No legal right to be anti-PC

A UNIVERSITY lecturer does not have a legal right to defy political correctness, an employment judge ruled, after he claimed that Left-wing colleagues “hounded” him out.

Dr Andrew Dunn was, until recently, a senior lecturer in social policy at Lincoln University. But after a series of spats with fellow academics, he was disciplined and dismissed. As part of a claim for unfair dismissal, he told an employment tribunal how the university’s “discrimination” against him started in 2015.

Dr Dunn, who is the branch chairman for Ukip in Lincoln and stood as a candidate for the party in last year’s council elections, published a book titled Rethinking Unemployment and the

Work Ethic. In it, he explains that while benefit claimants generally want jobs, many remain on benefits because they are “too choosy”. He says that these arguments are unfashionable and are rarely acknowledged, which leads to government policies based on a flawed understanding.

Dr Dunn, 45, set up a Twitter account in January 2015 to promote his book but was attacked when he posted an article summarising his research. He was then astonished to see “Leftwing” colleagues join in the criticism.

Sue Bond-Taylor, another Lincoln University lecturer in social policy, urged a user attacking Dr Dunn not to “discount the whole team off the back of the work of one member of staff ”. Over the next two years, Dr Dunn had several other disputes over social policy with colleagues and students, and was dismissed in August 2017.

Dr Dunn’s claim that he was discriminated against for his anti-PC beliefs was thrown out by the Judge Blackwell last month, who ruled that: “The belief that the tendency to favour what is palatable in social policy discussions over the truth (known as political correctness) is not a philosophical belief that has the protection of the Equality Act.”

A Lincoln University spokesman said: “The claims by a former employee made in this case were dismissed by a tribunal panel. We welcome diversity of opinion and debate on our campus while treating staff, students and visitors with dignity and respect.”