"The most abrasive and unpleasant fight for free speech"
Baroness Claire Fox on how the Supreme Court ruling on women was "chillingly silencing" people and why it will take time for institutions to change
Interview by Jasmine Birtles
BARONESS Claire Fox says the ruling on women is a “major victory” but admits it makes her anxious that we have to rely on the Supreme Court.
Fox also believes the debate over what a woman is was “the most abrasive and unpleasant fight for free speech because it’s been used to close down debate”.
She said: “I don’t like being dependent on the Supreme Court for stating the bleeding obvious. It makes me anxious that we are dependent on the Supreme Court in that way.
“It [the wider perception] won’t change overnight because of how institutionalised gender ideology is. But what the ruling has done is that it has allowed people who always thought this but have been cowardly or intimidated or not allowed to say it, particularly in the Labour Party where they’ve felt under the cosh on this one, they’ve now got the confidence to say it.”
Fox was also scathing about the BBC and spoke on how misinformation is used to demonise certain viewpoints and “has very little to do with factual accuracy”.