from The Free Speech Union
“If professionals are not allowed to take part in political debate about important social and political matters, then democracy suffers.” A judge has ruled that the right to criticise Islam is protected under the Equality Act 2010. Patrick Lee was found guilty of misconduct in April 2024 by the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) after a four-year disciplinary process.
Patrick was expelled from the IFoA and ordered to pay nearly £23,000 in costs after the body decided that 42 of his posts on X about Islam were “offensive or inflammatory or both”, and that 29 were “designed to demean or insult Muslims”. A final hearing in February will determine whether Mr Lee’s tweets were an appropriate manifestation of this protected belief – something the judge has already suggested – and the FSU will, of course, be supporting him.
Watch Patrick on GB News.