A housing officer was sacked for being a Reform U.K. candidate and reposting a Daily Telegraph cartoon after being told Reform’s policies on immigration and Net Zero were “in direct conflict” with his employer’s “values”. The Telegraph has the story.
Saba Poursaeedi, a father of two, is suing one of Britain’s biggest housing associations for political discrimination after he was allegedly fired over his links to the Right-wing party.
His bosses even cited his decision to repost a Matt cartoon from the Telegraph as grounds for his unsuitability for the £37,000 a year job.
Mr. Poursaeedi was dismissed as a Resident Involvement Officer after the charitable housing association told him Reform’s policies on immigration, Net Zero and housing were “in direct conflict” with its own “values”.
Hightown Housing Association has denied Mr. Poursaeedi was sacked for his political views but has admitted his position with Reform was not compatible with “a customer-facing role”.
Hightown held up as evidence a “racist cartoon from the Telegraph newspaper”, which Mr. Poursaeedi had retweeted.
Matt Pritchett’s cartoon published in January last year depicts a housewife wearing a burka in a sideswipe at the prospect of Abu Dhabi purchasing the Telegraph amid concerns over human rights violations in the Gulf State.
There has never been any previous suggestion the cartoon was racist while Matt, the award-winning Telegraph cartoonist, is widely recognised for his gentle perspective on British life.Mr. Poursaeedi claims he was also refused a second job as a damp and mould inspector because of his links to the Right-wing party led by Nigel Farage.
Mr. Poursaeedi told the Telegraph: “I was politically purged. I want this to go through the courts because I want Hightown to be presented with a court judgment that says, ‘you were wrong’.”Mr. Poursaeedi, 36, whose father is Iranian, said: “Everybody is feeling this noose around their neck in terms of what they can and can’t say. I find what’s happened to me so absurd, so insane. This is their mentality and you can’t quite believe it.”
Mr. Farage told the Telegraph: “The levels of prejudice in our public, private and charitable sectors against anybody with patriotic views – like this man losing his job – are staggering. Hopefully, the U.K. will follow America where woke is dying very quickly.”
He said the case had similarities with his ordeal at the hands of Coutts, the private bank owned by NatWest, which decided to shut down his account after compiling a dossier on his political views.Toby Young, the founder of the Free Speech Union, the campaign group funding Mr. Poursaeedi’s legal claim, said: “Saba has been subjected to a political witch hunt. Being an organiser for Reform, a party that one in five Britons say they’ll vote for at the next election, should not be a reason to deprive someone of his livelihood.
“It’s particularly egregious when you factor in that Hightown doesn’t have a problem with employing Labour Party organisers. Hightown should be encouraging its employees to get involved in democratic politics, not punishing them for it.”
Worth reading in full.
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