A British Green Party Volunteer Got Fired Because of a Social Media Brouhaha

This article originally appeared on VICE UK.

"Sacked: Liverpool Green Party activist Stephen Delahunty sparked a Twitter row" is such a 2015 sentence, isn't it? It comes from the Mirror's coverage of the sacking of Stephen Delahunty after he started a Twitter row. But look between the layers: It wasn't even a Twitter row he started, more of a brouhaha between a few Liverpool Labour councillors who objected to a semi-offensive image he was using as a Twitter profile picture and a Facebook photo of him holding two guns and smiling.

But that's just 2015, isn't it? We're all a few asshole-tweets-by-a-Labour-councillor away from losing our jobs. I've been trying to keep on Hilary Benn's good side for the past three years for this very reason.

The photo in question is the front cover of a digital magazine Stephen's involved in and depicts an 80-foot anime girl-cum-"Scouse bird" stereotype wearing a pair of startlingly white pants. Some Labour councillors in Liverpool objected to this; as the Liverpool Echo first reported, councillor Nick Small—election agent for Riverside Labour's Louise Ellman—said, "These images are offensive and anti-Liverpool."

Martin Dobson, the Green Party candidate Stephen was volunteering for, was equally as tub-thumping. "Stephen Delahunty is a volunteer who has been helping my campaign," he told the paper. "Unfortunately he allowed some offensive images from his personal account to be associated with the campaign. His comments about the images were made in a personal capacity and were not endorsed or supported by the Green Party in any way."

As a result of all this, Stephen was sacked from his role as volunteer and, following the storm, also let go from his day job. All for a cartoon picture of some pants by an artist called " Hairy Bastard." It is 2015 and this is what's up.

Anyway, we spoke to Stephen via email and asked him about the fallout from this whole weird scandal, and also why he was holding all those guns.

VICE: Alright then: what's gone on?
Stephen Delahunty: I believe I got embroiled in what's known in the industry as a "storm in a twittercup."

What was your role in the Green Party?
My role was to work with the external press coordinator on local press issues, to help organize events and help manage the candidate's website and social media presence. There was no such position when I started, and I volunteered to do it for free.

Let's talk about the "Scouse Bird" image. First up: I gather that's the cover for an alternative magazine you contribute to. What's the deal with that?
It was used as the front cover illustration to represent the discussion of a loose combination of themes aimed to discuss certain aspects of Scouse identity and anime. As someone who co-founded an independent publication, we strive to bring together incompatible topics. The councillors I was debating this with could have googled the site and found all the images in their original context.

What are your thoughts regarding critics who say the image is sexist?
Sexist in relation to what? The daily tabloid press, advertising, the music industry, our political class, routes to employment in general… Sexism is alive and well—people just like to choose when it becomes an issue for them.

Plus, anyone who's read any manga will recognize the "panty shot" is a regular trope and almost always depicts strong, independent females. The woman [Janine Grifflin] who wrote the poem one of the "offensive" images accompanied finds it empowering to express her femininity, thoughts, and desires and then have them interpreted in such a way.

The gun photo has also been doing the rounds a fair bit—what's the explanation behind that one?
It was a personal photo that was taken while recently on holiday in Cambodia. It was supposed to be ironic, like the way the Labour Party still insist they're actually the party of "labor."

But isn't it a little counterintuitive to have photos of you holding guns on social media considering the Green Party's anti-gun policy?
No. MPs go on fact-finding trips all the time. If you want to learn about guns then you have to go to a country that has them.

To that end: Why were you volunteering for the Green Party in the first place?
Because they're the only party with an anti-austerity message. Plus, I personally agree with their policies on the reform of the UN, raising the minimum wage, and the need for greater localism while fostering a greater sense of international solidarity.

So if your only image of the Greens is a deluded group of sandal-wearing hippies, then I'm not your average Green. I'm a graduate that grew up in north Liverpool and lived here most of my life, that feels I shouldn't be having my freedom of speech monitored online or anywhere (real freedom of speech, that is), certainly not by members of a political party who used the affiliation to generate negative press for an opposing campaign. Do you really think they were offended? Or did they Snapchat a private message around their council group congratulating one another?

I'm laughing in the image because holding a gun is a surreal experience, and the insanity of their continued use and production—plus how easy it was to get hold of one in Cambodia—I found amusing. As do lots of other tourists that visit the same location every year.

You've sort of become a punchbag for the local Labour candidate's team after this. One person even said, "These images are offensive and anti-Liverpool." I mean, are they?
No. They're a testament to individual creativity and freedom of expression, which brought [together] the creative writing skills of a poet—a female poet, I might add—and a local artist with a penchant for horror/anime.

As someone who has worked, lived and been educated in Liverpool most of my life; who runs an independent publication in the city that creates jobs; and who is involved in the local music, arts, and events scene, the idea that I—or any of the work I do—could be considered anti-Liverpool is ridiculous.

Criticism is often associated with hatred, when the opposite is actually true.

Do you think you've been thrown under the bus a bit by Martin Dobson?
Yes. At first I thought I owed some sort of loyalty because I'd got to know him personally—and professionally I sort of got it. But he could have come out and said, "It's ridiculous to slander someone for their opinion and I'd rather talk about the real issues, such as a lack of affordable housing and the increasing inequality in the city rather than drag a volunteer into the gutter just to shame my campaign."

The problem with his response is that it only appeals to the councillors [who are] seemingly offended and to his generation. No one I know in my age group buys the Echo, and judging by the response of everyone I've spoken to since the news broke, they'd actually like to see politicians demonstrate a little bit more courage and conviction.

If the person you are trying to help get elected has no faith in you, how could I possibly vote for him and what he represents now?

The only thing I did wrong was not make clear my voluntary status at the party; the name of my actual role is irrelevant. There's a pressure, which most graduates will relate to, on leaving university to find a job ASAP in something that legitimizes their last several years of study—oh, and to start paying back their tuition fees. I'd used the voluntary role as a window to attract a paid one.

Ironically, as the news broke I was suspended from my paid job, which I've now handed in my notice for, as—in not so many words—they told me I'd keep my job as long as I didn't respond.

Is this just a local politics story that's got incredibly out of hand?
There's an arrogance that runs through Labour in the city. It's been easy to be the only alternative to the Conservatives—who face so much resentment in the city—for a number of reasons, but Hillsborough being the prime example. Their attempt to victimise me barely exposes their vulnerability.

Finally, are you OK?
Yeah—who doesn't like being unemployed for having an opinion? But for the record: I'm not sorry. That apology [released by the Green Party] was written by the "real" external press coordinator for the sake of a campaign I no longer support.

You can read Stephen's full response here.

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