Who could have predicted that subjective, perception-based hate speech laws would end up being weaponised by activists against perfectly lawful political expression?
That’s precisely what appears to have happened in a case recently reported by The Telegraph, in which West Mercia Police logged a portrait of Enoch Powell — displayed in the window of a village shop — as a non-crime hate incident (NCHI).
Powell, a classical scholar and Conservative MP, served as Minister of Health in the 1960s and was a prominent figure on the right of the party. He later sat as an Ulster Unionist in Northern Ireland. As a politician, he oversaw a major expansion of hospital building, introduced reforms to medical staffing, and was widely regarded as a formidable orator and intellectual. Today, however, he is best known — and remains deeply controversial among proponents of the political project of multiculturalism — for his 1968 “Rivers of Blood” speech, which warned of the social consequences of mass immigration.
The portrait had been placed in the shopfront by Elizabeth Griffiths, a grandmother and Reform UK campaigner, who says the display was intended “to promote powerful leaders.” Alongside Powell were images of Jesus Christ, Francis of Assisi, Donald Trump, and even Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer — who, in a recent speech, looked ahead and was filled with foreboding; like the Roman, he seemed to see Britain becoming an “island of strangers” thanks to decades of uncontrolled mass immigration.
According to the College of Policing, the threshold for recording an NCHI is that someone has taken subjective offence to something perfectly lawful that someone else has said or posted online, whether it’s directed at them or not.
Police figures for 30 of the 43 forces in England and Wales, obtained by the Free Speech Union through Freedom of Information (FoI) laws, show that the number of NCHIs recorded in the year to June 2023 stood at 11,690. That’s an average of 32 a day. Little wonder, then, that the police don’t have time to send an officer round to your house if you report a burglary. (Between 2015 and 2021, 964,197 domestic burglary investigations ended without a suspect being identified.)
Although West Mercia Police has now confirmed that “inquiries are ongoing,” Mrs Griffiths says she has received “absolutely no police contact whatsoever” and has not been spoken to by officers about the alleged incident.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time West Mercia Police has made headlines for overreaching on so-called hate incidents. Last year, the force recorded a NCHI against Conservative MP Rachel Maclean — then the Party’s Deputy Chair for Women — after she reposted a tweet criticising the Green Party for selecting a transgender candidate. With support from the FSU, Ms Maclean challenged the decision, and West Mercia ultimately conceded, agreeing to delete the record in full.
Speaking to The Telegraph about her experience, Mrs Griffiths said she believes the report was politically motivated. “It’s a vendetta,” she said, citing her recent campaign activity for Reform UK in the local elections. “I’m used to being bullied for standing up for what I believe in,” she added.
A depressing reflection of where we are as a country — but sadly, not an isolated case. At the Free Speech Union, we currently have five members on our books who’ve faced disciplinary action, or lost their jobs entirely, simply for their association with Reform UK.
There’s more on this story in The Telegraph’s original coverage, available here.
