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| Freedom of expression is protected under Article 10 of the European Convention. However, Article 10 is subject to a number of qualifications. In practice, UK freedom of speech rights are more constrained than, for example, in the United States, where even “hate speech” is generally protected under the First Amendment to the US Constitution |
Steve Bannon, President Trump’s former senior adviser, was asked by Channel 4 News last week whether Europe was now the battleground for his ideas. In the “popular nationalist revolt,” he responded, “Europe leads”. It’s through this lens that we can view Tommy Robinson and the recent shenanigans at Leeds crown court.
First, you need to understand what I call the “master narrative” that the American right propagates about Britain. According to this story, the country has been conquered by foreign elements. City centres, particularly “Sadiq Khan’s London”, are no-go areas and, as Trump said, the hospitals are a “war zone for horrible stabbing wounds”. If you do reach a hospital, you will be subjected to socialised medicine. Meanwhile, the radical leftist elites control the media and have no respect for free speech.
It is through this murky lens that the US right is questioning our justice system. There was Charlie Gard, a desperately ill baby whose parents and doctors were battling over what treatment was right for him. A sad but not unusual case, until the US media turned up, leading to Trump offering his help.
The Gard case was followed by that of Alfie Evans, a toddler with a degenerative brain disease. His parents were fighting his case in the court of protection when the US celebrities piled on. Mike Huckabee, the former Republican presidential candidate, tweeted: “Government-run health care fails again.” Alfie died, but not before protesters tried to storm Alder Hey children’s hospital.
In Scotland Mark Meechan, otherwise known as the YouTuber Count Dankula, was fined £800 for committing the crime of posting grossly offensive material on social media by teaching his pug to do a Nazi salute in response to the phrase “Gas the Jews”. The far-right website Breitbart has taken up his cause, referring to it as a “conviction for sh*tposting”.
This week Christopher Yaxley-Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson and the founder of the defunct English Defence League, was imprisoned for 13 months for contempt of court after live-streaming from outside a long-running criminal trial. His conviction triggered a worldwide media circus. A court order prevented UK media reporting of his case over the weekend so the space was filled by rightwing foreign news outlets. The Drudge Report tweeted to its 1.37 million followers: “UK in shock as judge covers up Soviet-style disappearance of journalist.” The disgraced US comedian Roseanne Barr and Donald Trump Jr tweeted their support.
There was a huge amount of misinformation. When the reporting restrictions were lifted on Tuesday, it turned out that Robinson had, contrary to conspiracy theories circulating among his supporters on social media, pleaded guilty to committing a contempt of court. His live streaming in relation to a continuing case had potentially prejudiced a fair trial.
So what was the point? Robinson is neither stupid nor ineffective. He has closely followed the “alt-right” playbook, moving away from classic far-right activism to ethnic nationalism. Now he isn’t a far-right provocateur, he is a fearless citizen journalist. What better evidence that he is on to something than the fact that he has been imprisoned by the state in the midst of a media blackout? As Breitbart said, we would tell you why but [redacted].
Robinson, better known in the UK is known as a failed far-right attention seeker, is transformed into a free speech martyr imprisoned for speaking truth to power – “What do we want? Free speech,” sang the thousands at the #JusticeForTommy rally at the weekend. Robinson will be released to a hugely increased profile and access to major funding. If you don’t believe that, look at Count Dankula, whose case helped him triple his YouTube following to more than 237,000 and raise almost £200,000 for his legal appeal.
Why should we care? Because the US right is watching the UK carefully. That the far right has traditionally failed here is irrelevant – in his interview Bannon cites Brexit as an early example of the popular nationalist revolt. Nigel Farage is now a Fox News star.
And our legal system is a soft spot for intervention. The Count Dankula case and, more recently, that of Alison Chabloz, convicted of posting “grossly offensive” material for Holocaust denial songs uploaded to YouTube, show the danger of criminalising grossly offensive speech. Because while it can be satisfying to convict people who publish horrible views, the knock-on effect is to transform them from minor figures to social media stars.
Blocking reporting of criminal trials no longer works. The mainstream media at least understands the rules – citizen journalists will do what they like. Once the foreign media get involved there is no way to control reporting. Activists such as Robinson will keep attempting to disrupt trials because, in the context of reporting bans, the tactic is a win-win for them. It is vitally important to protect the fair trial rights of defendants and ensure that victims get justice, but the laws surrounding contempt need to be urgently reviewed. I would also suggest a wider review of laws such as those criminalising “gross offence”, which affect free speech and were designed before Twitter and Facebook existed.
Bannon is right in one sense. The popular nationalist revolution isn’t coming to the UK: it is already here. We can laugh at provocateurs such as Robinson and jokers such as Dankula, but there is nothing funny about the continuing rise of the far right.