Toby Young: ‘Large parts of population don’t believe we should defend liberal democracy'

Toby Young: ‘Large parts of population don’t believe we should defend liberal democracy'

Andrew Doyle and Toby Young discuss the push for neutral liberalism

GB News
Georgia Pearce

By Georgia Pearce


Published: 31/10/2023

- 14:36

Toby Young said 'it's not enough to be neutral and just defend the framework'

General Secretary of the Free Speech Union Toby Young has hit out at groups of people who believe we should "defend liberal democracy".

Speaking to GB News presenter Andrew Doyle at the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship Conference in London, Young discussed a recent poll, circulated on X, revealing that the majority of Americans under 25 thought "what Hamas did was justified".


This follows the unprovoked terror attacks lead by Hamas on Israel on October 7, which has since killed thousands of civilians and left hundreds held hostage by the terrorist organisation in Gaza.

Following the attacks, widespread protest and uproar has emerged across the world, including the UK.

Toby Young speaks to GB News at the ARC conference

Toby Young said 'it's not enough to be neutral and just defend the framework'

GB News

Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets to share their support for Palestine, among which has been extremist views and behaviour.

In a discussion on the decline in liberalism amid the protests, presenter Andrew Doyle said that "liberalism has failed", and it has lead to "extremists on the streets calling for jihad or openly expressing anti-Semitic views".

Andrew said he "abhors" the views, adding: "We need to take a stand. Be a bit more aggressive".

Young then shared his view on neutral liberalism, saying: "It's not enough to be neutral and just defend the framework. That's too fragile, that's too anaemic."

He continued: "I think one thing that's been really made clear over the past few weeks is that there are large sections of the populations in Western liberal democracies here, European countries, America, who don't believe in liberal values.

"They don't really see anything wrong with what Hamas did on October 7th, which is pretty shocking to people like me and you, who do believe in the sanctity of human life and do believe that people's rights should be protected, should be defended.

Speaking of a social media poll, Young revealed the majority of Americans under 25 thought what Hamas did "was justified", to which Andrew said "I can't even comprehend that".

Young agreed: "Yeah, we clearly do have a problem."

Andrew Doyle speaks to Toby Young at the ARC Conference in London

Andrew Doyle says 'liberalism has failed' amid a surge in extremist views

GB News

Young concluded: "There are vast swathes of people, not the majority overall, but perhaps the majority of young people, who don't understand why we should be fighting terrorism, why we should be defending liberal democracy, free speech, the right to life and property.

"So we've got a job on our hands. ARC may not have the answer, but at least they've correctly diagnosed the problem."

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