Banter. The very word – and its 21st-century manifestation, “bantz” – strikes fear into my heart.
Rather like encountering someone described as “a character” (who, you discover, is nothing more than a crashing bore), the invitation to “banter” offers the hope of a light-hearted chinwag in which gentle fun is poked, but more than likely is the exchange of vaguely offensive tropes that are smuggled into conversation under the guise of “don’t take it seriously – it’s just bantz”. (You know, the sort of “friendly banter”, according to an official inquiry, that resulted in the Yorkshire cricketer Azeem Rafiq being called a racial slur by his colleagues for years.)
My idea of hell would be finding myself in a pub having to listen to, say, Nigel Farage or Toby “Lord” Young bantering on about how you can’t say such-and-such these days (even while they are themselves saying it), and how the simple pleasure of telling an off-colour joke over a pint of Old Peculier is under threat from the Government’s forthcoming Workers’ Rights Bill.
The recently-ennobled journalist Toby Young is taking his fight to save public-house banter to the House of Lords, raising objections to the new Bill’s proposal that bar staff, among other workers, should not be subject to views they find offensive, and that if their employer was found not to have taken steps to protect them, they could sue for harassment.
This is a minor element of Labour’s landmark legislation, whose purpose is to redress balance in the workplace by ending egregious zero-hours contracts, unscrupulous “fire and rehire” policies and by strengthening paternity leave and sick pay rights for workers, and has received disproportionate attention. It’s been called the “banter ban”, and has been used by Young and Farage to illustrate a further erosion of freedom of speech by the woke hegemony.
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I know Nigel Farage - he's no friend to the Tories
Read MoreIt will be the death of pubs, says Farage. “Every pub is a parliament,” said the Reform leader. “It is where we discuss the world. If that is restricted, they might as well all close.” He neglects to mention that, in addition to the availability of cheap supermarket booze, one of the major threats to the great British pub (dozens are closing down every week) is the inability to attract and retain staff. Legislation which safeguards workers’ rights (yes, including the right not to be harassed, or even offended) might make it easier to keep Britain’s pub culture alive.
It is an interesting point that Farage raises, however. Should bar-room discussions be subject to a form of parliamentary privilege, where freedom of speech outranks other rights? To an extent, all discussions among friends have the same prerogatives: participants exercise judgement, and anyone can excuse themselves should they feel uncomfortable. I don’t think it’s a fundamental threat to our way of life if those whose employment requires them to be in earshot of Farage to have some protection.
Angela Rayner, mother of this legislation, is urged by supporters not to row back on its strictures because Young, Farage and others think they won’t be able volubly to agree with their mates about Donald Trump while propping themselves up on the bar.
“The pub is a place,” said hospitality titan, Luke Johnson, “where people should be allowed to make jokes, have controversial discussions, without feeling restricted… because they might just offend someone who can launch a legal action and sue the landlord.”
It’s a standard tactic of the new right – dress up objections to a progressive piece of legislation by invoking the wider culture war. I guarantee that Young will be able to pontificate to his heart’s content in the pubs of Acton. And even if the barman does object to his views, it’s a small price to pay for getting more than a million workers off zero-hours contracts.
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