An 'anti woke' barrister fired for writing "stroppy teenager of colour" in a tweet has lost a £3million discrimination claim against the fellow lawyers who sacked him.
At an employment tribunal, Jon Holbrook claimed he had been unfairly treated for his socially conservative beliefs when he was expelled from his chambers.
His dismissal came in January 2021 after he had tweeted about pupil Ruby Williams who had won £8,500 from her Church of England school after claims it racially discriminated against her due to her afro hairstyle.
"The Equality Act undermines school discipline by empowering the stroppy teenager of colour", the barrister said. He claims to hold views similar to philosopher Roger Scruton.
Following his tweet, lawyers at Cornerstone Chambers in London where the barrister of 30 years worked demanded he delete the tweet, publicly condemned him and then decided to force him out, the tribunal was told.
Mr Holbrook sued the chambers - whose members include four QCs - for discriminating against him for his beliefs.
But in a judgement published today his case was thrown out - because he had waited too long to bring it.
At a preliminary hearing in central London the tribunal had been told: "(Mr Holbrook) is a social conservative in the manner of the late Professor Sir Roger Scruton and in particular he is a critic of identity politics.
"Accordingly, he believes in the importance of nation, community and family and on finding ideas that members of society can share, whereas emphasising one's race, sex, sexuality and gender draws attention to characteristics that are exclusive, rather than inclusive."
Mr Holbrook contends that his tweet was an 'expression of the conservative belief that it is important to emphasise what people can share, whereas the modern-day left, particularly on the issue of race and culture, tend to celebrate what makes people different'.
Demanding to be allowed to return to full time work as a barrister and £3 million in compensation, he alleged that the members of the chambers had victimised, harassed and discriminated against him following his tweet, he said.
He was treated "less favourably" because he espoused "conservative beliefs such as ones that challenged identity politics, multiculturalism and 'woke' ideas", he claimed.
However, resisting his claim, Cornerstone argued that their decision to expel him was not related to his overall philosophy.
The chambers argued: "The catalyst for action was not (Mr Holbrook's) 'socially conservative' views, which he had been expressing in publications and social media for many years, but a single tweet, apparently insulting a mixed race girl by reference to her colour and insinuating that she was (i) stroppy, and (ii) should not be - as a person of colour - empowered.
"(The chambers) acted as they did because of the Tweet (and in particular because it was offensive and regarded as discriminatory), and not because of (his) 'social conservatism'."
Under tribunal rules, discrimination claims of this kind have to be submitted within three months. However, Mr Holbrook waited five months before he made his claim, the tribunal heard.
The barrister claimed the delay was due to his initial belief that his case would not be successful under equality laws and asked for the time limit to be extended.
Judge Jillian Brown rejected this, however.
"On the facts, his failure to bring his claim in the three month limitation period was his own considered decision," he said.
"He did not rely on advice from others. He did not conduct any research into discrimination law time limits.
"He was well aware of the 3 month time limit for bringing claims to employment tribunals, particularly in relation to unfair dismissal claims.
"He is a barrister of longstanding call. He could easily have conducted his own research and established the time limits for his discrimination claim.
Earlier this year Mr Holbrook won an appeal against a £500 fine he received for an 'offensive' tweet about Muslims.
A disciplinary panel had originally sanctioned him for claiming 'free speech is dying and Islamists and other Muslims are playing a central role' in a tweet to a Muslim journalist.
But he successfully argued that the tweet was not serious enough to warrant sanction.
He went on to take a swipe at 'wokesters' and at his regulator, the Bar Standards Board [BSB], for investigating him, claiming they are a 'playground bully'.
The Bar Tribunals & Adjudication Service (BTAS) appeal hearing was told Mr Holbrook faced disciplinary action over 18 tweets, 17 of which he was cleared over including the one about Miss Williams.
