| Whiggygate | |
|---|---|
| Category | Controversy |
| Took Place | June 2015 - May 2016 |
| Involved | It's a Shame (Whiggy), Birchington, RayApparently, Saracen's Fez, Quamquam123 |
Whiggygate was a scandal, involving stalking and abusive behaviour, that took place intermittently between June 2015 and May 2016.
Stalking Incident
In June 2015, it arose that several MHoC members were being stalked on Twitter by the same person. This led to a flurry of accusations being thrown as to who the mystery stalker was. Saracen's Fez suggested it could have been Birkenhead, mobbsy91 thought it might have been Nigel Farage MEP or Aph and Rakas21 was convinced it was Green_Pink. thehistorybore even remarked that it could be Birchington. Upon seeing this discussion in the Commons Bar, It's a Shame stated that her cousin could be behind the incident. Life_peer was suspicious however and accused him of lying. The stalking escalated even to the extent that one member's girlfriend was phoned by the stalker. At the end of the month, It's a Shame was revealed as the stalker and given a brief ban from the House. It's a Shame tried to rejoin the House just a few weeks later but thehistorybore turned him away. Birchington made another statement in which he announced that It's a Shame would be given a maximum ban of 3 months from the MHoC.
Whiggy
In March 2016, a member called Whiggy joined the House. She begun her MHoC career by asking the the Speaker at the time, RayApparently, when dupe checks were carried out. A few members, including JoeL1994, suspected her of being It's a Shame but no one could prove it. She opted to remain as an independent member and she stayed that way until she was persuaded to join the Labour Party in May by Quamquam123. When a dupe check was carried out, she failed but the Community Team did not disclose what the dupe account was. Whiggy claimed it was her brother's account and the Community Team believed her, giving Quamquam123 the all-clear to let her into the party. Whiggy became a popular and valued member of the Labour Party, even becoming Shadow Secretary of State for Transport.
At the end of May, MHoC members collectively discovered that Whiggy was a dupe of It's a Shame. Several pieces of evidence put together proved that without doubt, this was the case. This evidence was that:
- It's a Shame claimed their name was Shane Foster. Whiggy claimed their name was Shanice Forster.
- Both It's a Shame and Whiggy had a strong interest in transexuality.
- Both It's a Shame and Whiggy used pictures of attractive women for their avatars.
- Both It's a Shame and Whiggy had very similar writing styles.
- The Whiggy account failed the dupe check.
- Photos that the two accounts posted were very similar.
- The Whiggy account was created on the day when the It's a Shame account was last used.
Upon assessing this evidence, Quamquam123 removed Whiggy from the party with immediate affect. When Whiggy discovered this, her friendly persona vanished and she sent a wave of abusive messages to him in which she vowed to destroy the party.
Aftermath
She made several attempts to rejoin the party but was unsuccessful. Although Whiggy was removed before she could do any significant damage to the Labour Party, the incident created a sense of paranoia in the House that lasted for many months. The new Speaker, Saracen's Fez, made a statement following Whiggy's departure to notify the House of the situation.