When Toby Young announced that he was with others setting up a free speech union I wondered how effective it would be. Would it be like the old pre-Woke Amnesty International and fight for all peaceable people who were being censored or oppressed because of their views, or would it be like the post-Woke Amnesty International that took up cases selectively based on the now very much left wing political views of the organisation? In other words I did worry that the Free Speech Union would be some sort of old boys club that only fought for mainstream conservative writers who went to the correct schools or had the right connections or who wrote for the right outlets.

Well it seems that I was wrong about my initial concerns about how the Free Speech Union would work. If their latest big win is anything to go by they will indeed stand up for the little guy, the person without the right accent or connections, who is being oppressed because of their point of view.

According to a post over at the Guido Fawkes site, the Free Speech Union has stepped out to bat for Stu Peters the Manx Radio presenter who was sacked for saying ‘All Lives Matter’. The FSU wrote to the Isle of Man’s Communications Commission, the island’s local equivalent of Britain’s Ofcom broadcast regulator putting Mr Peters case and demanding that he be exonerated.

Well, it seems that the intervention by the FSU has been successful. The Manx Communication Commission has indeed exonerated Stu Peters. The Commission has admitted that Mr Peters dealt with the sensitive issue of race in a fair and measured way. However, despite the exoneration by the Commission, Mr Peters still does not have his job back. The station in question Manx Radio is still ‘considering’ the judgement of the Commission and it’s a case of wait and see as to whether Mr Peters will be reinstated. My belief is that he deserves to be reinstated, it’s been proven that he did nothing wrong and to punish him for doing nothing wrong would be grossly unjust.

The Free Speech Union challenged Manx Radio and the Commission on the grounds that they had infringed on Mr Peters rights under the European Convention on Human Rights.

Toby Young is being quoted by Guido as saying:

“The suspension of Stu Peters by Manx Radio and the investigation of him by the broadcasting regulator just because he challenged the concept of ‘white privilege’ is a clear breach of his right to free speech. The attempt to publicly shame people who don’t subscribe to the latest woke orthodoxies and rob them of their livelihoods is reminiscent of the struggle sessions during China’s Cultural Revolution. We would do well to remember that our grandparents fought and died to protect the right to challenge ideological dogma without being punished by the authorities. I don’t believe that this cruel humiliation of Stu Peters is supported by Manx Radio listeners or the people of the Isle of Man. He deserves an apology and immediate reinstatement.”

In my view, Mr Young is absolutely right in his comments. The whole concept of ‘White Privilege’ is contentious at best and complete bullshit at worst, but it has become a leftist orthodoxy that it has become dangerous to challenge. Mr Young is also correct when he says that the hounding of those who don’t conform to the latest ‘woke orthodoxy’ is reminiscent of what happened during China’s Cultural Revolution. I agree with Mr Young, Mr Peters deserves both an apology from the station and the commission and his old job back.

Free speech in the United Kingdom is in a really dire state. In the space of just over a decade and a half, we’ve gone from a nation where one can say what one likes provided it was not threatening to kill or inciting violence, to one where people are gaoled for mere opinions. It should not be forgotten that in the United Kingdom in 2016 well over 3000 people were arrested or convicted for holding opinions that someone, often Leftists or the promoters of identity politics, felt offended by.

I’m really really pleased to see this victory by the Free Speech Union. It’s a small victory but one that should be celebrated and I hope and pray that there are many more and Britain is once again a nation where its subjects can say with confidence ‘I’ll say what I like, it’s a free country ain’t it’