Britain has a long history of authoritarianism

If Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is seriously intending to crack down on ‘hateful and harmful opinions’ – as she has promised to do – she will no doubt need the help of a whole army of narks and snitches to keep tabs on such unwelcome views on social media and report them to the authorities. Fortunately, there is a clear historical example of mass state surveillance for her to draw upon. Indeed, by spooky synchronicity, the last time a senior government minister tried to regulate public opinion by decreeing what people could think and say, he bore the same surname as Ms Cooper.

The Tory politician Alfred Duff Cooper was made Minister of Information in Churchill’s wartime government in May 1940. With the threat of imminent Nazi invasion hanging over us, it was important for the government to know the state of public morale, so Cooper organised what was called a ‘Social Survey’ to find out.