Dear Mike Buchanan,
Welcome to the FSU’s weekly newsletter, our round-up of the free speech news of the week. As with all our work, this newsletter depends on the support of our members and donors, so if you’re not already a paying member please sign up today or encourage a friend to join and help turn the tide against cancel culture. You can share our newsletters on social media with the buttons at the bottom of this email (although not if you’re reading this on a desktop). If someone has shared this newsletter with you and you’d like to join the FSU, you can find our website here.
Year-end round-up
We thought it worth pausing to reflect on what we’ve achieved this year, starting with our legal victories.
When Anna Thomas was fired from the Civil Service for raising the alarm about politically controversial workplace messaging involving Critical Race Theory (CRT) and gender identity ideology, she turned to the FSU for help. With our support, and the aid of specialist employment barrister Spencer Keen, Anna won a six-figure settlement.
In another big win, the Employment Tribunal ruled that ACAS employee Sean Corby was expressing a protected philosophical belief when he challenged CRT in his workplace and advocated the ‘colour-blind’ approach favoured by Martin Luther King. That sets an important legal precedent and will make it more difficult for people to be fired in future for criticising the ‘anti-racist’ dogma that’s currently in vogue with progressive employers.
We racked up another legal victory at the Employment Tribunal in September, when former bank manager Carl Borg-Neal secured what promises to be a significant, six-figure sum following Lloyds Bank’s decision to sack him for quoting the n-word when asking a question about a hypothetical situation in a diversity training session. We instructed Doyle Clayton – an expert firm of employment solicitors – to act for Carl and the Tribunal concluded that he had been unfairly dismissed and discriminated against.
And when Colonel Dr Kelvin Wright was forced out of the army after being hit with a ‘transphobia’ complaint for saying that “men cannot be women” we arranged for him to receive expert advice from an employment barrister and supported him during the Kafkaesque investigation that ensued. Thankfully, Dr Wright has now been cleared of all wrongdoing.
Then there’s our parliamentary work.
We work tirelessly behind the scenes to defend legal protections for free speech, seeing off the seemingly endless legislative challenges to this fundamental right. We have worked with MPs and peers to amend bills, helped them campaign for those amendments, circulated briefings, responded to consultations and met with numerous decision-makers to persuade them why free speech matters.
Earlier this year, we collaborated with allies across both Houses of Parliament to persuade the Government to remove a clause from the Worker Protection Bill that would have turbo-charged the Equality Act, widening the definition of ‘harassment’ to include conversations between third parties overheard by employees. That would have had a chilling effect on free speech in pubs, bars and restaurants, forcing them to employ ‘banter bouncers’ to remove customers that said anything likely to offend over-sensitive staff. Our Chief Legal Counsel, Bryn Harris, produced a very thorough briefing note on the Bill and it was this note, which we circulated widely in Parliament, that prompted a backbench rebellion.
We also played a big part in pushing through the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act, which received Royal Assent this year. This important change to the law, which will create more robust protections for free speech and academic freedom in English universities, is something we’ve been campaigning for since 2020. We lobbied for the Bill when the Government was weighing up whether it was needed, advised the Government on what to include in it, defended it from critics in the House of Commons and the House of Lords, helped to amend it and, finally, mobilised our allies in Parliament to get it over the line.
Another legislative victory was the introduction by the Home Secretary of a new Code of Practice for non-crime hate incidents (NCHIs) – an Orwellian device used by political activists to get the police to silence their opponents. Thanks to this new Code of Practice, which was introduced as a result of an amendment we helped secure to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act, the police will record far fewer NCHIs.
Finally, we also successfully lobbied the Government to tighten the UK Payment Services Regulations, making it harder for banks and payment services providers like PayPal to ‘de-bank’ customers’ for political reasons.
None of this would have been possible without the financial help of our members, supporters and donors – and on behalf of everyone at the FSU I want to thank you all for your continuing support.
If you can, please help us to ramp up our efforts in 2024 by becoming a member if you’re not one already, buying a gift membership for a friend or family member or simply by making a donation.
The latest edition of the FSU’s weekly podcast is out now
Talking points in this week’s higher education-themed episode include: Proposals for a new free speech complaints system for all universities in England and Wales; Prof Arif Ahmed’s inaugural speech as the Government’s first ever Director for Freedom of Speech and Academic Freedom; and what the FSU’s own case files tell us about the extent of the free speech crisis at UK higher education institutions.
The link to download the episode in full is here.
FSU responds to ‘financial misconduct’ consultations
We have responded to two consultations run by the financial regulators, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulatory Authority (PRA). We’re concerned that the proposals will force regulated firms to embed politically contentious diversity and inclusion policies deeper into their businesses. We have shared with both regulators our first-hand experience of the chilling effect on free speech that diversity and inclusion initiatives have already had for employees of these firms, not least the de-banking of Nigel Farage at Coutts. The FCA consultation proposes requiring firms to treat a “lack of diversity and inclusion” as a new “non-financial risk”.
Our response to the FCA consultation has been submitted via its online portal, but we have published the letter that we sent to the PRA here.
FSU assisting six members after negative online reviews lead to defamation proceedings
News of another important legal case involving the FSU broke this week (Mail, Times, Times Radio).
As first reported in the Times, we are currently assisting six people facing legal claims from one of the UK’s largest cosmetic surgery chains, Signature Clinic, whom they accuse of deploying an abusive litigation tactic designed to stifle free speech.
One of those patients is Kate Kronenbach. She went to Signature Clinic looking for a “pick-me-up” that would improve her self-esteem. Instead, she was left with disappointing results.
Ms Kronenbach then did something that most of us have either done, or thought about doing off the back of a poor customer experience and wrote a negative – but honest – review of the clinic online via the review platform, Trustpilot.
Having done so, she then received a legal letter threatening her with bankruptcy and accusing her of having “the audacity to ask for a refund”.
The FSU is now assisting Kate and three others facing defamation proceedings, all with similar stories, as well as two people accused of harassment. All but one are former patients.
We think this may be a case of ‘strategic lawsuits against public participation’ (Slapps), which are typically brought by large, well-financed corporations with the sole intention of harassing, intimidating and financially exhausting opponents – typically lone individuals – via improper use of the legal system.
In recent years, they have become notorious after a series of actions against journalists designed to stifle free speech and suppress legitimate reporting. The mining company ENRC launched legal action against journalist Tom Burgis over his investigation into the company’s business dealings in a case that would have cost more than £1m. Similarly, the Washington Post’s Catherine Belton fell victim to a “legal pile-on” by four oligarchs and a Russian state oil company over her book, Putin’s People.
Worryingly, however, Signature Clinic’s use of lawsuits appear to be the first major attempt to use this mechanism to silence consumers who place unflattering reviews online.
The growing use of Slapps risks chilling the free speech of journalists and citizens alike, and the FSU aims to strike a blow against this form of legal intimidation before it spreads any further.
Speaking to Times Radio, our Chief Legal Counsel, Dr Bryn Harris, said it was alarming that abusive litigation tactics were being deployed against consumers sharing honest opinions about services they’d paid for.
“Unlike journalists and authors, who are the usual targets of Slapps, our members did not have legal representation or the backing of a publisher. I don’t think it would occur to anyone posting an online review that they would ever need legal advice,” he said, adding: “When claimants rely on aggressive legal correspondence, rather than on the merits of their claim, the impact on litigants in person is especially devastating.”
Forthcoming FSU events in Belfast and Manchester – tickets now available
We will be kicking off 2024 with our first visit to Belfast on Friday 26th January. We have an incredible panel of speakers lined up – Toby Young, Andrew Doyle, Stella O’Malley, David Quinn, Ella Whelan and Jeffrey Dudgeon. They’ll be discussing ‘The State of Free Speech in Northern Ireland’ at the Titanic Hotel. Tickets are open to all, so do spread the word and book here to avoid disappointment.
From Belfast we’ll be hotfooting it to Manchester. On Saturday 3rd February we’ll be at the Anthony Burgess Foundation for a night of discussion with live music thrown in too. Toby will be joined by Sean Corby and Denise Fahmy, two courageous FSU members who’ve fought important legal battles to defend free speech. Sean is a professional musician, and as well as explaining why it mattered so much to him to take a principled stand, he will be playing from his extensive jazz repertoire with fellow musician Jonathan Enright. Tickets are available here.
FSU responds to the government’s new trans guidance for schools
The government’s long-awaited guidance for teachers on how best to manage pupils questioning their gender in schools has gone out for a 12-week consultation, which means that the final version’s free speech protections can be strengthened. We encourage our members and supporters to respond – the link is here.
Drawn up by Education Secretary Gillian Keegan and Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch, the guidance document – titled ‘Gender Questioning Children: Non-statutory guidance for schools and colleges in England’ – urges schools to take a cautious approach to children who want to transition socially (i.e., where they adopt the pronouns and dress of the opposite gender without any medical interventions), and makes clear that headteachers must now tell parents if their child wants to change gender.
The guidance also proposes new protections for freedom of speech and it’s good to see the Government recognising that gender identity ideology “is a contested belief”. Parents, teachers and governors must be able to question any theory that’s relevant to schooling without fear of sanction.
Back in August, we assisted the parents of the 13 year-old pupil who was branded “despicable” by her teacher for rejecting the idea that gender is binary. The Department for Education’s (DfE’s) guidance should help check the worrying rise of the ‘activist teacher’ (Daily Mail).
It’s also encouraging to see the DfE pushing back against the compelled speech element to preferred pronoun usage that’s developed in schools. We regularly assist people who’ve got into trouble at work for refusing to pay fealty to this aspect of gender identity theory.
Indeed, the fact that Christian teacher Joshua Sutcliffe was banned from the profession for ‘misgendering’ a pupil in a case believed to be the first of its kind in the UK earlier this year proves just how acute this problem is becoming (Telegraph).
Gender critical musician arrested by West Yorkshire Police for trans comments
Underground punk singer Louise Distras was arrested by West Yorkshire Police, held in custody for five hours, and then interviewed under caution over comments she made about the importance of biological sex during an appearance on GB News (Mail).
Since early 2022, the singer-songwriter has been increasingly vocal about being ostracised by the music industry for daring to question gender ideology.
The industry’s reaction to her ‘gender critical’ beliefs has been as depressing as it is predictable. Radio stations have stopped playing her tracks. Venues have cancelled gigs. Online sites like Big Cartel and Band Camp have demonetised her. Even her own agency has criticised her defence of women’s sex-based rights.
And yet, as Julie Bindel puts it for Unherd, this working-class woman remains unafraid to speak her mind, and will not be cowed by the mob.
According to Metro, her recent arrest was due to “vile remarks” she made during a recent appearance on Andrew Doyle’s GB News show, Free Speech Nation. That will probably come as a surprise to anyone who watched the interview. It certainly surprised Andrew Doyle, who took to Twitter to point out that the paper’s use of this adjective was “beyond ridiculous”, something more akin to “propaganda than journalism”.
In the clip the paper shares with its readers, presumably by way of evidencing Louise’s moral depravity, she can be heard telling Andrew: “Everything in my life starts with me being a woman, and being a woman is being an adult human female, right. So I stated this radical biological fact in an interview in May this year and since then the music industry has just shut its doors on me.”
Lock her up and throw away the key, officers.
The former darling of the anti-establishment Left first revealed news of her arrest on X and subsequently confirmed that officers had told her no action would be taken against her, “coz I haven’t committed any crimes, obvz”.
Ms Distras, who lives in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, said she was washing her hair in the shower when police came unannounced to arrest her. She was then forced to endure the indignity of getting dressed in front of a police officer with a bodycam, presumably just in case she tried to flush some of her illicit ideas down the toilet.
Once in custody she was photographed and fingerprinted before officers then used swabs to record the immutable biological reality of her DNA. (Sadly, the College of Policing has yet to provide guidance on how police forces are to capture admissible evidence of a person’s ‘gendered soul’).
West Yorkshire Police has been making a nasty habit of this sort of thing recently.
Back in March, officers caved to pressure from local Muslim ‘community leaders’ and recorded a ‘hate incident’ against a 14-year-old autistic boy who had accidentally dropped and caused slight damage to a copy of the Quran at Kettlethorpe High School in Wakefield.
The force was at the centre of another free speech story in August, when officers arrested an autistic 16-year-old girl for suggesting a female officer looked like her “lesbian nana” — a ‘crime’ for which she was summarily dragged screaming from her home in the early hours of the morning, and taken into custody on suspicion of a “homophobic public order offence”.
If only the force’s constables and PCSOs showed such vim and vigour when it came to the policing of, you know… actual crime.
An FoI request recently revealed that 40% of crimes reported to West Yorkshire Police went unsolved in 2021-22, with cases involving serious offences getting shut down without a suspect ever having been identified. When it comes to burglaries, the ‘unsolved’ percentage rises to 80% – that’s 11,418 burglary cases being closed without a suspect being identified, let alone interviewed.
2023’s Heroes and Zeroes
The FSU’s staff invited members to join them on Zoom on Thursday night to help them identify the free speech heroes and zeroes of 2023. The winner of Zero of the Year was Wakefield Police for their particularly zealous policing of people’s speech – including the autistic child who told a WPC she looked like her “lesbian nana” – and the Hero of the Year was Nigel Farage.
The FSU staffer who proposed Nigel was Tim Cruddas. Here is the poem Tim composed in tribute to Nigel:
I am nominating as my hero Mister Nigel Farage,
Who is subject to a never-ending barrage
From those of left-wing or Remainer type hues,
Who relentlessly harass and berate and abuse.
But he always maintains an air of defiance!
…especially when it came to a matter of compliance.
A certain bank, I shall not name (it’s Coutts)
Apparently gave not two little hoots
About Nigel’s right to confidentiality
And abandoned their commitment to impartiality,
By eschewing his custom on a political ground…..
….Rules AGAINST this appeared to abound ..
So they lied; and claimed that Nigel was skint,
And that they actually, really, binned him, by dint..
Of his balance, so leaked by Dame Alison Rose
The illegality of which now everyone knows.
So Nigel F, never one to be bested
To Coutts – Subject Access Requested.
He got what was needed – absolute proof –
That Rose had actually lied on the hoof,
And that all Coutts staff just hated his guts
But, they all underestimated the size of his ***
Now poor old Alison has had to resign,
And bank regulation NOW has to align
With freedom of thought and of political belief.
So thank you Nigel, it’s a real relief,
That you’ve won a battle yet again
Against the woke establishment’s increasingly tenuous reign.
And reminded us all, that SOME senior bankers….
…Are just a total and utter – bunch of *******.
Kind regards,
Freddie Attenborough
Communications Officer
Justice for Men & Boys 