A civil servant said she felt forced to resign from her job at the Department of Work and Pensions after being investigated for sharing posts from Reform U.K. on her personal Facebook account. The Times has the story.
Michelle Cochrane, 45, who had been working as an administration officer at the DWP since July 2021 said she ran into trouble with her employer when she started sharing social media posts that were critical of Labour in June and July this year.
The posts related to immigration, the early release of prisoners and the handling of public finances by Labour.
There were 14 posts in total, including 11 from Reform, one by the U.K. Independence Party, one including a Daily Express news article and one post from Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform.
One post by Reform featured a picture of people on a boat at sea wearing life jackets and read “watch the population explosion in real time” and “Britain needs Reform”.
Cochrane, from Blyth, Northumberland, added a comment to another post by Reform, reading, “time not just to limit it, but end it”.
Despite the posts being on her personal Facebook account — which made no reference to her work or employers — Cochrane was told in August that she would face a disciplinary hearing.
She was told that an investigation would be undertaken into the posts she shared and she would probably be dismissed if she was found to have committed gross misconduct
During the disciplinary hearing in October Cochrane argued that she had a right to “freedom of speech” and claimed other colleagues had shared posts from other political parties without facing repercussions.
The civil servant said she felt “railroaded” into resigning as she felt her dismissal was a “foregone conclusion”, saying she wanted to protect her mental health from the “traumatic” episode.
Worth reading in full.
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I never trust people who wear photochromic glasses.
Very much hope it’s better than last week’s. I used to be more Team James than Team Toby, but, after last week….., if James continues with the constant digs, insults and personal attacks (and, unlike the broadcasts we came to know and love, not in light-hearted vein) I will no longer be listening.
Exactly how I felt. I would add however that Toby exhibits wilful blindness over James’ points sometimes, and does characterise his more far out beliefs as conspiracy theories, rather than attempting to address them.
I think he’s just getting exasperated at the constant attacks from James (and they have, sadly, become attacks now) and starting to hit back a little and give a bit of ‘like for like’. But, sure, perhaps it would be better to say something like ‘That’s an interesting theory. I’ll admit I haven’t looked deeply into it, and if I had any working minutes left after my work for the Daily Sceptic and The Free Speech Union and the journalism necessary to feed my family, I would.’
Sadly, I have given up on these.
I thoroughly enjoyed the early ones, then they got longer and longer. Then when listening to them I began feel that James was starting to sound like a child who thinks shouting “bum” or “poo” will cause his elders to have fit of the vapours.
There is now little reasoned discussion.
I an surprised that Toby continues with them.
I would rather hear him talking with Nick although those are becoming rather long and tedious and could do with some sharper editing.
Have just listened. Thank goodness – it was much better than last week. Just the right touch this time, from both.