Whitehall ‘blob’ blocked me from meeting Kathleen Stock, says Boris’s ‘free speech’ minister

The minister responsible for protecting free speech under Boris Johnson has claimed she was blocked from meeting with Kathleen Stock by the Civil Service “blob”.

According to Andrea Jenkyns, who served as higher education and skills minister from July until October last year, civil servants prevented her from meeting with feminist speakers such as the gender-critical philosopher and JK Rowling.

Mrs Jenykns said: “The blob was trying to stop me from seeing Kathleen Stock and other gender critical academics.

“Last year I was tasked with getting the universities Freedom of Speech Bill through, but obviously, in the end, I didn’t get a chance to do it.

“Before getting it through I wanted to speak with JK Rowling, [the conservative academic] Matthew Goodwin, and Kathleen Stock to find out how bad the atmosphere is within universities in terms of threats to freedom of speech.

“Within a couple of weeks of my becoming a minister, my private office of civil servants said they would organise the meetings. However, I kept getting the run-around.”

In May, the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act was given royal assent after years of delays.

The law allows academics and students to sue universities and student unions if they do not comply with “their duties to protect freedom of speech”. It also sets up safeguards, including a new complaints scheme, to ensure free speech on campuses.

The Bill was first introduced to the House of Commons in May 2021. When Mrs Jenkyns was higher education minister during the summer of 2022, the Bill was going through the House of Lords.

During this period, Mrs Jenkyns said she suggested the potential meetings with gender-critical academics several times, including with other ministers.

However, civil servants told her she had to seek approval from the Department of Education’s political advisers, who she says had no problem with the meetings.

“And then I was ousted in October by Rishi so I didn’t get a chance to push it,” she added.

In December last year, the Government indicated it would water down aspects of the Bill by making it harder for academics and students to receive compensation from the courts if their free speech rights were violated.

However, in February, ministers gave into pressure from free speech campaigners to remove the proposed amendments, making suing universities a last resort only after exhausting the relevant complaints procedures from the higher education regulator and academic institutions.

Stock’s gender-critical views

Prof Stock resigned from her post as a philosophy professor at Sussex University in 2021 after a campaign of intimidation by trans rights activists over her gender-critical views.

On Tuesday, police were forced to remove protesters from a talk she attended at the Oxford Union, where flyers were handed out saying that the academic was “not welcome here”.

One trans activist who disrupted the talk, glueing a hand to the floor, was hauled away by officers but later “de-arrested”, Thames Valley Police said.

Riz Possnett abused Prof Stock on Twitter before the protest, writing: “You’ve got some f---ing nerve Kathleen. You have brought your hatred into our community, and now you use the threats ‘we’ receive because of your ‘actions’ to try to garner more sympathy for your victim narrative. Oxford doesn’t want your bigotry here, and we’ll make it known.”

Conservative MPs criticised the police’s decision to de-arrest Possnett.

Marco Longhi, the MP for Dudley, said: “What is driving people to exasperation isn’t just the self-indulgent behaviour of a few people, it is the utterly inconsistent way with which the police decide to act when people’s lives are disrupted.

“Of course they should have been charged. Many ordinary folk could be forgiven for thinking that some police either sympathise with these protesters or simply don’t want to act.”

Jonathan Gullis, a Tory MP and former education minister, said: “The police should stand up for women’s rights, for the protection of women and for the belief that people shouldn’t be cancelled just because some trans extremists wanting to push their own political agenda through intimidation and bullying.”

Meanwhile Matthew Dick, 20, the president of the Oxford Union, told the Telegraph he believes the protests were “very peaceful” and “very respectful”.

He continued: “I wouldn’t say that there is any threat… for anyone who wants to exercise their freedom of speech on issues of gender or on most issues in Oxford.”

The president said he wishes for JK Rowling to be a future speaker at the Union, but added that the author was yet to accept his invitation.