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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
Aisha Down

Revealed: Toby Young free speech group crowdfunded over £60,000 for legal case fought by pro-bono lawyer

Toby Young, founder of the Free Speech Union, attends Speakers’ Corner in Hyde Park in 2022
Toby Young, founder of the Free Speech Union, attends Speakers’ Corner in Hyde Park in 2022. Photograph: Guy Corbishley/Alamy Stock Photo/Alamy Live News.

Staff at a campaign group that claims to defend free speech in Britain said it would “need to explain” how it spent roughly £60,000 that was crowdfunded for a legal case that was ultimately fought by a pro bono lawyer.

The Free Speech Union (FSU), an activist group founded by Conservative life peer Toby Young, last year took up the case of Julian Foulkes, a 71-year-old retired police officer who had been arrested 18 months earlier after writing a social media post about antisemitism.

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