I Was Forced Out of an NHS Training Course for My Belief in Colour-Blind Meritocracy. It’s Time for the Courts to Intervene

In 2020, I enrolled at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust to become a psychotherapist. Infamous now for its disbanded Gender Identity Development Service, the Tavistock was one of the first NHS trusts to declare itself an ‘anti-racist’ organisation. As part of my training, it pushed its policy seminar, “Whiteness: a problem for our time”, where, it claimed, “a key and urgent question then for those of us who are regarded as White is, how do we interrogate our whiteness?” I was told I needed to view all white people as racist as it was the Tavistock’s official ‘anti-racist’ stance. When I told my colleagues I subscribed to the ‘colour-blind’ approach to race – of not judging people by the colour of their skin – they retaliated with two years of bullying, harassment, disciplinary proceedings, victimisation and ultimately expulsion from the course. I was told that my beliefs were not in keeping with the trust’s “anti-racist thinking” and that by voicing my beliefs I had shown that I was unable to learn, had spoken inappropriately about race and was unfit to become a psychotherapist. Despite only ever expressing mainstream liberal views, to them I was a far-Right racist.

I am now suing the Tavistock for discrimination, harassment and victimisation because of my race (white) and my Christian and colour-blind beliefs. I am seeking £540,000 in damages for injury to feelings, psychiatric damages, career loss and loss or earnings and my trial is set down for 20 days in November 2026 at the Royal Courts of Justice.

An employment tribunal judge has previously ruled that an employee’s ‘colour-blind’ beliefs and opposition to Critical Race Theory constitutes a protected philosophical belief under the Equality Act, as established in Corby vs ACAS. However, Corby did not win his claim at trial. Consequently, while ‘colour-blind’ belief is now legally protected, no one has won a discrimination case on this basis. I hope my case will be the first. 

For many, 2020 is the year when everything changed. Indeed, it was so significant that even a global pandemic and nationwide lockdown are not the first thing that comes to mind. Instead, 2020 is more likely remembered as the year that Critical Race Theory, ‘anti-racism’ and concepts such as ‘white privilege’ exploded into the mainstream. Ushered in via the Black Lives Matter protests, these ideas were accepted and touted by institutions up and down the country seemingly overnight. Meanwhile, celebrities posted black squares on Instagram, politicians ‘took the knee’, and those voicing criticism where cancelled. As a society we were expected to suddenly eject all previous notions of racial equality, colour-blindness and individualism and replace them with, as Kemi Badenoch put it, “a political ideology that portrays blackness as victimhood and whiteness as oppression”.

Six years later, will 2026 be remembered as the year that people finally woke up to the true danger of ‘anti-racism’? There has indeed been pushback in previous years, most notably with President Trump’s 2025 executive orders dismantling Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programmes, with the stated aim of returning to a “colour-blind and merit-based” society. Following this, books and articles have been published declaring the ‘end of woke’ and even identifying the emergence of a ‘post-woke Left’. However, these predictions and proclamations seem to have had little to no impact on challenging the ‘anti-racist’ policies imbedded in UK universities, schools, policing, the NHS and the civil service.

Many have now woken up to how evil and dangerous ‘anti-racism’ truly is. The recent inquiry into the 2023 Nottingham attacks, leading to the murder of two students and a caretaker, has revealed that the killer was not sectioned under the mental health act because of his skin colour. Concerns about the over-representation of young black men in psychiatric detention were put before concerns about the risk he posed to others. Furthermore, the inquiry found that, several months prior to the 2023 killings, psychiatric staff reportedly avoided enforcing restrictive practices such as forced injections, partly because of the patient’s race. Alongside this, the horrific video footage of the police’s treatment of Henry Novak as he died after being stabbed by a young Sikh man who falsely accused Novak of racism led to international outrage. Many argued that Novak was not believed nor given assistance because he was white and his murderer was not. This led to renewed criticism of the police’s ‘anti-racist’ initiatives. The Police Race Action Plan states that in order to produce racial equality in policing outcomes certain racial groups should be treated differently from others. The guidance expressly rejects “treating everyone ‘the same’ or being ‘colour-blind'”.

It is absolutely vital that my case is successful at trial. As a registered nurse, Critical Race Theory undermines and negates my professional standards and code of conduct requiring me to treat people fairly and as individuals. It also runs counter to the Equality Act which protects all racial groups, including white people, from racial discrimination or harassment. As transgender ideology recedes and gender critical beliefs become more understood and fought for, a similar pushback is needed in the area of ‘anti-racism’ and ‘colour-blind belief’. As with the gender critical movement, the case for ‘colour-blind’ belief needs to demonstrate itself legally so that the NHS and other institutions finally take notice. I hope that my forthcoming case will pave the way for this.

If you would like to help pay for my legal team, please visit my crowdfunder here.