Boabygate

Submission 4,271

Overview

Boabygate is the term given to refer to the alleged sexual misconduct by Scottish Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) Ross Thomson, who had been accused of groping three young men in the Strangers Bar in the Palace of Westminster.

The controversy led to Ross Thomson's eventual resignation ahead of the 2019 United Kingdom general election after it was revealed that Scottish Labour MP Paul Sweeney was one of the three men Thomson groped after disclosing the information in late October 2019.

Background

On February 5th, 2019, MP Ross Thomson, following a night of drinking, allegedly groped three young men, one of which claimed Thomson put his hands down his pants in the Strangers Bar located within the Palace of Westminster, where the houses of Parliament meet. According to reports, Thomson was removed by police.^[1]

Developments

Online Response

Shortly after the news broke, the term "Boabygate" began trending on Twitter. The word 'boaby' is the Scottish slang word for "penis." This was used as both a means to mock and criticize Thomson. For examples, Twitter user @bigbenn1e tweeted^[2] a photoshopped version of a screenshot from Invasion of the Bodysnatchers made to feature Thomson's head. The post received more than 25 retweets and 45 likes in 24 hours (shown below, left). Twitter user @bleachyboy tweeted,^[3] "#RossThomson Wee visit to the Priory. Quick show of contrition and he'll be back as obnoxious as ever. Ross isn't giving up his meal ticket any time soon. #BoabyGate" (shown below, center.

On February 6th, Scottish comedian Janey Godley tweeted a video in which she overdubbed Thomson's voice with her own as part of her "Janey Godley Voiceovers" comedy series. The tweet received more than 500 retweets and 1,000 likes in two days (shown below).

“So Oremrod, Farquhar and the gang were having a disco and I got thrown out of the pub I did nothing wrong – there was two working class guys there but I stayed away from the trouble makers called Tam and Steve” #janeygodleyvoiceover #RossThomson #thrownoutapub pic.twitter.com/UvwfJcqJQq

— Janey Godley (@JaneyGodley) February 6, 2019

Response from the Scottish Conservatives

On February 7th, Jackson Carlaw, the Scottish conservative parliamentary interim leader said, "His behavior is completely unacceptable." Video of the comments was tweeted by STV and received more than 190 retweets and 200 likes in 24 hours (shown below).

The Scottish Conservative Party released a statement saying that they were investigating the behavior of Ross Thomson.^[8]

'His behaviour is completely unacceptable.'Scots Tories interim leader Jackson Carlaw responds after MP Ross Thomson was led away from a bar by police investigating reports of 'sexual touching'. pic.twitter.com/GMZVqJlCFa

— STV News (@STVNews) February 7, 2019

Thomson's Response

On February 8th, 2019, Ross Thomson released a tweeted^[4] claiming that the accusations against him were false. He wrote, "A series of serious allegations have been made against me that have featured in the media I would like to state that these allegations from anonymous sources are completely false." The tweet received more than 160 retweets and 385 likes in 24 hours (shown below).

Media Coverage

Several media outlets covered the allegations, including the BBC,^[5] Sky News,^[6] The Guardian,^[7] The Independent^[8] and more.

Reaction to Lack of BBC Reporting

Many Twitter users criticized the BBC for a suspected lack of reporting on the matter. Scotland's largest political party, SNP and Scottish independence supporters claimed that if it was an SNP MP instead, the BBC would report on it more fervently (examples below, left).

A mock poll was created by Twitter^[9] user @wgsaraband who wanted users to question whether Reporting Scotland, BBC Scotland's prime time news programme would cover the incident. Over 400 people voted in the poll (shown below, right).

SNP Councilor tweeted,^[10] "Given @jamiegreeneUK rage at Scotland’s First Minister promoting Scotland in another country – I wonder who he thinks best represented Scotland last night ? @NicolaSturgeon or Ross Thomson?" The tweet received more than 245 retweets and 400 likes in 48 hours (shown below).