The teacher sacked for speaking out about Lucy Connolly and two-tier justice

It’s been a year since the shocking Southport attacks and the controversial social media crackdown that followed. 

Gordon Rayner speaks to Simon Pearson, a teacher who lost his job after criticising ‘two-tier justice’ in the case of Lucy Connolly who was jailed last year after posting about the summer riots on her X account. 

In a post on social media, Pearson, who taught adults at Preston College, said Connolly’s online comments were “obviously wrong” but she “should not have been jailed”. 

We hear how Pearson has struggled to find another job after he was sacked and why he is taking legal action. 

Meanwhile, Tory infighting erupts as Kemi Badenoch and Liz Truss go head-to-head in public. In a Telegraph column, Badenoch blamed Truss’s 2022 mini-budget for wrecking the Conservative economic legacy, while Truss accessed Badenoch of repeating “spurious narratives” to deflect from her own party’s failures. 

Tim and Cleo discuss what is really behind this clash and what it means for the party.

Producers: Georgia Coan and Lilian Fawcett

Senior Producer: John Cadigan

Planning Editor: Venetia Rainey

Video Editor: Will Walters

Studio Director: Meghan Searle

Executive Producer: Louisa Wells

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