This week, Julia Hartley-Brewer joined the list of right-of-centre commentators to have found themselves ‘no-platformed‘ after a Twitterstorm. The Talk Radio host had been invited to join a Question Time-style panel discussion for the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) on the ‘hot healthcare topics of the day’ – they said she was there as she had written about health issues for 25 years as is the daughter of a GP. And if you disagree with her opinions, they said, then by all means challenge her because it’s committed to free speech.
But how committed? The Scruton-style Twitterstorm escalated so much (with the inevitable petition) that her invitation was rescinded: her detractors had tried the old trick of taking and misrepresenting a three year-old response to a tweet where she said was “not defending” Enoch Powell. Her words were arranged to make it look as if she was defending him. Cue outrage.
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