Ben Woods, a member of the Free Speech Union (FSU), has worked at Waitrose’s Henley branch in Oxfordshire for 25 years, having joined the supermarket as a teenager. However, after accusing its long-serving employee of misconduct over a dossier of more than 30 social media posts, the company has now swiftly suspended him.
His tweets include a repost of a Matt cartoon in The Telegraph joking that a child had failed a sex education class for being unable to name 100 different genders, along with comments about banning the burqa and marriage between cousins. Another questioned whether a book titled In my Daddy’s Belly: The Story of a Transgender Dad Giving Birth – which describes “two Dads eagerly awaiting the birth of their first child” – was “spreading misinformation”.
Waitrose later provided him with a file containing the 30 tweets they deemed ‘problematic’. Among them was a post joking that a horse standing beside an obese woman should “run away as fast as you can, old boy”, and a poll asking whether the UK should close its borders, which received more than 4,000 votes.
In previous tribunal documents, John Lewis, which owns Waitrose, stated that its social media policy prohibits employees from posting anything that could be considered “bullying, harassing, or discriminatory towards any individual or group of individuals”.
A Waitrose spokeswoman declined to comment on the specifics of Ben’s case, saying: “We would never discuss individuals.”
Ben believes he has been targeted because of his political views.
“My employer is attacking me because of my personal opinions,” he said. “It’s a witch hunt. I’ve been thrown to the wolves to protect their image. It looks like they are going to sack me. They just want to get me out of the way.”
Despite working his way up through the ranks and becoming a wine specialist after years of training, Ben’s career came to a halt when strangers began reporting his social media activity to Waitrose. The backlash intensified after Elon Musk retweeted one of his posts calling for a national inquiry into the grooming gang scandal, which was seen by 63 million people.
Following the viral retweet, Ben was doxxed, with social media users posting details of his workplace online.
“I was getting quite a lot of visibility,” he explained. “Two accounts posted that I worked at Henley-on-Thames along with a photo of me. That got seen by a million people, and Waitrose was aware by then. I’ve had death threats.”
One particularly disturbing call came while he was at work.
“I picked up the phone and said, ‘Hello, Waitrose wine department, how can I help you?’ This person said, ‘We know who you are. We’re going to kill you.’”
Ben rejects accusations from social media users calling him a “white supremacist” or a “Nazi” and insists none of his tweets were racist. Where he did express opinions, he points out that plenty of people agreed with him.
“I’ve given them my life,” Ben said. “They are supposed to be a family-run company and the bastion of the high street who had a reputation for looking after their staff and being a good employer, which is what I used to think. Waitrose has been treating me like a criminal. I’m a Conservative. That’s not illegal.”
The FSU, which is supporting Ben’s legal fight, told The Telegraph: “Our case and legal teams have been assisting Ben throughout this process. He is one of 260 ordinary people we’re assisting right now who are being punished for their opinions. We’ve seen a spate of supermarket workers investigated and penalised for their lawful beliefs in recent months.
“Supermarkets have no business snooping on employees’ lawful views.”
The FSU’s intervention follows a pattern of employees being investigated or dismissed for expressing mainstream political views, including those who support Reform UK.
We are also supporting Saba Poursaeedi, a father of two, who is suing one of Britain’s largest housing associations for political discrimination after being sacked as a resident involvement officer. Hightown Housing Association justified his dismissal by claiming that Reform UK’s policies on immigration, net zero, and housing were “in direct conflict” with its own “values”.
Remarkably, Hightown used another Matt cartoon from The Telegraph – by the same cartoonist as in Ben’s case – as evidence against him. Poursaeedi had simply retweeted it.
Published in January last year, the cartoon depicts a housewife in a burqa commenting on the prospect of Abu Dhabi purchasing the paper– a reference to concerns over human rights violations in the Gulf state.
There has never been any suggestion the cartoon is racist while award-winning cartoonist Matt Pritchett is widely recognised for his gentle perspective on British life.
Thanks to your support, Saba’s case is now heading to court. Our members rallied behind him, helping us reach our £28,000 crowdfunder target to ensure he can fight this battle properly.
Now, let’s do the same for Ben. With your help, he too can take legal action against this creeping political discrimination in the workplace. This could be a major test of free speech in employment law. Please share the link below and donate to his crowdfunder to help him fight back.
His lawyer, Elliot Hammer, head of employment law at Branch Austin McCormick, said: “Employees like Ben have rights under the Equality Act and Article 10 to manifest lawful beliefs and engage in robust debate about political matters.”
