Law enforcement officials in Britain made more than 12,000 arrests over “offensive” social media posts in 2023, according to the latest figures published by The Times in London, which reports that “police are making more than 30 arrests a day over offensive posts” on the internet.
If we surrender to the mob, the mob will come back for more.
This is an exceptionally large number of arrests for a Western democracy. Yet Britain has a proud history of tolerance and freedom of speech. From the Reformation and the martyrdom of Sir Thomas More to the radical liberal thought of Locke and Mill, our freedoms were hard-won, emerging from centuries of religious conflict. Today, however, the very liberties that define our society are under threat—and mostly from fear of the backlash by a violent minority within the United Kingdom.
That was the message at a conference organized by Policy Exchange, a conservative think tank on October 20, 2025. At the conference, Conservative MP and former Downing Street advisor Nick Timothy issued a stark warning: Britain is sliding toward a form of soft blasphemy law, enforced not by Parliament, but by policing, prosecutors, and the courts using the public order act of 1986. “The right to freedom of expression, if it is a right worth having, must include the right to express views that offend, shock, or disturb,” Timothy reminded his audience. Yet in practice, those who criticize Islam risk arrest, intimidation, getting fired from their job, and social ostracism, he reported.
Timothy cited two recent cases in which people faced prosecution for desecrating copies of the Quran or publicly criticizing Islam—cases charged under the Public Order Act rather than any actual blasphemy law. In one instance, the original court ruling argued that “violent assaults against the defendant were evidence of guilt.” Fortunately the judge in the appeal case was clear, “There is no offence of blasphemy in our law.”
The U.K. Parliament removed blasphemy laws from the Statute Book in England and Wales in 2008 and the last successful blasphemy trial in England took place in 1976 and the last person imprisoned for blasphemy in Britain was the British Socialist, John William Gott, in 1921
The problem is compounded by attempts to legally enshrine “Islamophobia.” Timothy warned that such definitions blur the line between criticism of ideas and discrimination against individuals. “This is the protection of ideas, not the protection of people,” he said. The result? Moderates are silenced, extremists gain influence, and public debate is stifled.
Impact of Mass Immigration
These trends, Timothy argued, are symptomatic of a deeper social tension. Mass immigration and radical diversity have strained Britain’s social cohesion. Drawing on scholars like Robert Putnam and Edmund Burke, he observed that radical diversity can reduce trust and shared norms, weakening the social fabric and cohesion unless compensated by stronger authority. But in Britain today, the response has often been to defer to threats and appease the actors rather than uphold the law.
The consequences are already visible. Citing arrests over public criticism of Islam to a Muslim non-profit in East London banning girls from taking part in a charity run, Nick Timothy argued that British institutions are increasingly capitulating to intimidation. Extremists exploit this passivity, shaping public discourse, controlling aspects of schools, prisons, and media narratives, and marginalizing moderate Muslim voices.
A recent report titled “Terrorism in Prisons” made by Jonathan Hall KC, the independent reviewer of U.K. terrorism legislation who was in the audience, found Islamists control whole wings of prisons with prison officers afraid to intervene because of the fear of discriminating against Muslim prisoners. Officers are known to appeal to the “emir of a prison”, almost always a terrorist or a violent offender, for their help in maintaining order.
Timothy called for what he calls “ordered pluralism” which he defines as the freedom to live according to one’s beliefs, provided one respects the same freedom for others and upholds the institutions and norms that make that possible. Crucially, this also means standing up to threats and the enforcement of ideology through intimidation.
“If we surrender to the mob, the mob will come back for more,” Nick Timothy said. “We must hold the line and say with confidence that this argument ends here and now.” He warned that failure to act risks turning Britain into a society where fear dictates speech and where liberty is curtailed in the name of avoiding offense.
Timothy’s message is urgent and uncompromising: Britain cannot allow extremists—whether through violence, legal threat, or political pressure—to define the limits of debate. Preserving free speech is not abstract; it is the very foundation of our pluralistic, liberal society. To compromise now is to risk undermining centuries of struggle and the freedoms that generations of Britons have fought to defend.
Amid the gloom in Britain and talks of an impending civil war in Britain, there is a glimmer of hope: warnings about the threat of radical Islam—once confined to the fringes of British politics—are now being voiced by mainstream figures such as former government adviser and Conservative MP Nick Timothy.
