Controversial 'Anti-Extremism' Adviser Lord Walney 'Remains in Office' Amid Confusion Over Role
Update: This piece has been amended (Tuesday 7pm), after initially reporting Lord Walney was no longer in post. Following several days of asking for confirmation, and after publication, the Home Office has now said the adviser remains in post. But The Times reports that his role is under review....
There was confusion on Tuesday after Keir Starmer's Government belatedly insisted that the controversial 'anti-extremism' adviser, appointed by Rishi Sunak, remains in post, after initially suggesting to this paper that he had fulfilled his work for the Government.
Questions were first raised by this paper last week after Lord Walney, formerly John Woodcock, was listed by the London Assembly as being a "former" adviser to the Government.
However, after days of questions about his status, a Home Office spokesperson suggested that he had fulfilled his work for the Government as the 'Independent Adviser on Political Violence and Disruption' and thanked him for the service.
But hours after this article's publication, the department issued a statement insisting that he in fact "remains in post".
Walney's register of interests suggests that his other role as a Government trade envoy to Tanzania ended after the general election in July.
The former Labour MP, and adviser to the previous Conservative Government sparked ire among civil liberties campaigners and climate groups, after calling for a series of bans against groups protesting against defence and energy firms, while also working as a lobbyist for arms and fossil fuel industry groups.
Walney's domestic extremism report, which was published in advance of the general election in May, had called for certain pro-Palestine and climate change protest groups to be effectively banned.
At the time, Walney, formerly known as John Woodcock, had taken various roles as a paid adviser to lobbyists for the fossil fuel and defence industries.
He is recorded as having visited Israel in January this year, courtesy of Elnet, an NGO promoting cooperation between Europe and Israel. It was founded in 2007 as a European pro-Israel advocacy group, to counter "widespread criticism of Israel in Europe".
He was also listed as a paid adviser to lobbyists Rud Pederson, clients of which include the oil and gas giant, Glencore.
Protest Rights
Walney's extremism report had also backed a series of broader restrictions on protests.
These included:
The power to ban or limit the frequency of protests on the grounds of cost
Powers to ban protest groups from organising, or raising money if they were judged to be causing 'serious disruption.
A broadening of the definition of 'serious disruption' to allow police to outlaw a wider range of protests
New powers to allow businesses to sue protest groups for disruption
Allowing police to make protest groups pay for the policing of their own protests
Powers to impose exclusion zones around 'places vital to the functioning of democratic governance' in order to protect them from 'unreasonable protest activity'
Related reading: Government 'Anti-Extremism' Protest Report Launched in Westminster by Think Tank with Ties to US Hard Right
Although hired by Sunak, Walney remained close to senior Labour figures. The launch of his extremism report earlier this year was chaired by Starmer adviser and former Labour minister Lord Mandelson.
As this paper revealed at the time, it was also hosted by the Counter Extremism Group, a think tank which does not disclose the sources of its funding and whose founder was accused of having ties to extreme "alt-right" groups in the US.
As reported by Byline Times in 2022, the Counter Extremism Group (CEG) is run as a profit-making business through a private limited company - Counter Extremism Network Ltd - which was founded in January 2020 by its then-director Robin Simcox.
Robin Simcox was appointed by then Home Secretary Priti Patel as the UK's Commissioner f
There was confusion on Tuesday after Keir Starmer's Government belatedly insisted that the controversial 'anti-extremism' adviser, appointed by Rishi Sunak, remains in post, after initially suggesting to this paper that he had fulfilled his work for the Government.
Questions were first raised by this paper last week after Lord Walney, formerly John Woodcock, was listed by the London Assembly as being a "former" adviser to the Government.
However, after days of questions about his status, a Home Office spokesperson suggested that he had fulfilled his work for the Government as the 'Independent Adviser on Political Violence and Disruption' and thanked him for the service.
But hours after this article's publication, the department issued a statement insisting that he in fact "remains in post".
Walney's register of interests suggests that his other role as a Government trade envoy to Tanzania ended after the general election in July.
The former Labour MP, and adviser to the previous Conservative Government sparked ire among civil liberties campaigners and climate groups, after calling for a series of bans against groups protesting against defence and energy firms, while also working as a lobbyist for arms and fossil fuel industry groups.
Walney's domestic extremism report, which was published in advance of the general election in May, had called for certain pro-Palestine and climate change protest groups to be effectively banned.
At the time, Walney, formerly known as John Woodcock, had taken various roles as a paid adviser to lobbyists for the fossil fuel and defence industries.
He is recorded as having visited Israel in January this year, courtesy of Elnet, an NGO promoting cooperation between Europe and Israel. It was founded in 2007 as a European pro-Israel advocacy group, to counter "widespread criticism of Israel in Europe".
He was also listed as a paid adviser to lobbyists Rud Pederson, clients of which include the oil and gas giant, Glencore.
Protest Rights
Walney's extremism report had also backed a series of broader restrictions on protests.
These included:
The power to ban or limit the frequency of protests on the grounds of cost
Powers to ban protest groups from organising, or raising money if they were judged to be causing 'serious disruption.
A broadening of the definition of 'serious disruption' to allow police to outlaw a wider range of protests
New powers to allow businesses to sue protest groups for disruption
Allowing police to make protest groups pay for the policing of their own protests
Powers to impose exclusion zones around 'places vital to the functioning of democratic governance' in order to protect them from 'unreasonable protest activity'
Related reading: Government 'Anti-Extremism' Protest Report Launched in Westminster by Think Tank with Ties to US Hard Right
Although hired by Sunak, Walney remained close to senior Labour figures. The launch of his extremism report earlier this year was chaired by Starmer adviser and former Labour minister Lord Mandelson.
As this paper revealed at the time, it was also hosted by the Counter Extremism Group, a think tank which does not disclose the sources of its funding and whose founder was accused of having ties to extreme "alt-right" groups in the US.
As reported by Byline Times in 2022, the Counter Extremism Group (CEG) is run as a profit-making business through a private limited company - Counter Extremism Network Ltd - which was founded in January 2020 by its then-director Robin Simcox.
Robin Simcox was appointed by then Home Secretary Priti Patel as the UK's Commissioner f
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