Freedom of Speech in the UK is Under Threat, US Ambassador Warns Audience Including Deputy PM David Lammy
The US ambassador has warned David Lammy and others that free speech in the UK is under threat – from heavy-handed government rules and rising violence. The Mail has more.
Warren Stephens urged the country to reject laws which threaten free speech as he hit out at “excessive government interference” and “malign foreign actors”.
He also said “individual acts of violence” were threatening free speech during a talk in London on Friday.
Addressing a Pilgrims of Great Britain event at Guildhall, with Deputy Prime Minister Mr Lammy present, Mr Stephens said the US and UK are bound by “free markets, free people and free nations”.
While expressing “faith” in the US-UK trade relationship, he warned of “concerns”, saying Britain risks falling behind unless it lowers energy costs and reforms drug pricing.
Mr Stephens said he was “angry and disturbed” by recent attacks on religious groups in the UK and the US, including last month’s Manchester Synagogue attack.
He added: “We must condemn this violence for what it is: an attempt to undermine the right of all people to worship, gather and speak freely.
“Where our adversaries wish to instil fear, we respond with freedom. Because freedom makes our societies what they are today.
“That means we must refuse to allow policies, laws and regulations to become so broad that they undermine our commitment to freedom of expression.
His remarks come as Sir Keir Starmer and his Government have come under fire from influential American figures, including Vice President J.D. Vance and Elon Musk, amid accusations that new online safety laws restrict freedom of speech.
The police have also faced accusations of stifling free speech after making a series of arrests for allegedly offensive social media posts. …
Mr Stephens, a chairman, president and CEO of Stephens Inc., a privately owned financial services firm, said: “Technology is developing rapidly and that poses new challenges for debates over freedom of expression – but as two nations founded on liberty, we must enshrine and defend the freedoms we fought together for in two world wars and in the battle against communism and socialism.”
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“…Britain risks falling behind unless it lowers energy costs and reforms drug pricing. ”
Reforms drug pricing? Huh? Is this to do with weight loss drugs?
A series? It’s more like a few thousand per year? A series makes it sound as if it happens occasionally. It’s far more than that.
It’s indeed an outrageous attack on free speech!
Do you think it’s more middle class people who are anti-free speech and more working class people who are the opposite? I think Rory Sutherland makes interesting observations in this short clip;
”Working class vs. middle class mindset: The middle class often prioritises reputation and emotions, limiting their ability to think creatively. In contrast, the working class tends to be more objective, seeing things as they are and thinking outside the box.”
https://x.com/TheNorfolkLion/status/1974166483803701734
In my experience that’s absolutely true. Most of the middle class people I know are very much in favour of censorship as long as it’s people like them doing the censoring. My experience of working class people is that they are much more likely to speak frankly as they find and worry much less about what other people think.
My experience is that restrictions on free speech come from workplace sanctions. It’s not hypothetical men in black from MI6 paying me a visit, nor even the local police or social workers, that give me trouble. It’s Karen in the office desk, who, acting according to her non-work activist group, has covertly trawled the internet (helped by her bots) in her attempts to find my social media uptick from twenty years ago on something that has nothing to do with our organisation. I am then suspended because I upticked a comment on something that she thinks somebody somewhere might find racist or simply “not compatible with the values of our organisation”. In principle, one might take legal action, but with a high risk of financial loss comparable with simply resigning and moving to an organisation that doesn’t tolerate witchfinders.
It could be worse. If I were a senior politician I would expect my opponent to dredge around old student union meeting or publication thirty years previously, or a kiss-n-tell ex to find something embarrassing with which to smear me!
Yes that is a big part of it
As always I am torn between believing in freedom of speech but also the freedom of private businesses to associate with whoever they choose
Mistake No 1 is to have social media accounts in your real name.
Many of the people arrested for expression of their opinion have been middle class. It’s not class unless it’s government public employed class against privately employed class.
Perhaps it’s the middle class dissenters who are the most publicly vocal or somehow the establishment feels they need to be made an example of. I don’t know what “class” Tommy Robinson belongs to but he has certainly attracted a lot of police and legal attention.
The US Ambassador calls on this Labour government to continue our joint battle against communism and socialism. Well, good luck with that.
Ambassador Stephens is right to challenge Starmer’s claim that we have free speech in the UK. He is also right to be ““angry and disturbed” by recent attacks on religious groups in the UK and the US, including last month’s Manchester Synagogue attack. ” May I just add something the mainstream media usually ignore: Over 9,000 crimes reported at UK churches in just three years | National Churches Trust “Last week, the Countryside Alliance published new research showing that, on average, at least eight crimes took place at churches every day from 2022-2024.” “181 lead and metal thefts were recorded, along with 3,969 other thefts and burglaries, 3,396 incidents of criminal damage, vandalism and arson, and 2,102 cases of violence.” “And in Kent, three masked men broke into St Augustine’s Abbey in Ramsgate in July 2023, causing £1,000 of damage, ransacking rooms and demanding money, as well as kicking and punching one man on the floor and pinning a priest to his bed.” “Crimes in West Yorkshire churches and religious buildings included nearly 100 incidents of STALKING and HARASSMENT, a case of DRUG TRAFFICKING, and 11 incidents of RAPE, as well as other SEXUAL OFFENCES.” Investigation: Over 9,000 crimes reported… Read more »
We’ve not had freedom of speech in this country for a very long time, since the first race relations act in 1965 “The Act also created the offence of “incitement to racial hatred”.”
Absolutely spot on you are!
That Act needs to be abolished, as part of “The Great Repeal Act” championed by MP Rupert Lowe and historian David Starkey.
Any crime or incident against any mosque or synagogue seems to be front page news but rarely so for Christian churches.
Exactly the point I was trying to make, only you summarized it perfectly in one sentence.
The Labour government rushed to promise extra cash to mosques and synagogues for “security measures”, but none to churches, as far as I am aware…
He is talking to communists. And Lammy is an excellent example of why immigration from the Turd world is a really bad idea.
It does really seem as though we are already in the midst of an actual Communist Coup, a “Pincer Attack” Coup by The Unholy Muslim-Marxist Alliance, and they are deliberately trying to collapse the economy and society, but people don’t realize it yet.
When governments make such a total mess of governing they have no choice but to try and silence all criticism of the mess they have created. We now learn last week that hundreds of officials are trawling social media desperate to put a stop to people exposing the incompetent bunglers. But ofcourse it is more than just incompetence. It is them trying to impose their ideologies on us and name calling all who disagree as “racist” or “nazi” or “anti science”, and then sending 6 officers to our front door.
As Mark Twain pointed out “Politicians are like diapers. They need changed often and for the same reason”.
Lamentable Lammy never heard a word. He was too busy looking at the food menu 😋
Why is Israel, I mean the UK banning free speech in your country? Does anyone know?
The Unholy Muslim-Marxist Alliance is banning free speech in the UK, and banning England flags in England.