Freedom of Speech

Lord Sandhurst Excerpts

Friday 10th December 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Sandhurst (Con)]

My Lords, my focus today will be on universities, from which come our future leaders. In December 2019, the Policy Institute at King’s College London published an important report after a survey of some 2,150 students. It observed that universities increasingly face criticism over freedom of expression and for a perceived increase in safe-space policies and no-platforming. Yet this perception, it found, was often disproportionate to the number of instances where freedom of expression had actually been violated. Students, it said, were generally far more concerned about freedom of expression in wider society than in their own university. None the less, it is important to note that the same report found signs of a “chilling effect” whereby some students were reluctant to express their views for fear of repercussions.

The institute produced a follow-up report in August last year. It found, after talking to students again, that as many as 20% felt uncertain about whether they could express their views freely at their university. They did not believe that it is a university’s place to shield people from intolerant or offensive ideas and felt that safe-space policies and the suppression of demonstrations or rallies representing unpopular political views posed a threat to freedom of expression. That was one-fifth of the students. So where are we going?

In March last year, Cambridge University issued a policy on freedom of speech, requiring its staff, students and visitors to be

“respectful of the differing opinions of others”.

But last December, Regent House, the governing body of that university, voted by a huge majority, 87%, to overturn that obligation to respect the opinions of others. The requirement now, thankfully, is to “tolerate” others’ opinions. For, as Dr Arif Ahmed, reader in philosophy, told the Times:

“Everyone else just becomes a little bit more worried, a little bit more reluctant to say what they think about the Empire, trans issues, Israel and Palestine, or a whole range of issues from the left or the right. The more long-term danger is that this language will be weaponised so that we will be subject to discipline if we try to invite someone who’s disrespectful, or if we ourselves speak in a disrespectful way.”


Events elsewhere show how prescient he was. As we have all heard, only this autumn, aggressive intolerance of Professor Kathleen Stock’s writings has driven her from her post at Sussex University. The university failed to protect her against the bullies. Just this November, a row erupted at the Oxford Union after a speech by the well-known art critic Andrew Graham-Dixon. Offence was taken not so much at the content of his speech but because, intending satire—some of his audience could not grasp that satire—his mannerisms in delivery mimicked Hitler. They simply could not see that he was mocking Hitler, making fun of him.

This week at Durham University, following an edgy speech by the well-known journalist Rod Liddle, some students took offence. I do not mind that—they are free to take offence—but student presidents of every university association at Durham University have now called for content warnings for future speakers. That is the road to censorship. I ask, what would happen to Alexander Pope or Dean Swift today? Students and academics have to regain a sense of proportion and, above all, humour. Significant numbers seem to have lost sight of the core importance of freedom of expression to the vitality of university life. Talk of safe spaces, in which students will not be exposed to contrary opinions strongly expressed, is, I suggest, dangerous nonsense.

We would do well to remember the words of Frederick Douglass, the escaped slave and abolitionist. He had suffered appallingly. He knew what a safe space really was and how it felt to risk life, limb and liberty. Speaking in 1860, Douglass said:

“To suppress free speech is a double wrong. It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker.”


One hundred and sixty-one years later, who are we to disagree? Essential liberties have not yet been lost, but they are, I fear, under constant assault. Our universities and institutions must not swaddle the oversensitive. The idea that there should be safe spaces and content warnings is absurd and dangerous. It will bring totalitarian controls of thought and knowledge. Those who do not go to university—50% of the population or more—do not enjoy safe spaces. They live in the real world. Those who enjoy the privilege of university must be exposed to challenge and disagreement. They must open their minds to edgy humour and provocative ideas. They must sharpen their intellects on the steels of humour and debate. They, and we, must all relearn to listen and even to laugh.