Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Amber Rudd accused of 'shutting down' rival's speech on arms sales to Saudi Arabia

Independent candidate Nicholas Wilson uploaded a clip of incident to YouTube 

Jon Sharman
Monday 05 June 2017 14:32 EDT
Comments
Independent candidate claims Amber Rudd shut down his speech about arms sales to Saudi Arabia

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Amber Rudd has been accused of "shutting down" a speech by an election rival who criticised the UK's arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

At an election hustings over the weekend, independent candidate Nicholas Wilson demanded, "Am I being censored?" after he was told by the moderator he had "strayed" from the topic at hand.

The Home Secretary was seen on video passing a note to the chair, who rang a bell and asked Mr Wilson to return to the original debate subject.

Although the video — uploaded to YouTube by Mr Wilson — does not make it clear, it appeared the candidates had been discussing crime and disorder.

He called it: "Amber Rudd shuts down my speech about arms sales to Saudi Arabia". It has been watched hundreds of thousands of times and was among the site's most-shared videos over the weekend.

Asked whether Ms Rudd was involved in cutting off Mr Wilson, a spokeswoman said: "The chair decided to move it on."

The chair of the hustings, held at St Mary's Church in Rye, told Mr Wilson he had "missed the subject that we're on at the moment".

Mr Wilson told The Independent he was "not off topic" and said the incident was "pure censorship".

The panel had been discussing "law and order", he said. He added: "Rudd talked about Manchester. So did I in context of UK arms sales."

Before the bell rang, he had been criticising Prime Minister Theresa May's recent visit Saudi Arabia and the sale of weapons to the Gulf State.

In the video Mr Wilson can be heard saying, "We're talking about Manchester".

He moved back to the topic of crime following the intervention and said: "Soft on crime, soft on the sources of crime. They want to abolish the Serious Fraud Office, which is independent, so that Amber Rudd can then be in charge of prosecutions through the National Crime Agency."

But he was forced to relinquish the microphone when this was deemed a "personal attack", the debate chair said in the video.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in