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Lord Young, of the Free Speech Union, added: “I would have thought that if your ideology is so rigid it justifies you punishing toddlers for not complying with it, that’s a powerful argument for discarding it in favour of something less dogmatic.”
Bill Bowkett, Standard, 2nd April 2025.
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On Monday, I joined Lord Young’s Free Speech Union.
It seemed like the right thing to do in the current political climate, where you are expected to “toe the line” or else pay the price of being attacked and cancelled by the self-appointed guardians of the truth.
Charlie Mullins, The Telegraph, 1st April 2025.
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This intolerance even extends to behaviour outside stadiums. Newcastle United supporter and Free Speech Union member Linzi Smith was banned from attending home matches for the rest of this season and the next two. Her ‘crime’ was to express gender-critical views online. In 2023, Smith wrote on X that ‘it’s like they’re trying to trans the gay away’. An anonymous complaint made to Northumbria Police said trans people would ‘not feel safe sitting next to her’ as a result of the post. Newcastle excommunicated Smith as soon as they found out about the police investigation.
Freddie Attenborough, Spiked, 30th March 2025.
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Bryn Harris, Chief Legal Counsel at the Free Speech Union, which supported the case, said: “They’re meant to be fighting world wars not culture wars.”
The Christian Institute, 28th March 2025.
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Lord Young of Acton, who co-founded the Free Speech Union, said: “How will publicans be expected to protect their employees from overhearing conversations in pubs by customers that they may find offensive or upsetting?
Lucy Burton and Tony Diver, The Telegraph, 28th March 2025.
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Free Speech Union director Toby Young, now Lord Young of Acton, told the House of Lords that a “harassment clause” in Labour’s Employment Rights Bill could add to a growing list of pressures facing publicans up and down the country. The clause would force employers to take “all reasonable steps” to prevent third parties, including customers, harassing their staff.
Georgina Cutler, GB News, 27th March 2025.
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Toby Young of the Free Speech Union on the other hand hailed the ruling, telling Guido:
“This is fantastic news. It shows that Arif Ahmed, the Director for Freedom of Speech and Academic Freedom at the Office for Students, is willing to give universities more than a wrist slap if they fail to uphold free speech on campus. I imagine that many universities will be reviewing their equity, diversity and inclusion policies this morning to make sure they don’t run afoul of their free speech obligations.”
Guido Fawkes, 26th March 2025.
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Should people be penalised for supposedly harming an institution’s reputation? How, exactly, is that harm to be measured? Does it only count if it brings an institution into disrepute in the eyes of right-thinking people?
Two people this week have run afoul of this standard. One is Charlie Mullins, the founder of Pimlico Plumbers, who got away with a warning. The other, Ben Woods, who ran the wine counter at the Henley branch of Waitrose, was not so lucky. He was fired yesterday after working there for 25 years.
Toby Young, The Telegraph, 25th March 2025.
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The Free Speech Union (FSU) welcomed the announcement as “a major win for workplace free speech”. The new requirements, it said, risked creating “pressure to silence dissenting views, expand ideological training schemes, and punish employees for lawful but unfashionable opinions”.
In its experience of cases involving workplace DEI training, the FSU found that employees “have been penalised for rejecting ideological claims presented as fact”, particularly in the area of identity politics.
The Christian Institute, 23rd March 2025.
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The influencer who was previously legally unrepresented has also secured backing from the Free Speech Union (FSU), who have branded the case ‘deeply alarming’. FSU Legal Counsel Bryn Harris said: ‘No contract, not even one issued by the Boob God himself, should shield powerful professionals from accountability and we are confident the court will agree.’
Ciaran Foreman, Daily Mail, 22nd March 2025.
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