Charlie Webb
Civil Service
Public Sector Young Thinker of the Year

Freedom is not free. Our fathers and grandfathers had to fight for the liberties that we enjoy. It is our duty to wake up every day and defend these freedoms so that we can pass them on to our children and grandchildren.
     The Labour Government has committed many lamentable acts over the past 10 years. Today I want to talk about the act that lost them my vote. In 2006, several Danish newspapers published cartoons that depicted the Prophet Mohammed with a bomb in his turban. These cartoons were offensive to many Muslims. They were also ignorant – Islam is not a religion of violence. But these newspapers had every right to publish these cartoons. The response of the British Government should have been to uphold vigorously the right of free speech. Instead we had weasel words from Blair's spokesman that it was nothing to do with the Government and was solely a matter for the newspapers as to what they printed. Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the cartoons were 'gratuitously inflammatory' and their publication was wrong.
     What upsets me most is that this is a government that talks constantly about British values and ensuring their survival through citizenship tests for immigrants and even a new Bank Holiday on St George's Day. Gimmicks – these are nothing but gimmicks. When they had a chance to act in defence of British values, they failed. Only two European leaders stood firm, backed the newspapers' right to print and said freedom of speech was non-negotiable. Is it any wonder that they were from Portugal and Germany – two nations that had suffered so much, so recently under dictatorships?
     Now there was an argument at the time that these cartoons were so offensive that they should not have been printed. Let us be clear: there is no human right not to be offended.
     Another argument was that British newspapers should not print the cartoons because it would not be polite or civil – and Britain was famed as being a polite country. This concept suggests ignorance of British history. When it comes to debating and scrutinising ideas we have a fine, long history of inflammatory and exaggerated polemical writing. The pamphlets of the English Civil War and of the long battles for workers' and women's rights made their points through eye-catching over-the-top prose and cartoons. Through these pamphlets, our forebears made their competing arguments and it was for the court of public opinion to decide whose view gained currency. Our history and traditions meant that these cartoons should not have been censored, they should have been argued with. Back in 2006, the Turkish Prime Minister told the world that the cartoons were offensive and that freedom of speech had its limits. He's right, freedom of speech does have its limits, but these are nothing to do with whether an article or cartoon causes offence.
     The limits to freedom of speech relate to public safety. You cannot incite murder by, for instance, shouting 'Bomb, bomb Denmark, bomb, bomb USA', as four young UK men did while protesting outside the Danish embassy in London. But these cartoons did not endanger public safety. Rather, it was the Islamist extremists who responded to them with such violence that threatened the public. They and they alone are responsible for their violence. I can only presume that the Labour Government failed to stand up for free speech because they were frightened that if they spoke up, then more terrorist attacks would be aimed at the UK. This is pathetic. As Benjamin Franklin said: 'They that give up freedom to obtain temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.'
     My only source of hope for the future is that, in reality, it is not our laws or our fickle and weak-willed governments that defend our freedom. It is defended by us, the people. If we believe in liberty and are determined that no one will take it away from us or our children, then it is safe. I urge all of you to go away from here today with the determination to protect our freedoms.

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