Thread by @TelePolitics

🔴 Civil servants have been banned from inviting “woke” speakers who criticise Boris Johnson’s policies to address internal events in Whitehall, a leaked memo reveals

Thread 👇🧵
telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/…

📩 An “official-sensitive” email circulated across Whitehall warned that invitations should not be issued to individuals who have “spoken against key government policies”

Officials were told to carry out “due diligence” checks on speakers, including examining their social media posts.

➡️The move follows several controversies over speakers critical of the Government being invited to address Whitehall social or networking events

Senior Conservatives reacted with fury when it emerged that Prof Priyamvada Gopal, a Left-wing Cambridge academic, who had made offensive remarks about Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, had been invited to deliver a lecture at the Home Office last month

The memo distributed to officials, and leaked to The Telegraph, warns that “the relationship between civil servants, ministers and the public” was at risk of being “adversely affected” by any failures to “retain impartiality”

A Cabinet Office spokesman said: “Employees are encouraged to engage and discuss a range of different topics and perspectives, and all events must be consistent with the civil service code of conduct"

Read the full report 👇
telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/…