Let’s protect free speech for all not just the Left, says Toby Young

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I’ve spent the past couple of weeks trying to whip up support for Nigel Farage in his battle against woke British banks.
Closing people’s accounts for expressing the “wrong” views is a brutally effective type of censorship that originated in Communist China and has no place in a supposedly free country like ours.
My first thought was to create a meme based on the old advert for the National Lottery. A giant hand holding a pair of rainbow-coloured scissors would emerge from a high street bank. Then it would cut up the credit card of an unsuspecting member of the public, with the caption: “It could be you!”

Toby Young, Sunday Express, 30th July 2023.

Not even Reverends like me are safe from the banks’ woke purge

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I talked to my friends at the Free Speech Union and they put me in touch with an excellent journalist who wrote up my story accurately, and off we went. It has struck a chord with the public.

Richard Fothergill, The Telegraph, 25th July 2023.

Closing Nigel Farage’s bank accounts is an attack on free speech itself

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With deep irony, it was the Free Speech Union and its founder, Toby Young, who were “patient zero” of this particular epidemic. They came to me at the start of this year after PayPal suspended their accounts.

Andrew Griffith, The Telegraph, 23rd July 2023.

Editor who said that the idea that someone with “heavy five o’clock shadow” could be a woman “blows my mind” crowdfunds legal action after being dropped by writing firm

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Assisted by the Free Speech Union, Ms Ruth has raised more than £10,000 towards legal fees so far, but hopes to raise a total of £48,000.

Rhiannon James, Mail Online, 22nd July 2023.

Gender-critical literacy row sees editor cancelled over “five o’clock shadow” tweet

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The writer says she believes “sex is immutable and determined from conception”. Her case is being supported by the Free Speech Union.

Matt Jackson, Daily Express, 22nd July 2023.

Gender-critical editor dropped by agency over “five o’clock shadow” tweet

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The 63-year-old will be assisted by the Free Speech Union and is raising funds for her legal fees.

Craig Simpson, The Telegraph, 21st July 2023.

Banks could lose their licence if they discriminate against customers over political views

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Toby Young, director of the Free Speech Union, said: “The Free Speech Union has been lobbying the Government to stamp out this sinister new form of cancel culture for nearly a year and I’m delighted it has decided to do something about it. There’s no place for this kind of censorship in a modern democracy.”

Louisa Clarence-Smith, The Telegraph, 19th July 2023.

Trans activist on CPS “hate crime” panel called Kemi Badenoch a “raging transphobe” and thinks JK Rowling needs to be “taken down from the world”

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Her remarks were condemned by feminist campaigner Maya Forstater and Toby Young, the general secretary of the Free Speech Union.

Harry Howard, Daily Mail, 16th July 2023.

The shame of being debanked

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when I discovered that PayPal had also closed the accounts of the Free Speech Union and the Daily Sceptic, both organisations I run, that initial wave of embarrassment was replaced by anger. And after going through the internal appeals processes, I decided to launch a public campaign to get the accounts reinstated. This worked, but I haven’t used PayPal since. Meanwhile, the Free Speech Union has been lobbying the UK Treasury for the past nine months to put a stop to this sinister new form of cancel culture.

Toby Young, Spiked, 12th July 2023.

Building society closes vicar’s account over gender ideology feedback

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The vicar contacted the Free Speech Union for help. Its founder, Toby Young, said: “If you respond to a bank’s request for feedback in good faith you shouldn’t lose your account if you say something it doesn’t like.”

The Christian Institute, 7th July 2023.

In the Media

Articles That Mention the Free Speech Union

Let’s protect free speech for all not just the Left, says Toby Young

Not even Reverends like me are safe from the banks’ woke purge

Closing Nigel Farage’s bank accounts is an attack on free speech itself

Editor who said that the idea that someone with “heavy five o’clock shadow” could be a woman “blows my mind” crowdfunds legal action after being dropped by writing firm

Gender-critical literacy row sees editor cancelled over “five o’clock shadow” tweet

Gender-critical editor dropped by agency over “five o’clock shadow” tweet

Banks could lose their licence if they discriminate against customers over political views

Trans activist on CPS “hate crime” panel called Kemi Badenoch a “raging transphobe” and thinks JK Rowling needs to be “taken down from the world”

The shame of being debanked

Building society closes vicar’s account over gender ideology feedback

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