Our People
Our Team
Toby Young
Founder & General Secretary
Sigrun Olafsdottir
Chief Operating Officer
Dr Bryn Harris
Chief Legal Counsel
Tracy-Jane Afriyie
Director of Sponsorship and Development
Thomas Harris
Director of Data and Impact
Dr Benjamin Jones
Director of Case Management
Dr Jan Macvarish
Education and Events Director
Sam Armstrong
Legislative Affairs Director
Esther Hartley
Membership Director
Stephen O'Grady
Director of Projects
Jill Levene
Deputy Chief Legal Counsel
Rebekah Brown
Assistant Director of Case Management
Karolien Celie
Legal Counsel
Louis Maby
Legal Officer
Tim Cruddas
Senior Case Officer
Zahira Patel
Case Officer
Lynsey Metcalfe
Case Officer
Celeste Warren
Case Officer
Ben Maney
Case Officer
Fiorenza Dell'Anna
Case Officer
Max Thompson
Legislative Affairs and Campaigns Officer
Connie Shaw
External Affairs Officer
Vinay Kapoor
Education and Engagement Officer
Georgina Casey
Operations Assistant
Advisory Councils
The Free Speech Union has several Advisory Councils, mainly consisting of prominent public figures who support our work — from academics and lawyers to writers and journalists. These supporters bring a wealth of knowledge and expertise that has proved invaluable to our mission.
Advisory Council
Ian Rons
Inaya Folarin Iman
Julia Hartley-Brewer
Lionel Shriver
Dr Andrew Doyle
Prof David Starkey
Konstantin Kisin
Francis Foster
Dr Michael Shermer
Dr Helen Joyce
Dr Jaspreet Singh Boparai
Prof Matthew Goodwin
Baroness Claire Fox
👤
Mark Gallagher
David Goodhart
Dr David Green
Allison Pearson
Matt Ridley
Prof Eric Kaufmann
Prof Andrew Roberts
Prof James Hankins
Prof Timothy Bates
Prof Dennis Hayes
Prof Jeremy Jennings
Prof Lee Jussim
Prof Robert Plomin
Prof Michael Rainsborough
Prof Doug Stokes
Dr Pamela Paresky
Dr Zoe Strimpel
Dr Radomir Tylecote
👤
Dr James Orr
Claire Lehmann
Mark Littlewood
Dr Sumantra Maitra
Jon Moynihan
Nic Elliott
Simon Evans
Juliet Samuel
Benjamin Schwarz
Andy Shaw
Jim Sillars
Paul Staines
Dominic Frisby
Nick Dixon
Dr Joanna Williams
Dr Tim Williams
Legal Advisory Council
Patrick Way KC
Paul Cavin KC
Paul Diamond
Dr Wanjiru Njoya
Gareth Hughes
Robert Dougans
Prof Steven Greer
Geoffrey Davies
Dr Larry George
John Jolliffe
Rebecca Butler
Prof Raymond Wacks
Spencer Keen
James Montgomery
👤
Prof Andrew Tettenborn
Dr Paul Yowell
Peter Smith
Jaan Larner
Luke Gittos
David Palfreyman OBE
Roderick Moore
Preston Byrne
Graham Lodge
Christopher Gelber
Writers' Advisory Council
Alex Marwood
Lionel Shriver
Jack Dee
Dr Andrew Doyle
Matthew Hamilton
Caroline Hardman
Roger Lewis
Dr Helen Joyce
Julie Bindel
Bel Mooney
George Owers
Anna Pasternak
Prof Andrew Roberts
Nina Power
👤
Gillian Philip
Rachel Rooney
Mary Harrington
Gareth Roberts
Kate Clanchy
Scottish Advisory Council
Joanna Cherry KC
Murdo Fraser MSP
Puneet Dwivedi
Jamie Gillies
Dr Neil Thin
Brent Haywood
Penny Lewis
Jenny Lindsay
Iain Macwhirter
Prof Lindsay Paterson
Kapil Summan
Adam Tomkins
Tom Walker
Peter Kearney
Kirstin McLean
Tom Burns
Jayne Laidlaw
Shereen Benjamin
Northern Ireland Advisory Council
Baroness Kate Hoey
Jeffrey Dudgeon MBE
Ruth Dudley Edwards
Ben Lowry
