Heather McKee at Croydon Constitutionalists

Our roving reporter, Sean Parker, gives his take on a talk by SAFAF’s ‘flame-haired force of nature’.

On the day that Keir Starmer’s Labour government announced people might get arrested if they talked about the trans issue in pubs, the Croydon Constitutionalists met above the small but perfectly formed Whispers in Purley High Street.

Not only was the ‘student politician’s’ government new wheeze to stamp upon the freedoms of British citizens fresh on everyone’s minds, but also Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson had just that morning said she was to bring back a watered down form of the Free Speech in Higher Education Act (HEFOSA).

Thanks were due to the may free speech organisations and distinguished academics such as Richard Dawkins who signed a open letter to put pressure on the government to save the act. Among those who wrote the letter was Academics For Academic Freedom, whose youth branch Student Academics for Academic Freedom Heather McKee was representing this evening. Flame-haired force of nature Heather, familiar to many on and off X, had spoken at the last AFAF conference at Conway Hall and tonight took the message deep into south London, at the invitation of Mike Swadling and his fellow Constitutionalists.

As well as the grudging (if welcome – why was it repealed in the first place?) return of HEFOSA but new angst over free speech in pubs, Heather also discussed the Scottish electorate’s abandonment of Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP, largely over the excesses of the trans debate; and now its abandonment of Labour in favour of a surging Reform Party. Reform, surging in Scotland? It appears that even north of Hadrian Wall straight-talking has its fans, whatever the accent.

Heather also reminded the assembled throng that AFAF was now present in 35 universities across the UK and Ireland, plus at one in the US, and that the beloved Ms Phillipson would no doubt soon be on Director Dennis Hayes’ infamous Banned List (if she wasn’t already).

The Free Speech Union’s ears should have been burning as their support of fellow SAFAF member Connie Shaw who was was namechecked for standing up to Leeds University Student Union – not to mention two recent Telegraph articles making her and fellow SAFAF member, Lottie Tredgett, familiar faces of natural-sense resistance. ‘Universities have lost their institutional neutrality’, said Heather, ‘but most people don’t care until it affects them’.

In the question-and-answer section of the evening, in response to questions from the audience, Heather went on: ‘You vote in a new government because you don’t like the old government. I’d be amazed if Starmer holds on for the next four years. The fact that you might not be able to speak your mind in a pub is terrifying’.

The audience was mostly made up of white British which might be expected, even in such a famously ‘vibrant’ district as Croydon. But what was striking was the age range, from engaged young students to those who remember the first Rolling Stones performance on Top Of The Pops.

The women in attendance were vocal, letting it be known how deeply worried and upset they were about the state of 21st century authoritarianism in the UK. All eloquently and warmly handled by Swadling and McKee, with a steely reassurance amongst all that AFAF, SAFAF, and the silent millions supporting them have got each others’ backs.

Croydon Constitutionalists have upload a podcast of Heather in conversation with Mike (#97).

Sean Parker is a writer, artist and ‘inspirational speaker‘.

Photo Credits: Sean Parker