Andrew Tate and other “toxic” influencers should be barred from speaking at universities, a Government minister has said as she delivered a talk on free speech “for all”, arguing this did not include hate speech.
Claire Countinho, the minister for families and wellbeing, said she “wouldn’t like to see Andrew Tate speak on campus” because his misogynist views constitute hate speech.
“I don’t think there’s any space for people who are spreading hate on campus,” she said after making a speech on Wednesday hosted by right-wing think-tank Policy Exchange.
During the same speech, Ms Coutinho heralded the Government’s recent appointment of England’s first ever “free speech tsar”, who she said would help crack down on attempts to stifle debate at British universities.
Arif Ahmed, a philosophy professor at the University of Cambridge, who became the inaugural director of free speech last month, will be handed new powers later this year to protect academics and other guest speakers from “cancel culture” by being unable to speak at universities.
Ms Countinho said Professor Ahmed would help stop speakers “losing their livelihoods and their reputations for the crime of expressing an opinion”.
“A tolerant society isn’t one where everyone must conform to a narrow ideological vision and moral virtue, where only those who take a certain point of view are allowed to speak their mind,” she said.
“It should be a right for all… And yet today we see free speech under threat in the very places where the most controversial debates should be taking place on campus.”
Ms Coutinho said free speech on universities should act as an “antidote to the toxic effects of social media” influencers such as Mr Tate, the self-styled “king of toxic masculinity” who was charged with rape and human trafficking last month. He denies the charges.
“But that being said, when I go and talk in schools I think them being able to debate the kind of things Andrew Tate talks about has been the best way to counter some of those views,” Ms Coutinho added. “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.”
Critics have accused the Government of hypocrisy for reiterating its commitment to free speech while also introducing sweeping new powers to clamp down on protesters.
The Home Office unveiled major new laws under the Public Order Bill earlier allowing police to arrest protesters before they have begun protesting, stoking controversy when they were used to crack down on anti-monarchy protesters during the King’s coronation.
Meanwhile, Dan Kaszeta, an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute – a think-tank on defence and security – and global expert on nerve agents, accused the Government of political posturing by appointing a free speech tsar just one week after he was banned from speaking at a Government-backed conference.
Mr Kaszeta was disinvited from speaking at the 25th annual Chemical Weapons Demilitarisation Conference last month after civil servants vetted his social media and found criticism of Government policies.
Referring to Professor Ahmed’s appointment as free speech tsar, he said: “Hypocrisy. The censorship is coming from the Government, not the universities.”
