UoL Young Tory criticised after giving interview with Sun journalist

The former President of UoL Young Conservatives has come under fire for engaging with a journalist who works for The Sun.

Olivia Lever gave The Telegraph her thoughts on being told by tenants of a student house there would be a "potential clash" if she moved in.

The story on the alleged intolerance faced by young Tories was written by Charlotte Gill of The Sun, a newspaper widely shunned across Liverpool because of their negative portrayal of innocent Liverpool fans in the Hillsborough disaster.

Olivia viewed a student property last week and was contacted by the tenants later on Twitter to advise her against moving into their 'very left wing house.'

Olivia tweeted a screenshot of the message and a picture of a poster in the house which read: 'Fuck the Tories.'

Olivia's tweet received a lot of criticism, prompting users to question why she would want to live with people who hold drastically different values.

This social media attention led to Charlotte Gill writing a piece for The Telegraph on young Tories facing 'anti-Tory bias' when searching for rented accommodation.

Olivia told The Telegraph: 'I ask myself how these people are going to cope when they get a job, and have to work with someone that votes Conservative, are they going to refuse to work with that person?'

As Gill is a journalist who also works for The Sun, many have criticised Olivia for liaising with someone part of a publication that has historically damaged the reputation of Liverpool.

Retweeting Olivia's tweet about The Telegraph piece, user Dale said: 'You’ve come to Liverpool Uni, had a respectful message saying you may not fit in with your flat mates because of your disgusting political views.'

'In return you’ve wrote an article with a “journalist” who works for The Sun.'

He added: 'I hope she does have a good time in uni, in Liverpool we are famous for being hospitable and welcoming and she shouldn’t get threats at all.'

'But she (and all other students) needs to be educated regarding the conservatives and The Sun Newspaper in Liverpool.'

One person even contacted Olivia on Depop to let her know their thoughts on everything that has happened.

Depop might be a strange platform to call out someone's politics on, but this message definitely shows how the people of Liverpool feel about the tone-deafness of this story.

Jon, a post-graduate Psychology student at UoL, told The Liverpool Tab: 'With telling her story to the likes of journalists who work for The Sun, I think it's clear she's just capitalising on a situation to try and get her name out there and make a name for herself! Completely despicable and blowing it out of proportion for attention.'

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