The Home Office was behind a covert effort to combat radicalisation in Muslim areas through the power of boyband music, according to reports.
In 2016, pop group Mr Meanor embarked on a tour of schools in the north of England to spread a message of anti-violence.
The effort was backed by Warrington-based charity The Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace, which was set up in memory of two young victims of a 1993 IRA bombing.
But news site PoliticsHome has now reported the entire campaign was organised by figures inside the government.
The outlet cites LinkedIn posts by former contractors and the involvement of communications company Breakthrough Media, which worked with the Home Office’s Research, Information and Communications Unit (RICU).
A 2016 investigation by the Guardian found Breakthrough had created dozens of websites, videos and social media pages to counter Isis propaganda when the terror group was at its height.
Sign up to Metro’s politics newsletter, Alright Gov?
Craig Munro breaks down Westminster chaos into easy to follow insight, walking you through what the latest policies mean to you. Sent every Wednesday. Sign up here.
It described RICU, which fell inside the remit of the counter-radicalisation programme Prevent, as a ‘shadowy propaganda unit’.
The Instagram page for Mr Meanor has not been active for almost nine years, beyond a ‘blackout’ post in 2020 in the wake of the George Floyd protests.
Pictures from autumn 2016 show the trio – made up of Marcel Wildy, Jordan Hyams, and Jake Kirby – posing with crowds of schoolchildren in places including Bradford, Burnley, Manchester and Huddersfield.
They had recently released a new single titled Think About It, which has a strong anti-radicalisation message.
The song includes the lyrics:
Cause 9/11 changed how we view these things
People wanna terrorise
And 7/7 left behind way more broken lives
Right before our eyes
The description for the music video on YouTube reads: ‘Our hope is that the song will inspire people to challenge those who push violence and hatred in today’s society.’
All proceeds from the single went towards the Foundation for Peace, though the Official Charts Company shows no record of the release appearing in the UK top 100.
There is no indication the members of Mr Meanor were aware of any secret funding for their tour.
A spokesperson for the Home Office said: ‘This campaign was delivered under the previous government and has now been discontinued.’
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.