews David CLEWS Companies House is a former Conservative and Labour councillor turned alt-right activist, best known as the co-founder and lead correspondent of the far-right webshite Unity News Network (UNN).Rogues’ gallery of figures fanning the flames of violence by Tom Witherow and Mario Ledwith (August 5, 2024) The TimesActors, activists and conspiracy theorists – a guide to the British far right by Ben Quinn (August 7, 2024) The Guardian Through this platform and personal speaking appearance at far-right rallies he has supported Brexit and the Free Tommy Robinson protests, denied COVID-19Scots virus expert says ex-Tory politician's views on vaccines 'belong in Middle Ages' by Craig Robertson (Febuary 20, 2022) Sunday Mail and climate change,Former Scots Tory councillor emerges as leading influencer for Patriotic Alternative by Mark McGivern (November 13, 2023) Daily Record spread anti-vax and immigration conspiracies, and decried white genocide and cultural Marxism.CASE FILE: Unity News Network Hope Not Hate He has also platformed the likes of Mark Collett, Nick Griffin and James Costello. He has himself been the subject of conspiracy theories within the alt-right due to his odd political record and his wife’s supposed job with a well-known defence contractor.Patriotic Alternative conference exposes weaknesses and international connections (October 12, 2023) Searchlight
==The imperial march==
===The little emperor===
Born in Renfrew in 1983 to a "a typical west of Scotland, Unionist loyalist family, that loved this country and supported the royals," "a family where BNP views were not frowned upon," Clews attended private day school and studied theology at the University of Glasgow.The far-right influencer from Renfrew who fanned flames after Southport killings by Dominic Hauschild (August 10, 2024) The Sunday Times "I think it’s safe to say when I was in my teens," he later recalled, "I was somewhat right of centre [in] my politics but I sort of toned it down a bit, which was a stupid move really."
Entering into local politics, he was elected as a Conservative councillor for Renfrewshire in 2007, where according to a former colleague: Becoming “disillusioned” by Conservative austerity policies, Clews earned himself the nickname "Tory Boy" by defecting to the Labour Party in 2011. 
He briefly joined the anti-Scottish-independence organisation in 2012, before leaving the following year to form his own splinter group, UK Unity. His home was raided by police investigating data protection offences after a list of high-profile donors to Scotland in Union was leaked.Police raid home of UK Unity founder as Scotland in Union data leak investigation continues The National
===The emperor's new new new clothes===
Clews teamed up with former UKIP Scotland youth leader Carl Pearson in 2019 to found the far-right political webshite Unity News Network (UNN) which quickly established itself as an influential platform for the UK's new alt-right.Ukip 2.0: young, angry, digital and extreme by Josh Halliday and Peter Walker (March 3, 2019) The Guardian
Cementing his new-found fame, Clews has become a regular speaker at conferences for British far-right white nationalist group Patriotic Alternative (PA), where, despite not being a member, he is hailed as the emperor of peace. Hope not Hate spokesperson David Lawrence concludes: 
===Crossing the Rubicon and back again===
Clews fanned the flames of the 2024 United Kingdom riots appearing on a UNN live stream from a family holiday in Costa Rica within hours of the Southport stabbing and, with the phrases "this is the name that’s doing the rounds," and "play guess the religion anyone," spreading Bernie Spofforth's false identification of the perpetrator as a Muslim immigrant. He went on to suggest that the attacker could have been brainwashed and the murders "co-ordinated by MI5." Absolving the rioters of any blame, he claimed that "those responsible for what is happening across the country sit in the corridors of power in 10 Downing Street, Palace of Westminster etc." and that the riots were "self-defence" against "the security services and parts of the British government [that] want to see these attacks happening." The UNN reiterated: 
The response of UNN's audience was predictable with anti-fascist investigators noting:
Urging the rioters to keep taking to the streets, Clews stated, "don’t give them anything to use against you but we must continue until this country is liberated from tyranny," and, "there’s no going back from this now. The Rubicon has been crossed, we need to defend ourselves." A short time later, coincidentally not long after Spofforth's arrest, Clews, however, did an apparent about face, stating:
Styling himself after Tommy Robinson, Clews announced that he would remain in exile in his family holiday destination of Costa Rica and requested donations to help him do so, stating: 
A HNH spokesperson responded: 
Apparently not gathering enough donations to remain in Costa Rica, Clews next showed up in Poland threatening to flee to Belarus.Clueless Clews does a runner (August 31, 2024) Searchlight Oh no. Please. Don't go. Not Belarus.
==Unity News Network==
The Unity News Network (UNN) is a highly-untrustworthy far-right political webshite,Unity News Network – Bias and Credibility Media Bias/Fact CheckUNITY NEWS NETWORK LTD Companies House founded in 2018 by alt-right conspiracy theorist David Clews and former UKIP Scotland youth leader Carl Pearson ,Carl Dean PEARSON Companies HouseRevealed: The far-right groups operating in Scotland by James Walker The NationalRogues’ gallery of figures fanning the flames of violence by Tom Witherow and Mario Ledwith (August 5, 2024) The TimesActors, activists and conspiracy theorists – a guide to the British far right by Ben Quinn (August 7, 2024) The Guardian which according to anti-fascist investigators is "growing all the time."Far-right Scottish influencer shuts down social media chat after "tsunami" of racist comments by Mark McGivern (August 10, 2024) Daily Record This shite is funded by online advertising, donations, and merchandising. 
UK independent press regulator expelled UNN in 2022 following a systemic breach of its standards code with regards to a large number of problematic tweets and articles about Ukraine and the pandemic.Impress kicks out Unity News Network over Covid vaccine and Ukraine coverage by Bron Maher (October 25, 2022) Press Gazette
Research by (and, no doubt, the No Shit Sherlock Institute) has concluded that people engaged with UNN and other alternative media sources are significantly more likely to believe in conspiracy theories and the effectiveness of direct action.Conspiracy belief among the UK public and the role of alternative media King’s College London Lead researcher Dr Rod Dacombe told The Times: 
Clews has responded to such criticisms with a bizarre analogy about a taxi driver not being responsible for a murder committed by one of his passengers.
==Imperial edicts==
Clews has used the UNN to make proclomations on a variety of far-right talking points:
===Climate change denialism===
Speaking about what he referred to as the “ongoing climate change scam," Clews has said: 
===COVID-19 denialism===
Cashing in on the pandemic, Clews claimed that Covid-19 was planned, that the vaccines were "committing murder," and that, "People are dropping like flies. Footballers, athletes, musicians, perfectly healthy people are just dropping dead." He sold a £5 card for parents to give to their children, stating: "I am not allowed to be tested or vaccinated."
A local resident, who lost her mother to COVID-19, said of Clews: 
Prof. Hugh Pennington of Aberdeen University, who accussed Clews of "talking bollocks," stated: 
Clews was unable to provide any evidence to the Sunday Mail to support these claims or his claim that these claims had been “fact-checked”.
==Footnotes==
==References==
Category:Anti-vaccination movement
Category:Brexit
Category:British people
Category:British right wing
Category:Conspiracy theorists
Category:COVID-19 denialists
Category:Far-right politics
Category:Global warming denialists
Category:Islamophobes
Category:Living people
Category:Nationalism in the UK
Category:Right-wing activists