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Kate Plummer
Mar 26, 2022
LBC caller struggles to explain to James O'Brien what ‘woke’ means
Indy
Dominic Raab has been immediately ridiculed after he claimed democratic debate in this country is being "whittled away by wokery".
In an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, the deputy prime minister and justice secretary announced free speech will be given legal supremacy over other rights as part of replacing the Human Rights Act with a British Bill of Rights.
He said: "Effectively, free speech will be given what will amount to 'trump card' status in a whole range of areas.
"I feel very strongly that the parameters of free speech and democratic debate are being whittled away, whether by the privacy issue or whether it’s wokery and political correctness. I worry about those parameters of free speech being narrowed.
"The thrust is going to be making sure that when we balance rights, whether it’s the right to free speech and the right to privacy or other rights, we make sure that the greatest overriding importance and weight is attached to free speech."
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His comments come after Jacob Rees-Mogg claimed the war in Ukraine is stopping people from caring about "woke stuff". Oliver Dowden has also spoken out on the "issue" but it is controversial to say the least and many critics say the idea Brits don't have adequate freedom of speech is a myth, as is cancel culture.
Raab continued: "We will still be clamping down on those who try and use either media or free speech to incite violence, to radicalise terrorists, or to threaten children. All of those safeguards will be in place.
"But we’ve got to be able to strengthen free speech, the liberty that guards all of our other freedoms, and stop it being whittled away surreptitiously, sometimes without us really being conscious of it."
But reacting to him, MPs, journalists and other members of the public used their free speech to say they found his views a bit ridiculous.
Dominic Raab may not agree with my assessment that he\u2019s a meritless snail of a man, but will he defend to the death my right to say it? Also nopic.twitter.com/NHhBLiu31s— Hannah Rose Woods (@Hannah Rose Woods) 1648284049
Utter bollocks. I feel perfectly free to say that.https://twitter.com/bonn1egreer/status/1507564622504775685\u00a0\u2026— Chris Bryant (@Chris Bryant) 1648286191
It\u2019s a fckn joke a joke on the British people. Tories taking you for absolute mugshttps://twitter.com/bonn1egreer/status/1507564622504775685\u00a0\u2026— ARTIST TAXI DRIVER (@ARTIST TAXI DRIVER) 1648287869
"In an exclusive interview with the #DailyMail, the Deputy #PrimeMinister warns that democratic debate is being \u2018whittled away by wokery\u2019. @DailyMailUK \n\nAre we all supposed to know what "wokery" is?\nWhat is it?\nDeputy PM- #DominicRaab-#BoJoGovernmenthttps://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10653643/Free-speech-legal-supremacy-Dominic-Raab-unveils-plan-stop-democratic-debate.html\u00a0\u2026— Bonnie Greer (@Bonnie Greer) 1648266389
Raab now channelling Putin\n\n\u201cThe proposed reforms will seek to reverse the corrosion of long-held freedoms by \u2018cancel culture\u2019, political correctness and creeping moves towards European-style privacy by the back door\u201dhttps://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10653643/Free-speech-legal-supremacy-Dominic-Raab-unveils-plan-stop-democratic-debate.html\u00a0\u2026— Peter Jukes (@Peter Jukes) 1648283449
Impossible to extract anything meaningful from this half-comprehended gibberish. But because it is Raab, we can safely presume that it will be inadequate, ineffective or non-existent. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10653643/Free-speech-legal-supremacy-Dominic-Raab-unveils-plan-stop-democratic-debate.html?ito=amp_twitter_share-top\u00a0\u2026 via @MailOnline— Ian Dunt (@Ian Dunt) 1648279436
I don't know why Dominic Raab is spending his limited time and focus banging on about political correctness, on the same day it's been revealed that 15% of trials for the rape and sexual assault of women and girls were postponed under his watch last year.\u00a0https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/18071583/rape-murder-trials-delayed-covid-backlog-courts/\u00a0\u2026— Emily Thornberry (@Emily Thornberry) 1648286390
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