A Cambridge philosophy professor is to become the government’s first “free speech tsar” for higher education in England, it has been revealed, in an announcement made initially only to one newspaper – a move that led critics to accuse ministers of paying “lip service” to free speech.
Arif Ahmed told the Times he hoped to use his role to stand up for “all views”, and that he did not seek to take part in any sort of culture war agenda.
His role, news of which was released to other media a day later, was created by the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act, which was first introduced to the Commons in 2021, but received royal assent only last month.
Overseen by the Office for Students (OFS), Ahmed’s role is potentially controversial, given debate within the higher education sector over whether there is a notable problem of free speech being suppressed in universities.
In brief comments released by the Department for Education, Ahmed said: “Free speech and academic freedom are vital to the core purpose of universities and colleges. They are not partisan values. They are also fundamental to our civilisation. As director, I will defend them using all means available.”
He will oversee a new regime intended to enshrine freedom of speech that could impose fines on higher education providers and student unions if they prevent speakers appearing without good reason.
Ahmed told the Times that, as well as no-platforming external speakers, other potential breaches of the new law could be institutions enforcing “ideological” anti-bias training, whether for staff or students, and disciplining academics for what they say on social media.
While there is regular media coverage about people with rightwing views being barred from speaking on campuses, or academics being made uncomfortable for holding conservative views, there is limited evidence that it is a significant problem.
A 2018 report by the parliamentary human rights committee found that while some worrying examples could be cited, “we did not find the wholesale censorship of debate in universities which media coverage has suggested”.
From 2018 to 2022 the OFS received only 60 complaints about free speech issues. However, the regulator has said the potential scale of the problem was “not just measured through statistics”.
Claire Coutinho, a junior education minister, said the new act and Ahmed’s role were about “ensuring that fear does not undermine the rights of students and academics to debate controversial ideas and securing the right to an open exchange of ideas in universities”.
The OFS said that, having talked to the Times, Ahmed would not make any further comments to the media until later in the summer.
Munira Wilson, the Liberal Democrats’ education spokesperson, said: “I’m sure we would all like to hear the government’s new ‘free speech tsar’ speaking freely – but, apparently, Conservative ministers disagree.
“This is typical of a Conservative government that loves to pay lip service to free speech, while in reality doing everything they can to stop people holding them to account.”
