KEEP YOUR STICKY FINGERS OFF FREEDOM OF SPEECH

Genuine liberals — and, no, i don’t mean Left-wing fascists masquerading as liberals — should beware of joining the lynch mob stalking Labour MP Jared O’Mara, currently being put through the wringer over so-called ‘sexist, homophobic and racist’ comments.

Yes, i know about the sickening hypocrisy of the Left, always demanding the death penalty for Tories accused of making ‘inappropriate remarks’, yet trying to excuse O’Mara on the grounds that he is ‘on a journey’.

That’s beside the point. no one who believes in free speech — including the right to cause offence — should be seeking to destroy a man over something he said 15 years ago.

OK, so his remarks were crass and unpleasant, and in the normal course of events he’d probably be among the first to call for retribution against any Conservative MP who had said something similar.

But, frankly, i’m sick of the faux outrage of the self-obsessed Twitter mob, who label as ‘hate speech’ anything they disagree with.

These are dangerous times for liberty and freedom of expression. This is an age of medieval ducking-stool justice, where lives can be ruined by self-appointed social media warriors parading their own virtue by crucifying others.

The crusade against ‘sexual violence’ in the wake of the revolting Harvey Weinstein scandal is a case in point. every dopey bird who has ever been on the end of a bungled fumble has reinvented herself as a victim of attempted rape.

Some obscure actress now claims she was ‘touched from behind’ by President George Bush Snr when he was 89 years old, wheelchair- bound and suffering from dementia. So why didn’t she say so at the time, three years ago?

Then again, there was no instant #MeToo back then. everyone’s got to be in the movie today, haven’t they? Look at me, i’m a victim, too.

All this achieves is to debase genuine, serious sexual misconduct, which deserves to be punished. Looking at that picture in yesterday’s Mail of Keith Richards and Marianne Faithfull, i couldn’t help wondering how the Stones would have fared today. Mick and Keef used and discarded hundreds of young women for their sexual gratification. How long before one of these grizzled old Sixties groupies — although not, i suspect Marianne Faithfull — comes forward to report the Stones to the Jimmy Savile Squad? And don’t forget Bill Wyman and 14-year-old Mandy Smith. We’re now told that ‘misogyny’ is about to become a criminal offence. in which case, under My Thumb is probably enough to get Jagger and Richards arrested in a dawn raid and put on trial at the Bailey for ‘hate crime’. And unlike Savile, they’re both still alive.