The treatment of Charlie Mullins proves that there’s no free speech if you’re Right-wing

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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.

City watchdogs ditch ‘woke’ diversity drive

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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.

‘Boob God’ plastic surgeon launches legal war with influencer who ‘broke NDA and complained about operation carried out by Harley Street doctor’

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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.

Porton Down scientist forced out over gender beliefs wins legal battle

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Bryn Harris, chief legal counsel at the Free Speech Union, which supported Wilkins, said: “They’re meant to be fighting world wars not culture wars.”

Fiona Hamilton, The Times, 21st March 2025.

OUTRAGE AS WAITROSE SUSPENDS WINE EXPERT OVER CONSERVATIVE VIEWS

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The Free Speech Union is now supporting Ben’s fight for justice. Elliot Hammer, head of employment law at Branch Austin McCormick, is representing him.

Conservative Post, 17th March 2025.

Why is Waitrose investigating its staff for thoughtcrime?

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According to the page set up to help fund Woods’s legal fees, he will face a disciplinary hearing later this month. The Free Speech Union, which is defending Woods, says he is one of more than 250 employees it is representing in similar circumstances across the country. Bosses increasingly feel emboldened to police their employees’ speech, and this can only get worse under Labour – which appears hell-bent on tightening Britain’s already-suffocating speech laws.

Hugo Timms, Spiked, 17th March 2025.

Katharine Birbalsingh defends religious school leader appointed Ofsted chairman

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On Monday, Lord Young, the director of the Free Speech Union and co-founder of the West London Free School, said he agreed with Ms Birbalsingh’s comments.

He wrote on X: “If people are worried that [Sir Hamid] will encourage secular school leaders to visit Tauheedul Islam Boys’ School and Tauheedul Islam Girls’ School to learn from their success, they shouldn’t be. All school leaders can learn valuable lessons from the success of those schools, as I did. They are successful … because they combine the discipline and high expectations of the best grammar schools with the inclusive, welcoming atmosphere of the best comprehensives.”

Natasha Leake, The Telegraph, 17th March 2025.