I would like to thank all those who are supporting freedom of speech and belief in the Adam Walker case. Adam is a teacher who has been hauled before the General Teaching Council (the body which regulates professional standards for teachers). He is charged with contributing to an online forum during school time and making remarks 'suggestive of racial and religious intolerance'.

Adam accepts that he should not have used the computer for private purposes in school time but rejects the sinister attempt to introduce a political dimension into the procedure. The previous hearing was adjourned when the Panel due to hear it resigned. This followed objections from me to the presence of Judy Moorhouse on the panel. She is a Vice President of the rival NUT Union and an outspoken critic of the BNP (of which Adam is a member). 

Two  days were set aside for further legal argument at the GTC. It was because of the procedural and legal nature of the hearing that no demonstration was called in support of Mr Walker. It was never going to be the final hearing and no witnesses were present. Curiously, around 12 Red Nazis had gathered on the false assumption that it was the final hearing. They stood outside, cold and wet chanting inane slogans at the police and local shoppers. I couldn't hear them from inside but I'm told that they were calling for teachers to be politically vetted. When we left at around 1530 they had shuffled off somewhere warmer (it was a bitterly icy day).

Inside (in the centrally heated building) we spent the day arguing about 'Equality of Arms'. I don't think it is fair that Adam has to rely on my services when we are faced with a legal team opposite. It is a complex case raising many questions of natural justice, privacy, freedom of belief, of association, of expression and basic democratic values. The panel accepted that the case was complex and that Mr Walker could potentially lose much. These are important considerations and were recognised as such in the judgement of Steel and Morris v. the UK (2005). They stated, however, that my services and the safeguards in place were enough to ensure a fair hearing. It is flattering to see that the Presenting Officer states:-

"it is clear from the oral submissions made at the last hearing and the written representations in the form of the respondent's Skeleton Argument, that Mr Walker has available to him a representative who is able to identify all the relevant issues and refer the Committee to both national and European jurisprudence in support of them."

Nonetheless I am not a trained lawyer (I studied Philosophy!) and I don't have the administrative resources of a large law firm at my command. We are a small Union run by volunteers. I will always do my best for Adam but it is a David and Goliath struggle in which the odds have been unfairly stacked against us. It dismays me that many who go before the GTC are completly unrepresented. Surely the GTC could provide the equivalent of a Public Defender or Legal Aid could be granted in complex cases?  I therefore requested an adjournment to enable us to seek to test this judgement in the High Court. The adjournment was granted. If we go to Court and win this point it will not just benefit Adam but any teacher hauled before the GTC. I would also urge any teacher due to come before the GTC who is not legally represented to request an adjournment till any application we make on the point is heard.

When we left the building the Red Fascists had shuffled off to somewhere warmer so I didn't get the chance to explain why they were wrong to oppose human rights and natural justice. Still, there is likely to be another time!

- Pat Harrington