UK bill allowing for child spies is ‘really quite Orwellian’

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s move to pass legislation which will allow for the recruiting of children to spy on their parents is “quite Orwellian,” according to Spiked Online editor Brendan O’Neill.

The Covert Human Intelligence Source is currently before the parliament in the UK and will return to the House of Commons after the House of Lords added an amendment to curtail the use of children in spy activity.

The Prime Minister has come under fire from his Conservative colleagues with The Telegraph reporting Mr Johnson is facing a major party revolt over the bill.

Mr O’Neill told Sky News the development is “pretty shocking” and highlights how Boris Johnson has been a “fairly disappointing” prime minister especially on issues of liberty.

“This is really really dodgy,” he said.

“Everyone accepts the need for covert human intelligence, we need spies we need to break up terrorist groups. But recruiting children to watch their own families, spy on their families, there’s something quite Orwellian about that.

“What we have now both the right and the left in different ways support children spying on their own families.”

Mirrored from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkdpjAnngAk
Sky News Australia