View source for Mainstream: The Campaign Against Extremism

Mainstream described itself as being 'led by a group of people from different political backgrounds – designed to encourage a return to respectable and responsible politics, and to banish extremism from British politics once and for all'.<ref name="About">Mainstream [https://web.archive.org/web/20210927015157/https://mainstreamuk.org/about-us/ About Us]. Retrieved from the Internet Archive of 27 September 2021</ref>

[[File:Mainstream_logo.png|200px|thumb|right|Mainstream: The Campaign Against Extremism]]
==Background==
Mainstream: The Campaign Against Extremism (MTCAE) Ltd was incorporated on 14 August 2019 and Dissolved on 30 August 2022(company number 12156740) under the name [[MTCAE Ltd]].<ref>Companies House [https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/12156740 MTCAE Ltd].</ref> It has a single director – [[Benjamin Tait]]. <ref>Companies House [https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/12156740/officers Officers].</ref>

The campaign's website listed people supporting Mainstream as: [[Ian Austin]], [[Eric Pickles]], [[Rachel Riley]], [[Maureen Lipman]], Rabbi [[Jonathan Hughes]], [[Michael McCann]], [[Ivan Lewis]], [[Mike Gapes]], [[Anne Coffey]] and [[Joan Ryan]].<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20210927012611/https://mainstreamuk.org/why-were-backing-mainstream/</ref> In the campaign's introductory video, Austin tok credit for the organisation, saying 'I've formed a new organisation – it's mainstreamuk.org'.<ref name="Austin"/> 

[[File:open_letter.jpg|200px|thumb|right|alt text]]
[[File:Billboard_conference.png|200px|thumb|right|Ian Austin the with Mainstream's digital billboard, Labour Conference 2019]]
[[File:Billboard_backfires.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The billboard backfires: @UKDemockery]]

==Stance==
Mainstream does not provide a definition of extremism. However, one of its three publications is entitled ''Corbyn, McDonnell and the IRA: A History of Extremism'',<ref>Mainstream: The Campaign Against Extremism [https://mainstreamuk.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Corbyn-McDonnell-and-the-IRA-A-History-of-Extremism.pdf ''Corbyn, McDonnell and the IRA: A History of Extremism''], Mainstream: The Campaign Against Extremism, Publications.</ref> and Lipman reprises her role as Beattie from the British Telecome adverts to say of the Labour leadership 'This lot's not Labour, they're not socialists. You know what they are, Nora? They're extremists'.<ref>Maureen Lipman [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKGjBw3uFCw Why would anybody vote for this Labour Party?], Mainstream: The Campaign Against Extremism, Videos.</ref> A tweet about another video, presenting the results of a poll of Labour members' views calls the members themselves 'out of touch and extreme'.<ref name="Tweet">Mainstream UK [https://twitter.com/MainstreamUk/status/1175761373403451392?s=20 Tweet] 22 September 2019.</ref>

Patriotism enters into the vocabulary of Mainstream. Reminiscing about an age in which 'mainstream politics was the norm', the campaign's opening statement remembers wistfully that 'It felt as if we shared the same mainstream patriotic outlook, even if we disagreed with each other on the best way to achieve a better society and a more prosperous economy'.<ref name="About"/> In a video on the organisation's home page, Austin insists that 'decent, mainstream, patriotic Labour voters have got to ask themselves whether Jeremy Corbyn, who supported terrorism, supported extremism, backs our country's enemies, whether he can be trusted to lead it, and I just don't think he can'.<ref name="Austin">Ian Austin [https://mainstreamuk.org/#single/0 Video], Mainstream: The Campaign Against Extremism, Home.</ref>

While claiming to be a 'campaign against extremism on the far left and the hard right',<ref name="Austin"/> the ''Independent'' noted that 'despite the non-partisan branding and mission statement under which it solicits cash donations, the group’s entire advertising output is in actual fact targeted at the opposition Labour Party – the bulk of it on issues like taxation and public ownership'.<ref name="Independent">Jon Stone [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/facebook-advertising-labour-jeremy-corbyn-attack-anti-extremism-a9234041.html Self-styled ‘anti-extremism’ campaign just spending thousands on anti-Labour attack ads], ''The Independent'', 5 December 2019.</ref> The same article documented that the campaign had spent approaching £5,000 to run three anti-Labour adverts on Facebook. Two included clips of varying lengths from Limpan's video. The third 'which appears completely unrelated to the group’s stated anti-extremism purpose, reads: “REVEALED: Jeremy Corbyn said that nobody below £80,000 will pay more in tax under his government. Wrong. Watch this”. It features only a video of BBC interviewer Andrew Neil asking Mr Corbyn about dividend taxes'.<ref name="Independent"/><ref>Mainstream UK [https://www.facebook.com/101079157955552/videos/1145775145628655/ Jeremy Corbyn isn't telling the truth on tax], Facebook advert, 2–3 December 2019.</ref>

Tax seems to be a particular preoccupation of the group, with a report on the subject published just before the video went out.<ref name="Taxation">Mainstream: The Campaign Against Extremism [https://mainstreamuk.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Taxation-The-Labour-Partys-questions-to-answer-Final.pdf Taxation: The Labour Party's questions to answer], November 2019.</ref> In his foreword, former Shadow Chancellor, Chris Leslie, argued that 'it is ƚhe consequence of Labour's adoption of an anti-capitalist, anti-markets approach to the economy and public services which deserves serious attention in the 2019 election'.<ref name="Taxation"/>

The research into Labour members' views, commissioned from YouGov in September 2019 (with an unstated sample size), included questions about tighter controls on the broadcast and print media, a general strike, open borders, national pride, the monarchy, nuclear disarmament, the Troubles in Northern Ireland, antisemitism in the Labour Party and Islamist terrorism, in a bid to show that Labour members were 'out of touch and extreme'.<ref name="Tweet"/>

In the same month as the survey results were published, Austin attempted to photobomb the Labour Party conference under the Mainstream banner. He parked a digital billboard in front of the conference venue, bearing the legend 'Jeremy Corbyn: Unfit to lead the Labour Party. Unift to lead the country'.<ref>Skwawkbox [https://skwawkbox.org/2019/09/22/video-moment-of-genius-makes-ian-austins-sad-vendetta-trip-to-brighton-backfire-hilariously/ Video: moment of genius makes Ian Austin’s sad vendetta-trip to Brighton backfire hilariously] Skwawkbox, 22 September 2019.</ref>

The day before the 2019 General Election, Mainstream published an open letter, signed by Austin, Coffey, Gapes, McCann and Ryan alongside Leslie, [[Louise Ellman]] and [[John Woodcock]]. The letter asked 'Thinking about Labour? Think again'.<ref>'Thinking about Labour? Think again' [https://twitter.com/MainstreamUk/status/1204686418095812608?s=20 Open Letter], 11 December 2019,</ref>

==Labour Party Antisemitism==
In the introductory video, Austin asserts that, under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership, 'a political party with a proud record, a long history of fighting for equality, fighting racism, has become poisoned with anti-Jewish racism and it is a complete and utter disgrace'.<ref name="Austin"/> 

==Resources==
*https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/facebook-advertising-labour-jeremy-corbyn-attack-anti-extremism-a9234041.html
==Notes==
<references/>