Britain faces a sinister threat to free speech
With each passing day, the threat to free speech in Britain posed by our Orwellian array of laws seeking to govern offence and debate becomes a little clearer as new revelations emerge.
The feminist writer Julie Bindel sets out in these pages today her own experience with the Kafkaesque policing tactics adopted by forces across the country. Confronted with two police officers on her doorstep on a Sunday afternoon, Ms Bindel was told she was being investigated for a hate crime, that she was not permitted to know why, and invited to give a statement.
Quite rightly, Ms Bindel stood her ground, and the matter was subsequently dropped. However, many others who wish to express their opinion on contentious and sensitive topics would find such visits extremely intimidating.
This would naturally have a chilling effect on the willingness of individuals to participate in the public debate that is essential to the healthy functioning of a democracy and which has been massively facilitated by the development of social media.
Ms Bindel’s experience mirrors closely that of Telegraph journalist Allison Pearson, who was also visited by officers who refused to divulge the precise allegation that had resulted in their visit, and is not far removed from that of former Labour MP Ian Austin, who was questioned by police about his decision to refer to the proscribed Palestinian terror group Hamas as “Islamist”.
Further cases of overzealous police officers choosing to focus their efforts on policing thoughts and speech rather than cracking down on violent crime or theft are also coming to light. Many overseas are watching, and appear horrified that in a supposedly free and democratic society journalists and politicians can face criminal investigation for expressing strongly worded opinions.
Former Conservative MP Tom Hunt has set out how he was reported to Suffolk police for a non-crime hate incident that may still be on his record, and criticised forces for “spending time registering this nonsense when they should be on the street making people feel safe”.
He is not alone in this view. Sir Richard Dearlove, the former head of MI6, has insisted that officers “shouldn’t be wasting their time on these sorts of issues”, and expressed concern over police actions, noting that “those of us who have grown up in an era of free speech just can’t understand the way things have developed”.
Until we get a government willing to change the law, a small minority of activists will retain the ability to comb wording for offence, and abuse police procedure as a means to intimidate their opponents.