Comedian Graham Linehan has returned to the social media platform X after being banned by the Met Police.
Mr Linehan is still under investigation for a Public Order crime and will have to answer bail later this month.
The Free Speech Union (FSU) announced they are helping the Father Ted co-creator sue the Met Police, after Commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, defended the position of the force saying it had "no choice" but to arrest Mr Linehan.
Five armed officers arrested him after arriving on a flight from the US at Heathrow on suspicion of inciting violence in relation to his posts on X.
Upon his return to the social media site, the comedian said: "Thanks to my solicitors and the FSU for getting my absurd bail conditions dropped!"
The FSU are assisting the comedian in his case against the Met Police, appointing solicitor Daniel Berke to sue the forces for wrongful arrest, false imprisonment and breaches of his free speech rights.
Mr Linehan took to Substack after he was initially banned from X due to three posts on the platform from April reagrding his views about "a trans-identified male" in "a female-only space".
One of the posts read: "If a trans-identified male is in a female-only space, he is committing a violent, abusive act. Make a scene, call the cops, and if all else fails, punch him in the balls."
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Graham Linehan has returned to X after a social media ban
| PAMr Linehan explained on Substack that during his interview following the arrest, he said: "I explained that the 'punch' tweet was a serious point made with a joke", and that it was about "the height difference between men and women... and certainly not a call to violence".
When questioned about the arrest, Sir Keir Starmer's official spokesman said: "That's an operational matter for the police.
"But the Prime Minister and Home Secretary have been clear about where their priorities for crime and policing are, and that's tackling anti-social behaviour, shoplifting, street crime, as well as reducing serious violent crimes like knife crime and violence against women."
The arrest sparked widespread criticism with questions arising about free speech in the UK.
Mr Linehan thanked his solicitors and the FSU on X
|X
Director of the Free Speech Union, Lord Young of Acton, told GB News: "The police had no right to impose a gagging order on Graham Linehan as one of his bail conditions. That's an unlawful interference with his freedom of expression.
"The solicitor engaged by the Free Speech Union to act for Graham wrote to the Metropolitan Police about this, threatening to take them to court, and they have now scrapped the condition."
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch said: "Sending five officers to arrest a man for a tweet isn't policing, it's politics. Under Labour, we routinely see burglary, knife crime and assaults go unsolved, while resources are wasted on thought-policing.
"It's time this Government told the police their job is to protect the public, not monitor social media for hurty words. The Conservatives would stop this nonsense on day one and make public safety the first duty of policing, instead of pandering to fringe ideologies."
Kemi Badenoch said the Government should 'not monitor social media for hurty words'
| PAShadow Home Secretary Chris Philp called Linehan's arrest "totally disproportionate".
He continued: "This strikes me as an absurd infringement of free speech. The police should focus on catching real criminals."
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said ministers need to "look at" laws concerning online speech, following the arrest.
Mr Streeting said such laws had put "more expectation on police" and "diluted the focus and priorities of the public".
When questioned about the case, Mr Streeting told the BBC: "As the Prime Minister and Home Secretary have been clear, we want the police to focus on policing streets rather than tweets.
"But the thing we are mindful of, as a Government that backs the police to keep us safe, is that police are there to enforce the laws that we as Parliament legislate for.
"So if over the years, with good intentions, Parliament has layered more and more expectations on police, and diluted the focus and priorities of the public, that's obviously something we need to look at."