Gavin Barwell, the former Whitgift Foundation board member and sometime Conservative MP for Croydon Central, has had his online incompetence caught out again, as he has been shown to have shared links to porn sites with the 22,000 people who follow him on Twitter.
Porn: Gavin Barwell
According to media reports which first appeared on the Guido Fawkes website, Barwell replied to a tweet that showed three porn videos with what are described as “graphic sex scenes”. One of the videos features “two schoolgirls” and their “mum”. The clips on the thread were from porn websites called Illustrated Interracial, Blacked and Moms Lick Teens.
Barwell responded to the X-rated tweet at 9.21pm on Monday. The reply remained on his timeline for a day and a half. It was deleted this morning, soon after Downing Street had been contacted by journalists seeking comment.
The worrying thing for the nation is that in his current job, as Prime Minister Theresa May’s Chief of Staff, it was Barwell who was responsible for recruiting his former bag-carrier, and Croydon councillor, Mario Creatura, to manage social media matters for No10.
It was Creatura who once said of his boss’s competence, or lack of it, in IT matters, “Gavin’s not the most technically minded person. He generally has no idea. He trusts me to do whatever.”
And gaffe-prone Gav has done much to reinforce that perception. It was Barwell, when a Tory MP, who tried to castigate his political opponents for displaying online material which had an advert for “Dating Arab Girls”. Until it was pointed out to him that Google Ads are served to his browser based on his own computer viewing history.
Barwell, 46, lives in Sanderstead with his wife and three sons.
Barwell, the author of How To Win A Marginal Seat, lost his Croydon Central seat in last year’s general election.
He has a verified Twitter account with more than 22,000 followers, including most members of the cabinet.
His social media activity was much-reduced immediately following his election defeat, and only resumed tentatively in the autumn, with tweets from Nando’s, something which has become an infrequent feature of the ex-MP’s Friday nights after apparently stressful weeks in his £150,000 job.
That job may now be under threat. Damian Green, one of the Prime Minister’s closest cabinet allies, was forced to resign in December after it was revealed that he had been viewing pornography on his official computer. In Barwell’s case, it has not been established whether his late-night Twitter porn activity was conducted using a personal or work mobile phone.
Today, a Downing Street source said: “Gavin Barwell replied to this tweet, which was in his timeline, in error. He has deleted the reply and regrets the embarrassment this has caused.”
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Confirms my belief that only twits Tweet.
Is this the man seen sitting at the Prime Minister`s side in a Downing Street meeting just 2 days ago?
He was also in Davos
It’s alright everyone he is only the Chief of Staff to the Government which is conducting the biggest constitutional change seen in 50 years. He must fill everyone with complete confidence that the right information is being used and the correct judgements are being taken.