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Original poster

Andrew Boff ejected from Tory Party Conference after heckling Suella Braverman over gender ideology

85 replies

IwantToRetire · 03/10/2023 19:37

A senior elected Tory was ejected from the Conservative conference for heckling Suella Braverman as she railed against the “poison” of “gender ideology”.

London Assembly member Andrew Boff told reporters the Home Secretary had been “vilifying” gay people in her speech as he was removed from the Manchester convention centre on Tuesday.

Before being approached by officials and police, Mr Boff had said from his conference seat: “There’s no such thing as gender ideology.”

Ms Braverman later said the heckles were “silly” but said the politician should be “forgiven and let back into conference”, though Mr Boff said he had been stripped of his pass.

“This Home Secretary was basically vilifying gay people and trans people by this attack on LGBT ideology, or gender ideology. It is fictitious, it is ridiculous,” he said.

More at https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/suella-braverman-london-assembly-home-secretary-manchester-david-lynch-b2423216.html

Tory politician ejected from conference for heckling Suella Braverman’s speech

London Assembly member Andrew Boff was escorted from the premises on Tuesday, after heckling Ms Braverman during her speech.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/suella-braverman-london-assembly-home-secretary-manchester-david-lynch-b2423216.html

OP posts:
Allthegoodnamesarechosen · 03/10/2023 23:15

PermanentTemporary · 03/10/2023 20:17

Marvellous example of what Braverman's real attitude to freedom of speech is.

Hé was heckling, interrupting her scheduled speech, not asking a ( polite) question in the allocated time.

Do you think men shouting women down is ‘free speech’ ? Free for some, maybe.

PaperWalkAndTalk · 03/10/2023 23:11

PorcelinaV · 03/10/2023 22:56

I doubt there is any legal "free speech" right to heckling, even if it was excessive by security.

You need to be able to kick people out if they cause too much of a disruption.

If heckling were a "right" it would probably undermine free speech because some people would deliberately try to destroy events with the amount of disruption they would cause.

This is true, I've heard many TRAs use the excuse of free speech to shout down a feminist from speaking.

lady69 · 03/10/2023 23:03

I really tire of the wilful conflation of sex , including same sex attraction, and gender. it’s a big part of why we are in this mess. And they know what they are doing; It is totally disingenuous. So over it.

Pixiedust1234 · 03/10/2023 22:58

jgw1 · 03/10/2023 22:41

Being cancelled for expressing a perfectly legitimate opinion should never be a storm in a teacup.

Show quote history

There's a time and a place for everything. Interrupting a main speaker at a party conference isn't the time.

Although according to you I could express a perfectly legitimate opinion at News at Ten studios when a presenter is reading the news. Nobody would get upset? I wouldn't be escorted out or cancelled?

PS, he wasn't cancelled 😉

RealityFan · 03/10/2023 22:58

"There's no such thing as gender ideology" while berating Braverman for being homophobic and transphobic is such a classic of the genre from reality deniers like Boff.

If he'd had his way, he, Blunt, May, Mordaunt, Millar, Nokes would have rammed Self ID thru Parliament with the help of Corbyn's Labour Party.

There would certainly have been only one ideology in town.

PorcelinaV · 03/10/2023 22:56

I doubt there is any legal "free speech" right to heckling, even if it was excessive by security.

You need to be able to kick people out if they cause too much of a disruption.

If heckling were a "right" it would probably undermine free speech because some people would deliberately try to destroy events with the amount of disruption they would cause.

PaperWalkAndTalk · 03/10/2023 22:53

jgw1 · 03/10/2023 22:41

Being cancelled for expressing a perfectly legitimate opinion should never be a storm in a teacup.

Show quote history

Being taken out of a room for being a nuisance is not "cancellation", real cancellation is when people have expressed an opinion and then lost their jobs, lost gigs, blocked off social media, media refusal to do interviews etc.

PaperWalkAndTalk · 03/10/2023 22:50

jgw1 · 03/10/2023 20:03

Its nice to see that the Tories are in favour of cancel culture and not fans of freedom of speech.

If I went to a stand-up comedy show and started shouting out distracting the audience from the comic could I use the excuse of cancel culture and freedom of speech for why I should be allowed to continue being a nuisance?

jgw1 · 03/10/2023 22:41

Pixiedust1234 · 03/10/2023 22:31

I agree about it being a storm in a teacup but if he wasn't heckling/calling out (in the dictionary sense) and being very very oh so quiet - why did security escort him out? Your posts don't make any sense as both cannot be right. Unless he pretended to be escorted out for the pictures...

Being cancelled for expressing a perfectly legitimate opinion should never be a storm in a teacup.

Pixiedust1234 · 03/10/2023 22:31

I agree about it being a storm in a teacup but if he wasn't heckling/calling out (in the dictionary sense) and being very very oh so quiet - why did security escort him out? Your posts don't make any sense as both cannot be right. Unless he pretended to be escorted out for the pictures...

WallaceinAnderland · 03/10/2023 22:03

Pixiedust1234 · 03/10/2023 20:34

If he said it quietly then it's a mutter not a heckle. Or is this another word that doesn't mean what it says in the dictionary?

to interrupt a public speech or performance with loud, unfriendly statements or questions
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/heckle

Show quote history

He definitely wasn't calling out. Storm in a teacup really.

OP posts:
Original poster
IwantToRetire · 03/10/2023 21:21

Just so happened to be on an aisle seat with multiple cameras. Hmmm.

I wonder how early he queued to get that speech, and how many media friends he told that he would be doing that.

Just another martyr to the cause. I am sure he will get a rainbow badge.

OP posts:
Original poster
IwantToRetire · 03/10/2023 21:19

In fact none of the tv interviews, of which he has had many, has made any attempt to clarify what he thinks "gender ideology is ( or isn't)" nor what SB might htink it is.

As usual the meda have dumbed it down, and he has taken the opportunity to turn it into the Tories are anti gay and mean. The same tactic that stops informed discussion about conversion therapyl

I am surprised, as I thought through being on the London Assembly he had been quite vocal, but if he has, it doesn't come up when searching.

The most recent I can find is this https://www.coe.int/en/web/congress/-/andrew-boff-hate-against-lgbti-people-fractures-social-cohesion-

Andrew Boff: Hate against LGBTI people fractures social cohesion

Current Affairs Committee Strasbourg, France 10 February 2021 Diminuer la taille du texte Augmenter la taille du texte Imprimer la page Imprimer en PDF The Current Affairs Committee adopted on...

https://www.coe.int/en/web/congress/-/andrew-boff-hate-against-lgbti-people-fractures-social-cohesion-

OP posts:
RealityFan · 03/10/2023 21:19

Should have let him carry on...
LetThemSpeak
Or in this case...
LetThemHeckle

Maybe Boff got this speech from Braverman mixed up with a LWS event his allies would normally be minded to interrupt.

ArabellaScott · 03/10/2023 21:01

Well, maybe we need to have a discussion about 'gender ideology' and what it is.

MissLucyEyelesbarrow · 03/10/2023 20:55

PermanentTemporary · 03/10/2023 20:17

Marvellous example of what Braverman's real attitude to freedom of speech is.

I loathe Braverman, but she is not responsible for what Security do while she is making a speech.

IcakethereforeIam · 03/10/2023 20:51

'Boff' was slang for fart when I was a kid.

Pixiedust1234 · 03/10/2023 20:34

WallaceinAnderland · 03/10/2023 20:27

All he said was 'There's no such thing as gender ideology' and he said it quietly but I guess heckling is not appropriate at all.

If he said it quietly then it's a mutter not a heckle. Or is this another word that doesn't mean what it says in the dictionary?

to interrupt a public speech or performance with loud, unfriendly statements or questions
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/heckle

Pixiedust1234 · 03/10/2023 20:30

In her set-piece speech, the Home Secretary had criticised “gender ideology, white privilege” and anti-British history, adding: “The evidence demonstrates that if you don’t challenge this poison, things just get worse.”

London Assembly member Andrew Boff told reporters the Home Secretary had been “vilifying” gay people in her speech

So what did she say that vilified gay people? Or is he confused between the LGB and the T?

ResisterRex · 03/10/2023 20:30

Just so happened to be on an aisle seat with multiple cameras. Hmmm.

WallaceinAnderland · 03/10/2023 20:27

All he said was 'There's no such thing as gender ideology' and he said it quietly but I guess heckling is not appropriate at all.

EasternStandard · 03/10/2023 20:20

nauticant · 03/10/2023 20:06

The name looks familiar. IIRC he's got a record of being unpleasant on Twitter to non-compliant women.

Sounds about right

Apollo441 · 03/10/2023 20:19

PermanentTemporary · 03/10/2023 20:17

Marvellous example of what Braverman's real attitude to freedom of speech is.

She said he should be let back in. What is your point?