A barrister expelled by his chambers for calling a schoolgirl a ‘stroppy teenager of colour’ has lost a £3 million defamation claim against the lawyers that fired him.

John Holbrook said he had been unfairly treated following his tweet regarding Ruby Williams.

The London schoolgirl hit headlines after winning £8,500 from her Church of England school after claims it racially discriminated against her due to her afro hairstyle.

‘The Equality Act undermines school discipline by empowering the stroppy teenager of colour’, Mr Holbrook had tweeted.

Ruby’s mum Kate Williams condemned the barrister and wider backlash soon followed.‘He knows nothing of her suffering,’ Kate had told The Guardian.

At an employment tribunal, Mr Holbrook claimed he had been unfairly treated.

Lawyers at Cornerstone Chambers in London, where the barrister of 30 years worked, had  asked him to delete the tweet, publicly condemned him and then forced him out, the tribunal was told.

Mr Holbrook sued the chambers – whose members include four QCs – for discriminating against him for his beliefs. 

At a preliminary hearing in central London the tribunal had been told: ‘(Mr Holbrook) is a social conservative in the manner of the late Professor Sir Roger Scruton and in particular he is a critic of identity politics.’

Mr Holbrook argued his tweet was an ‘expression of the conservative belief that it is important to emphasise what people can share, whereas the modern-day left, particularly on the issue of race and culture, tend to celebrate what makes people different’.

Demanding to be allowed to return to full time work as a barrister and £3 million in compensation, he alleged that the members of the chambers had victimised, harassed and discriminated against him following his tweet.

However, resisting his claim, Cornerstone argued that their decision to expel him was not related to his overall philosophy.

The chambers argued: ‘The catalyst for action was not (Mr Holbrook’s) ‘socially conservative’ views, which he had been expressing in publications and social media for many years, but a single tweet, apparently insulting a mixed race girl by reference to her colour and insinuating that she was (i) stroppy, and (ii) should not be – as a person of colour – empowered.

“(The chambers) acted as they did because of the Tweet (and in particular because it was offensive and regarded as discriminatory), and not because of (his) “social conservatism”.’

In a judgement published today, Mr Holbrook’s case was thrown out – because he had waited too long to bring it.

Under tribunal rules, discrimination claims of this kind have to be submitted within three months.

However, Mr Holbrook waited five months before he made his claim, the tribunal heard.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].

For more stories like this, check our news page.

Source: Read Full Article