The UK government has rejected claims by a senior Trump administration official that British police were making thousands of “freedom of speech” arrests. Sarah B Rogers, undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, made the allegations during a speech at the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC) conference in London, where she also referenced far-right memes and conspiracy theories about the UK.
Rogers' speech includes far-right memes and conspiracy theories
Rogers, who has become the public face of the US state department’s hostility to European liberal democracies, centred her speech on the notion of “Da Yookay” – a viral meme heavily associated with the online far right. She listed examples of what she said were the Britain that people saw online, including claims that people can be remanded without bail for an inflammatory tweet, while a psychopath who seizes a three-year-old and feeds him to crocodiles walks free. She also claimed that jury trials for speech crimes are abolished, and that a girl can escape from a rape gang, flag down a police constable and discover the cop is in league with the rapists.
Rogers told the audience that she was not there to tell them “as your minders do – that it’s all misinformation”. She also claimed: “Some people look at Britain’s thousands of speech arrests per year and see only tyranny.”
UK government rejects characterisation
A UK government spokesperson said on Friday: “Our world-renowned justice system operates without fear or favour to protect all our citizens, and we completely reject this characterisation.” Max Wilkinson, the Liberal Democrats home affairs spokesperson, said repeated attempts by Trump officials to undermine the UK’s democracy and justice system were out of hand and ministers should contact counterparts in the US. “Echoing bizarre online conspiracy theories about the UK is something we might expect from a hostile state rather than a Nato ally,” he added.
Labour MP Stella Creasy also hit back, citing gun violence in the US and deportations of children, saying figures like Rogers “should spend less time reading Twitter conspiracy theories about the UK and more time fixing their own problems”.
ARC conference draws far-right figures
More than 4,000 delegates from 85 countries attended the three-day ARC conference, which has emerged as a force shaping policies on the right both in Britain and abroad. The conference was also addressed by Nigel Farage and Kemi Badenoch. ARC is headed by the influential Conservative peer Philippa Stroud, a former adviser to Iain Duncan Smith and one of the architects of the universal credit overhaul of welfare. Its advisory board includes Reform MP Danny Kruger and James Orr, a senior advisor to Nigel Farage.
Kruger told delegates that Britain’s cultural and political crisis was a battle to defend what he called the “English settlement” – a civilisational inheritance rooted in scripture, national sovereignty and the rule of law. Farage made an explicit pitch for support at the gathering, likening “family breakdown” to “community breakdown” as populations grew more diverse.
Attendees included members of European far-right groups such as Alternative für Deutschland, Vlaams Belang from Belgium, Spain’s Vox and the Netherlands’ Party for Freedom. Also on stage as an official participant was Carl Benjamin, a provocative British rightwing political commentator known for speculating about whether he would rape Labour MP Jess Phillips.
