A boy only identified as “Fraser” is a 15-year-old supporter of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party. He found himself searched and arrested by four officers from the West Midlands Police at his home, locked in a cell, fingerprinted, subjected to a DNA search, and taken for a mugshot. The police then searched his bedroom and telephone.
All of this was over his joking about how Bennett dressed in public.
The Telegraph reports that Fraser joked about how the Tory councilor had attended a meeting in a T-shirt and shorts. When Bennett later attended a subsequent meeting in a suit, Fraser commented that at least he was no longer “looking like a rent boy”, a derogatory term for homosexual prostitutes in Britain.
Bennett admits calling the police and portrays himself as the victim of this child: “The police have not arrested for no reason… There were a number of posts that targeted me… It was unpleasant and I was targeted by a child I had no way of dealing with.”
It is only the latest example of the anti-free speech culture that has taken hold in Britain, where the government has continued to expand speech criminalization policies.
In my book, “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage,” I discuss how free speech is in free fall in the United Kingdom, including the arrest of comedians and children engaged in playground taunts.
A man was convicted for sending a tweet while drunk referring to dead soldiers. Another was arrested for an anti-police T-shirt. Another was arrested for calling the Irish boyfriend of his ex-girlfriend a “leprechaun.” Yet another was arrested for singing “Kung Fu Fighting.” A teenager was arrested for protesting outside of a Scientology center with a sign calling the religion a “cult.”Last year, Nicholas Brock, 52, was convicted of a thought crime in Maidenhead, Berkshire. The neo-Nazi was given a four-year sentence for what the court called his “toxic ideology” based on the contents of the home he shared with his mother in Maidenhead, Berkshire.
While most of us find Brock’s views repellent and hateful, they were confined to his head and his room. Yet, Judge Peter Lodder QC dismissed free speech or free thought concerns with a truly Orwellian statement: “I do not sentence you for your political views, but the extremity of those views informs the assessment of dangerousness.”
Lodder lambasted Brock for holding Nazi and other hateful values:
“[i]t is clear that you are a right-wing extremist, your enthusiasm for this repulsive and toxic ideology is demonstrated by the graphic and racist iconography which you have studied and appeared to share with others…”
Even though Lodder agreed that the defendant was older, had limited mobility, and “there was no evidence of disseminating to others,” he still sent him to prison for holding extremist views.
After the sentencing, Detective Chief Superintendent Kath Barnes, Head of Counter Terrorism Policing South East (CTPSE), warned others that he was going to prison because he “showed a clear right-wing ideology with the evidence seized from his possessions during the investigation….We are committed to tackling all forms of toxic ideology which has the potential to threaten public safety and security.”
There remain, however, some in Britain who want to restore free speech. Lawyers for Fraser are planning to sue over wrongful arrest and false imprisonment. However, their client still remains in the criminal justice system. Many have suggested it was his support for Farage that drew the ire of this politician and the police.
Britain is a cautionary tale for our own country. While this speech would be clearly protected in the United States, there is a growing anti-free speech movement in this country that is aligned with European censors.
For his part, Bennett seems unrepentant in punishing his critics. He previously discussed his purpose as a public servant: “you’ve obviously got to find a unique selling point for yourself as well for people to buy into that. So the thing for me, is to find that unique selling point, find those single issues that matter to people.” He certainly has found his “selling point,” though it is tragically not “unique” in Britain.
As this case shows, censorship is the rage in Europe, and free speech is rapidly going out of fashion.
Jonathan Turley is a law professor and the New York Times best-selling author of “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution.”
I would like to know the sales numbers for three books in the U.K. The Indispensable Right, Rage and The Republic, and Senator John Kennedy’s How to Test Negative For Stupid.
And to think Britain used to be known for intense debate and sharp humor. Now they are known for jailing people for online posts. But a 15 year old? Just unimaginable. Bennett should be charged with abuse of power.
Here’s another example of a female unwilling to condemn a person who broke the law. Females can’t understand responsibility and accountability. Not to mention no grasp of basic legal tenets.
Brilliant analysis.
Bah haha – a bunch of British Ninnies! You just can’t respect the British anymore. They are either woke to their own detriment or they are thin-skinned wimps that still think highly of themselves. In the end they are just simpletons.
The United Kingdom, and by extension, Lesser Britain, are on the way toward the ash heap of history. They need a revolution soon to prevent such a disaster.
Revolution? And who’s gonna lead it and on what premise? Got brandy in your tea this morning?
I wish I could have people arrested for calling me an old white man…. Seems EVERYONE is protected except for the old white men…well Young white men don’t have it so well.
A girl can have sex with you and she isn’t happy…you go to prison for LIFE!
“A girl can have sex with you and she isn’t happy…you go to prison for LIFE!” That depends on what you do with her, right? If its made of plastic. Lucky for you she can’t resist or file a sexual assault complaint.
There’s a reason why old white men get no respect and you’re it.
Yeah, this reeks of adult stupidity… a 15-year-old makes a stupid joke. Instead of adults bringing perspective, proportionality, and perhaps simply saying, “Knock it off, kid,” the machinery of adulthood apparently escalates it into a criminal matter.
“apparently escalates it into a criminal matter.” Not apparently, they did, deservedly so. He FAFO’d.
Why say knock it off? The kid’s a constituent whose view is the emperor has no clothes. Get on with council issues or prove him correct.
Nobody does Fascism like the far left around the world. They took the lessons of Nazi Germany, Mussolini’s Italy, and Stalin’s Russia to heart. Rent boys take note: if your feelings are hurt you can unleash the power of the British state upon those who mock you.
What does fascism have to do with a 15 year old boy?
Everything in this instance. Free speech is always the first casualty in a dictatorship. Every time I think the Brits have shocked me and it can’t get worse, it does and they do again.
Really? The kid knew that he would get into trouble, yet he did it. BTW, what he did is not “free speech” in the UK. Do you get that?
Obviously Americans are too dumb to realize that other countries have other rules.
you are correct..they don’t HAVE FREE SPEECH in the UK
“Nobody does Fascism like the far left around the world.”
True, but doesn’t fit the story.
Simon Bennett is a conservative/Tory.
Ouch!
Perhaps gay men engaged in sex work should complain that they’ve been compared to this Councillor. Of course, then Fraser would have a whole new round of troubles. (Yes, I use that word as an historical reference).
I tried to read the Telegraph piece for myself but it is behind a paywall. The way it is presented here is that Fraser is being punished for saying the politician does NOT (“no longer”) look like a rent boy.
While Fraser appears to have said Bennet does not look like a rent boy, if he had Bennet should be proud. There is no other person or group our society venerates more than homos. In America, we devote an entire month to honor them, heap praise on them, and to promote, celebrate and encourage their sexual orientation.
While it appears Fraser did not, in fact, say Bennet looks like a rent boy, if he had Bennet should be proud to be compared to such an esteemed group. Why he would choose to call the police for them to investigate the kid is baffling.
Some folks just have a hard time accepting compliments.
If “thought crimes” by British subjects in the UK can be labeled “toxic ideology” resulting in actual prison time in that once-rational nation, when might we see prosecutions for Muslim fundamentalist adherents of Sharia Law there? Orwell was so spot-on that it is chilling. Happy Halloween.
What happens in the UK is not much different than what goes down here every day. The irrelevance to the outright deranged comments and then the local thought police charge in, attack a commenter and demand Turley ban so-and-so or then move on to a new target. Plays out everyday here. The truly sad thing is this is a bunch of old men acting out, as if in a playground. Old men … 60, 70, 80 year old men acting like Karens. Well done you pathetic and laughable geriatrics.
Bless your heart.
Anon was also referring to you Karen.
Orwell was a genius and a prognosticator.
And a drunk and a lowlife. Seems you have a eye for quality men.
So in other words, that politician IS a homosexual. Otherwise he would have no grounds for being offended. What is there to be offended by if he isn’t one? And the UK, along with the USA and other countries: including levels of the German government itself, armed and financed both sides in WW2. That has been public information for at least 70 years. Read any book from Professor Antony C. Sutton on this topic – Wall St., and the Rise of Hitler; Wall St., and FDR; National Suicide – which was more about arming and financing the USSR but look at it. That means that they armed and financed the Nazis. To arrest or intimidate someone over supposed Nazi related themes proves guilt. That’s the thing, today no one just says, oh well…think what you want. Remember the good old days when you would just shrug it off and say, ” eh, so what? ”
And Wolverhampton is home to one of my favorite musicians, Nick Blinko of the band Rudimentary Peni.
The crazies are out early today. Anyone see George X?