If defending free speech doesn’t get you into trouble, then you are not in fact defending free speech. The only speech worth defending is unpopular and very often it comes out of the mouths of people nobody likes. One such instance is that of the unlovable former civil servant Graham Phillips, sanctioned by Liz Truss’s Foreign Office in July 2022 for supposedly undermining the sovereignty of Ukraine. The official citation was that he had been sanctioned because he is “a video blogger who has produced and published media content that supports and promotes actions and policies which destabilise Ukraine and undermine or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty, or independence of Ukraine”. I reported this at the time.
Mr. Phillips, a British citizen, is an obscure and far-from-unbiased video blogger, who has put the Russian side over the Ukraine war, and has been accused of a number of unpleasant actions, as I reported in July 2022. You may be sure I am aware of them, so there is no need to alert me to them again. And yet I am still on his side against the sanctions. So, interestingly, is that fine journalist Owen Matthews of the Spectator, who disagrees totally with me about the Ukraine-Russia war, and disagrees even more with Graham Phillips, but says:
The hunt for Putin cronies has widened from Kremlin–connected Russian oligarchs to include distrust and suspicion of pretty much all Russians – and at least one Briton… Graham Phillips, a former British civil servant who has lived in Russian–occupied Donbas for some years and who has become notorious for his video blogs reporting the war from the Russian point of view, including from the front lines. In July last year, the Foreign Office ruled that Phillips should be sanctioned…
I find Phillips’s pro-Kremlin views obnoxious and his reports blatantly one-sided. But being pro-Russian is not a crime in British law. We are not at war with Russia, nor is the Russian state a designated terrorist organisation. In a democracy, people should be free to be wrong. As the barrister Joshua Hitchens argued in a written submission to the court: “The power the [Foreign Secretary] claims to possess is expansive and unprecedented in modern British political and legal history.”
The crucial point in Phillips’s case against the British Government is the question of the fundamental democratic values which we claim to be defending – and for which Ukrainians are fighting and dying. Collective punishment is profoundly alien to our legal culture, as is punishing people simply on the basis of their views, nationality or ethnicity. At a time when praising and loudly demonstrating for an actual terrorist organisation – Hamas – takes place on the streets of London with apparent impunity, how does the Government justify punishing people for simply being Russian or, in Phillips’s case, for supporting Russia?
Mr. Phillips is also, very notably, the only British citizen (that is, without any form of dual nationality) ever to be sanctioned by His Majesty’s Government
Some may have seen my report of the Graham Phillips case when it was before the High Court in the Mail on Sunday, or when it was reported in in the Independent.
Please note that the enterprising and rather brave young barrister Joshua Hitchens, who has taken on the case alone and without payment, is no relation of mine. It is an amusing coincidence that, alone among British barristers, he has felt that Mr. Phillips’s case is just and needs to be fought. Well, Hitchens is a Cornish name and some may be reminded of the ‘Song of the Western Men’ and its warning to the despotic King James II:
A good sword and a trusty hand!
A merry heart and true!
King James’s men shall understand
What Cornish lads can do!
I do not know when Mr. Justice Swift, who heard the case over two days at the High Court on November 15th and 16th, will publish his ruling. I was in court for almost every fascinating and important minute and it reminded me of the saying of the Greek poet Archilocus (borrowed famously by Isaiah Berlin) that “a fox knows many things, but a hedgehog knows one big thing”. I thought that my namesake, Joshua Hitchens, had one big point. Does the Government have the power to punish Mr Phillips without trial? And if it does have that power, is that lawful under the various charters of rights which govern us? His Government-backed opponent, Maya Lester KC (who was supported in court by three other robed and wigged barristers and a small entourage of other helpers), had several small points – about Mr. Phillips’s past activities, his sympathies, and whether he could be regarded in the same light as an actual propagandist for the Putin state, even though (as Joshua Hitchens pointed out) it is probable that nobody of any importance in Moscow has ever even heard of him. Joshua Hitchens also pointed out, as so many in this country seem to forget, that Britain is not at war with Russia and maintains an embassy in Moscow. If we were at war with Russia, as so many of Mr. Phillips’s critics seem to think we are, then the case would obviously be entirely different.
My view of it from the start has been that I too could be accused by some immature Minister of producing “media content that supports and promotes actions and policies which destabilise Ukraine and undermine or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty, or independence of Ukraine”. And not just Ukraine. I have been quite disobliging about another of our allies, Saudi Arabia, and even about the USA. Of course, if governments want to punish people who get in the way of their foreign policy objectives, they are going to start with the easy targets. But it does not mean that they will stop there.
Peter Hitchens is a columnist for the Mail on Sunday and the author of several books, most recently A Revolution Betrayed: How Egalitarians Wrecked the British Education System.
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If we are not a war with Russia and certainly not at war with any of their Tennis players I have to laugh at the absurdity of not putting the nationality of the Russian Players next to their name on the scoreboard at Wimbledon eg. ——-So you will see Alcaraz (ESP) versus Medvedev (__ ). ——-Medvedev is apparently from nowhere. But wouldn’t it actually be more civilised and less petty to put (RUS) next to his name to show ordinary Russians that we have no problem with them and we are not just a bunch of virtue signalling twits?
‘Does the Government have the power to punish Mr Phillips without trial?’ is, indeed, a very big point which affects us all.
The covid panic and the powers that the government improperly arrogated to itself was a great shock to many.
Newspapers are reporting on the activities of some servicemen having surveilled private individuals without authorisation.
There is an unsavoury arrogance and entitlement on display from questioners and certain of the questioned at the covid ‘inquiry’.
All of this is emblematic of Blair’s Britain groupthink, itself a product of a bloated, overmighty, overweening state/public sector:
‘…..social desirability bias becomes more prevalent in collectivist societies (Robertson and Fadil, 2009)
‘Social desirability bias occurs when respondents give answers to questions that they believe will make them look good to others, concealing their true opinions or experiences.’
Unfortunately this is set to get a great deal worse over the next few years.
Perhaps it needs to in order to create both a remedy and the popular will to implement it.
I doubt any remedy is possible while so many are willing to believe western establishment lies.
If they’re sanctioning reporters for being contrary to foreign policy then there are a lot of BBC reporters, etc. who require sanction for their Gaza coverage.
Any government which feels able to treat Julian Assange in the way that it has – and continues to do – may be assumed to be corrupt, prepared to ride roughshod over its own laws, and sinister to the point of evil.
I don’t expect them to change their ways in the near term so we will see more of this unlawful and almost hysterical behaviour in the weeks and months to come. How dare you disagree with the Climate Change religion/Covid Hysteria/Net Zero Bolleaux.
Is it really necessary in articles like this to preface everything with (words to the effect) “I don’t agree with x but …”? This sort of mealy mouthed virtue signalling is most evident when it comes to Tommy Robinson or Andrew Tate. These people are on our side and we must not throw them overboard in order to suck up to our enemies.
Andrew Tate is ”on our side”?? I think it’s safe to say you are most definitely not speaking for women there. But I guess if you have shared values with somebody who’s a rapist, sex-trafficking, narcissistic misogynist you’re well and truly outing yourself there aren’t you? Or is it because you too are the proud owner of a ‘PHD’, ( Pimping Hoes Degree )? It’s no surprise he converted to Islam is it? I mean, he ticks all of the boxes of a full-on Islamist doesn’t he? Plus the fact he’s anti-West. A <4min vid to illustrate what a vile PoS this scumbag is, though I was spoilt for choice tbh;
https://twitter.com/TheMilkBarTV/status/1710675972679508123
This article is a well-reasoned and factual take down of the professional lying grifter and exploiter of vulnerable women;
”The private chat logs of the War Room reveal much of what Andrew Tate actually believes. His modus operandi is more than just an elaborate money-making scheme: it is a worldview bordering on an ideology. The ‘PHD process’—referred to by participants as “the white path”—is that worldview in action. It is the process of taking a “low exposure female”—that is, a girl with a limited public profile—and slowly and methodically guiding her, through psychological manipulation, on a path toward sex work. Money is obviously one of the incentives; financial gain, however, according to many chat logs, does not appear to be the primary motivation. The domination and subjugation of women appears to be the real ‘high’ for many participants—Tate included.
Tate claims to be a ‘traditionalist’—but, ironically, his PHD process is a deliberate inversion of the traditional relationship structure in which a man works hard to provide for his partner and family, while a woman cares for and provides for the home and the children. The PHD process reverses this dynamic, with the woman earning money—through sex work—that is then given to her male partner in exchange for sex and attention. In Tate’s world, the woman is the breadwinner, the maintainer of the home, the creator of the family; meanwhile, the man lives lavishly off the largesse provided by ‘his’ woman who spends her time selling her body online. It is a potent psychological strategy that has proven very effective for Tate and his followers.”
https://europeanconservative.com/articles/essay/inside-andrew-tates-war-room/
Ok Mog, fair comment and I know he has a big mouth and that will put a lot of people off. If the accusations stand up in a proper trial with a jury and the evidence isn’t rigged against him, then I will not support him further. Secondly, whilst I say we are all on the same side, it is probably true to say that Andrew Tate is on no one’s side but his own. But for now, I see his detention without trial and the attacks on him from the BBC and the Guardian and all the other usual sources as a classic establishment take-down designed to shut him up and lock him away. Those who stand against the deep state need our support.
Tate is a pimp who’s also engaged in self/vanity marketing on the internet. That’s not exactly new and this so-called PHD is just how this ‘business model’ always operates. This also means that he’s an unsavoury character operating in a grey area of the law where the reason for Haven’t been to jail yet is usually Didn’t get caught so far. Routine cocaine user, obviously, but that’s not something special, either. He’s certainly undeserving of any support. OTOH, he also isn’t the evil incarnate he has sometimes been protrayed as.
Good to see the great PH finally make an appearance on DS. He was one of the few in the MSM that called covid from the start. Cue a load of downvotes/and comments about him getting vaxxed…
Anyway, it seems to me we (and the US) effectively are at war with Russia – it’s just a proxy war because for political and military reasons it suits us to keep it like that.
The war is being used for financial and economic supremacy. Politically the Ukraine problem could be seem as an excuse to try and upset BRICS a little, and reduce their influence in the world trading’s. The USA is starting to tighten up the international use of the dollar (also the Euro) to put extra pressure on the Russian economy, at a time when the Russians and Indians are in conflict over how to pay for oil exports. Indian does not want to use the Yuan and although members of BRICS, India and China are not hand in glove and are in conflict themselves in certain areas of interest. Commerce will always find a way to operate, governments will always try to control it, but it is the public that have to deal with the consequences.
‘We’ … ‘us’ … ? Count me out of this proxy war please.
Me too!
One can argue whether we are at war with Russia or not. The fact is the UK is supplying weapons and military material to Ukraine and telling the Ukrainians to use it all against Russia. And, as documented in the 350-page ‘Ukraine’s Crimes against Humanity’, available on the internet and written by M. Grigoriev, President of the Foundation for the Study of Democracy, and listing more than 400 testimonies of victims and eyewitnesses of Ukrainian war crimes and terrorist acts against civilians committed between 2022 and 2023, these weapons are being used by the Ukrainian military not only against the Russian military but also against the Ukrainian civilians living in eastern Ukraine, many of whom are ethnic Russians.
Ah, you say, but the Foundation for the Study of Democracy is based in Moscow so it is Russian propaganda. Fine, but then show me an equivalent Ukrainian document, detailing an equal number of written testimonies of supposed Russian crimes.
Indeed, as reported by bloggers such as Graham Phillips, Patrick Lancaster, Mike Jones, Eva Bartlett, Alina Lipp … the Ukrainian military has been shelling schools, hospitals, shopping centres and residential districts in eastern Ukraine since the ‘Maidan coup’ in 2014. Why? To ‘cleanse’ the country of ethnic Russians. Patrick Lancaster has seemingly hundreds of videos on YouTube, where he speaks to the civilian victims of such actions – check them out.
These bloggers are the ones providing independent, non-government funded reports directly from the ‘front line’. It is not that long ago that one could rely on mainstream media for independent reporting; nowadays they have all become government propaganda agencies.
Indeed, as reported by bloggers such as Graham Phillips, Patrick Lancaster, Mike Jones, Eva Bartlett, Alina Lipp … the Ukrainian military has been shelling schools, hospitals, shopping centres and residential districts in eastern Ukraine since the ‘Maidan coup’ in 2014. Why?
Because pro-Russian separatists declared these two provinces independent republics which started a civil war in eastern Ukraine. As is the usual case with this kind of warfare, anything that’s within the zone the artillery can reach will be progressively reduced to rubble. On both sides, obviously, although ‘bloggers’ will only report what’s happening on their side.
To ‘cleanse’ the country of ethnic Russians.
Ah, yes, good ol’ genocide again. Everybody seems to have one these days, no matter how far-fetched. It’s positively impossible to accomplish ethnic cleansing of anything by fairly low-volume, static trench warfare which is what was happening in this area before the Russian invasion which ended (so far) with the annexation of somewhat more Ukrainian territory by Russia.
The Ukrainian Government in Minsk 2 agreed to allow the two oblasts to become self-governing entities but still within Ukraine. It was only after it became clear that |Ukraine had no intention of honouring its agreement that, understandably, that the separatist start to take action.
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I would like to know the sources from which HMG obtains its view that Ukraine is a beacon of democracy.
Let us remind ourselves that Britain’s Prime Minister Johnson was the one that refused to give security guarantees to Ukraine when they were offered (and wanted to accept) a pretty benign peace deal in Istanbul that would have seen Russia’s withdrawal from the entirety of Ukraine except Crimea. So much for Ukrainian self-determination.
This intervention has been widely reported in the West (except of course in official circles) and only last week featured in a TV interview with Ukraine’s chief negotiator at the talks.
Ukraine has been a tool of the West and nothing the West does is in the interest of Ukraine’s people. It was done to weaken Russia but has ironically made them much more of a military and commercial threat whilst at the same time weakening the West military might and draining Europe’s bank accounts.
Very pleasing to see an article by Peter Hitchens here in DS.
Well done DS. Thank you Peter Hitchens.
Actually I agree entirely with the case Peter Hitchens makes.
The most worrying aspect of this case, notwithstanding judgement pending, is the degree of treachery being employed by this rogue government aided and abetted by a corrupt judiciary.
We have a monarch who is supposed to protect us from rogue government . . .
The bloody Windsors are actually fully embedded within club Davos Deviants.
Traitors actually.
I have been following Graham William Phillips for years as he gives a very accurate account of events in Ukraine.
He was at the Maidan riots showing the violence of the pro-EU neo-Nazis in the US led coup.
He was reporting the struggles of the DPR and LPR volunteers against the ultra nationalist Ukrainian army in The Donbass.
He was in Mariupol during and after it’s liberation videoing the residents celebrating the Russians arrival.
He taught himself how to speak Russian and makes many humanitarian deliveries to the people of the Donbass in his beat up old Rover car.
His treatment by the UK government is an absolute travesty.
He is deeply patriotic towards England but he is against the UK being a vassal state of the US.
He has seen the persecution of the ethnic Russians in the Donbass by the Ukrainians in this US proxy war against Russia and, like me, he believes the Russian action was justified.
This is no reason for the UK government to deny him his rights without a trial.
He has had to take the UK government to court to defend his own rights.
An excellent article from Laura Perrins at TCW taking apart the immigration scandal and rightly making great play of Bozo’s culpability.
Apparently – according to Bozo over one million immigrants in two years is a Brexit success.
There is only one word for that stain on the planet but it is hidden within
C you Nxt Tuesday.
Is it lawful (i.e. in accord with Common Law) for our servants, the government, to “sanction” (whatever that means) us?
As Peter Hitchens (who is almost always right, except when it comes to needles) says…. this is the top of a very big and very slippery slope indeed, and a lot is riding on this case. Looking more widely, the case of Julian Assange brings shame on this country, and it would be nice not to add to this affront to justice. I hope the DS, despite its pro-Ukraine leanings, will continue to have a principled approach.
If this Russo-Ukraine war is eventually concluded by peace talks, it will be revealing to see if the British state concludes a peace deal with Mr Phillips.
The main point is the government over stepping its powers, and making a mockery of free speech, its time the whole system was overhauled.
Whilst Peter Hitchens is to geopolitics what Taylor Swift is to archaeology, he is correct that working as a propaganda mouthpiece for a foreign government UK is not currently at war with is not an offense per se. The vile Graham Phillips should be abominated but not legally sanctioned.