Wes Streeting has called for Britain’s officers to ‘police streets over tweets’ after Graham Linehan was arrested at Heathrow Airport over online comments about transgender activists.
The Health Secretary has waded into the fresh debate about free speech in the UK after Linehan told how he was dealt with ‘like a terrorist’, held in a cell and then had to be rushed to hospital because the stress ‘nearly killed me’.
Father Ted creator Linehan was detained at Heathrow by five armed officers as he returned to Britain from Arizona, and accused of ‘inciting violence’ in relation to three posts he had made on X while living in the US.
Linehan shared screenshots of the posts he said he was arrested for, including one where he called it a ‘violent, abusive act’ for a trans-identified male to be in a female-only space.
In what he maintains was a joke, he added in the tweet: ‘Make a scene, call the cops and if all else fails punch him in the balls.’
The second post was an aerial shot from a trans demonstration which he described as ‘a photo you can smell’. The third tweet – a follow-up to the picture – said: ‘I hate them. Misogynists and homophobes. F*** em.’
Harry Potter author JK Rowling and world’s richest man Elon Musk have led the chorus of outrage – with MPs on both sides also wading into the ordeal which has raised serious questions over who police are targeting.
Mr Streeting told Sky News this morning: ‘The PM and Home Secretary have been very clear – when it comes to the safety of our streets and communities, we would rather see our police on the streets rather than policing tweets.’
Wes Streeting (pictured) has called for officers to ‘police streets over tweets’ after Graham Linehan was arrested at Heathrow Airport over online comments about transgender activists
Police were accused of a ‘totalitarian’ clampdown on free speech after Graham Linehan (pictured), the creator of Father Ted, was arrested by armed officers over online comments about transgender activists
The Health Secretary said he could not comment on the specifics of the live police investigation into Linehan, adding that operational police decisions are ‘rightly independent of politicians’.
But he added: ‘It’s the easiest thing in the world for people to criticise the police, but they are enforcing laws that parliament has passed and asked them to enforce.
‘So if we haven’t got the balance right, as Parliament over successive governments, that is something that we need to look at because the Home Secretary is very clear about what her priorities are’.
He said those priorities are tackling crime in neighbourhoods and keeping borders safe.
Mr Streeting added: ‘One of the things the Home Secretary is looking at is are we asking the police to focus on the right things? If we’ve distracted as Parliament under the previous Government, if they have been distracted being asked to do things we don’t see as a priority, that’s something we will deal with.’
On Tuesday night, Irish comedy writer Mr Linehan, who said he was bailed on condition he did not use X, told the Daily Mail: ‘After spending a decade obsessing over their score on the Stonewall virtue index, the police can no longer tell up from down, left from right and, most worryingly of all, right from wrong.’
Irish comedy writer Mr Linehan told the Daily Mail: ‘After spending a decade obsessing over their score on the Stonewall virtue index, the police can no longer tell up from down, left from right and, most worryingly of all, right from wrong’
Harry Potter author JK Rowling led the chorus of outrage over his ordeal and called Mr Linehan’s arrest an act of ‘totalitarianism’
Harry Potter author JK Rowling led the chorus of outrage over his ordeal, asking online: ‘What the f*** has the UK become? This is totalitarianism. Utterly deplorable.’
World’s richest man Elon Musk branded Britain a ‘police state’ and asked: ‘Why are police in Britain arresting citizens for social media posts instead of stopping child rape?’
Free speech campaigner and former police officer Harry Miller, who won a landmark court case against a force that investigated him for allegedly transphobic tweets, told the Daily Mail: ‘This is the sort of behaviour you expect in North Korea, not from a British police force.
‘Britons are in danger of being subjected to interference by a police state.’
Downing Street declined to comment on the ongoing case, which risks reviving damaging claims by US Vice-President JD Vance that free speech is being eroded in Britain.
However Sir Keir Starmer’s spokesman said the Prime Minister’s priorities for the police were tackling street crime and serious violence, in what will be seen as a veiled swipe at the Met.
‘On the specific incident it’s an operational matter for the police, but the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary have been clear where their priorities for crime and policing are and that’s tackling anti-social behaviour, shoplifting, street crime, as well as reducing serious violent crimes like knife crime and violence against women,’ No 10 told reporters.
Lord Young, director of the Free Speech Union which is supporting Mr Linehan, told the Daily Mail: ‘I don’t think there’s a better illustration of just how low we’ve sunk when it comes to free speech.
World’s richest man Elon Musk branded Britain a ‘police state’ and asked: ‘Why are police in Britain arresting citizens for social media posts instead of stopping child rape?’
Rowling leapt to Linehan’s defence just weeks after he accused her of failing to defend him after he was cancelled over his similar views
Free speech advocates, including JK Rowling, led the outrage over the arrest of Linehan today
‘If Graham Linehan himself had written this scene for a sitcom about the descent of Starmer’s Britain into an authoritarian banana republic, his editor would have rejected it as too implausible.
‘The overzealous policing of social media posts is turning the UK into an international laughing stock.’
His campaign group has hired Mr Linehan a solicitor to defend him against any possible charges but is looking into whether the police could be sued for wrongful arrest or false imprisonment.
Lord Young said there is ‘zero chance’ of Mr Linehan being prosecuted for the offence under the Public Order Act that he was arrested for, as it only covers stirring up hatred on grounds of religion or sexual orientation – not gender identity.
He wrote online: ‘Sir Mark Rowley should make it clear no further action will be taken, issue an apology and offer Glinner substantial compensation for false arrest and wrongful imprisonment.’
The Tories accused Scotland Yard of an ‘absurd infringement of free speech’ as the backlash intensified and said whoever approved the arrest should be held to account.
On Tuesday night Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said: ‘Sending five officers to arrest a man for a tweet isn’t policing, it’s politics. Under Labour, we routinely see burglary, knife crime and assaults go unsolved, while resources are wasted on thought-policing.
‘It’s time this government told the police their job is to protect the public, not monitor social media for hurty words.
Kemi Badenoch hit out at the Labour government and criticised the Met Police for ‘thought policing’ following news of Mr Linehan’s arrest
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp called the arrest an ‘absurd infringement of free speech’
‘The Conservatives would stop this nonsense on day one and make public safety the first duty of policing, instead of pandering to fringe ideologies.’
Senior Tory MPs questioned the need for five officers to make the arrest given the shortage of armed police nationwide with Laura Trott urging: ‘It must be made clear who made this decision and they should be held accountable.’
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: ‘This strikes me as an absurd infringement of free speech. The police should focus on catching real criminals.’
And Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick said: ‘The Met need to promptly apologise.
‘Every day they delay will add to bill the taxpayer faces for their incompetence.’
The row will reach Washington DC on Wednesday as Nigel Farage gives evidence to the US House Committee on the Judiciary on ‘Europe’s threat to American speech and innovation’.
Reform UK leader Mr Farage said: ‘The Graham Linehan case is yet another example of the war on free speech in the UK.
‘I will discuss this, the Lucy Connolly case and the increasing role of our police in non-crime ‘hate’ incidents on Capitol Hill.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said he would be raising Mr Linehan’s arrest as an example of ‘the increasing role of our police in non-crime ‘hate’ incidents’ during a visit to Washington DC
‘Free speech is under assault and I am urging the USA to be vigilant.’
The party’s Deputy Leader Richard Tice said: ‘This over the top, terrorist-style reaction by the police to a series of tweets is extraordinary.
‘Be under no illusion: freedom of speech in Starmer’s Britain is in grave danger.’
Mr Linehan revealed on his blog on Tuesday how five armed officers were waiting for him as he stepped off a plane from Arizona on Monday, and told him he was ‘under arrest for three tweets’.
He said he was taken to Heathrow police station and during his interview insisted he had been joking when he wrote on X in April: ‘If a trans-identified male is in a female-only space, he is committing a violent, abusive act.
‘Make a scene, call the cops and if all else fails, punch him in the balls.’
Then he said a nurse checked on him and found his blood pressure was ‘over 200 – stroke territory’ and he was ‘escorted to A&E’.
He said: ‘I was arrested at an airport like a terrorist, locked in a cell like a criminal, taken to hospital because the stress nearly killed me, and banned from speaking online-all because I made jokes that upset some psychotic crossdressers.’
Mr Linehan is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday accused of harassing transgender woman Sophia Brooks and damaging her phone, which he denies, in a separate case
A spokesman for the Met said: ‘On Monday September 1 at 1pm officers arrested a man at Heathrow Airport after he arrived on an inbound American Airlines flight.
‘The man in his 50s was arrested on suspicion of inciting violence. This is in relation to posts on X.
‘After being taken to police custody, officers became concerned for his health and he was taken to hospital.
‘His condition is neither life-threatening nor life-changing. He has now been bailed pending further investigation.’
The force added: ‘It is routine for officers policing airports to carry firearms. These were not drawn or used at any point during the arrest.’
But the Met did not respond to questions about why the arrest was deemed necessary.
Under strict rules known as PACE Code G, suspects are only meant to be arrested in limited circumstances including when police need to ascertain their identity, prevent them from harming themselves or others, stop them destroying evidence or ensuring they can be interviewed.
Mr Linehan is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday accused of harassing transgender woman Sophia Brooks and damaging her phone, which he denies, in a separate case.
