Freedom of Speech

Lord Kirkham Excerpts

Friday 10th December 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Kirkham (Con)]

My Lords, I heartily thank the most reverend Primate the Archbishop of Canterbury for today’s debate and for reminding us that free speech is fundamental to a just and generous society. Indeed, he said that it is the only means for a just and generous society. Clearly, freedom of speech is precious and should be protected.

Freedom of speech is protected by parliamentary privilege within these walls but, everywhere else in our country, it seems to be under unprecedented threat. How can it be right, as we heard from my noble friend Lady Jenkin, that senior academics are being hounded out of their jobs and prominent authors cancelled because of their views on biological sex? Speakers are “no-platformed” by universities because they may offer a view challenging the currently fashionable, progressive consensus. People are deprived of their livelihoods, without warning or notice, because they tried to tell a joke. I doubt that there is a more challenged profession in the UK in 2021 than that of the comedian, whether amateur or professional.

Unquestionably, every citizen in this country has the absolute right not to be victimised or abused for their race, religion, gender, appearance or way of life, but no one has the right not to be offended by someone else’s expression of their views or by their sense of humour, unless what they say is specifically prohibited by law. Very often we find that offence is taken vicariously by those anxious to protect the feelings of what they perceive to be sensitive minority groups. I and I am sure many of you know Muslim, Hindu and Jewish families and those of other faiths who celebrate Christmas with just as much enthusiasm as their Christian neighbours, who cannot begin to understand why some wish to remove references to Christmas out of concern for their imagined feelings, and who most certainly do not regard people of other faiths and traditions joining in the celebrations of their own feasts and holy days as unwelcome cultural appropriation.

We have not merely bent over backwards to avoid giving offence, but contorted ourselves into an almost unbelievable mess by feeling we have to pause and think before we utter even the most commonplace phrase or saying. Will I upset someone in my audience if I kick off my after-dinner speech with the traditional words, “Ladies and gentlemen”? Indeed, what, in 2021, is an acceptable alternative? Should I add my preferred pronouns to my correspondence, even though I have yet to meet anyone doing this who does not prefer the pronoun I would instinctively have chosen for myself? Am I committing a microaggression if I mispronounce a name or raise my eyebrows when someone else is speaking?

I do not use social media, which is probably just as well, but in this context I can see the sense of inserting a personal filter and pausing to think before joining a debate—of asking myself whether what I propose to say is compliant with the law and whether any offence I might give was justified by the strength of my argument. Too few people do this, not only because they are so utterly convinced of their absolute right to free speech but because in many places they are protected by anonymity. It is far too easy to post cruel and hurtful things under the shelter of an anonymous Twitter handle that the poster would surely hesitate to say face to face, or indeed online under their own name.

In my business life, every statement made to the public via the stock exchange was carefully checked by lawyers to ensure that it was true. That is the norm. Newspapers similarly take great care to ensure that anything that might put them at risk of a libel action is similarly checked and found to be legally watertight before the presses roll. There is no such check or restraint on social media, and the quality of our discourse as a society has become cruder and crueller as a result.

Even so, the list of the things we are not allowed to say in public, or indeed in private, should be kept as short as possible. Of course no one should have the right to incite war, stir up racial hatred or persecute minorities, but equally no one should have the right to absolute protection from being offended, particularly by a joke. In an ideal world we should all be kinder to each other, with that kindness extended to understanding the challenges of the older generation, who so often struggle to keep up with the words they have used all their lives suddenly becoming offensive. If we can only apply common sense and resist the zealots on both sides of the argument, we can defend, guard and protect free speech in a way that allows all of us to enjoy the civilised conversations and healthy debate that are at the heart of any worthwhile human society.