Sir Keir Starmer is turning Britain into a police state, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned.
Johnson spoke out as a fresh sentencing row erupted after childminder Lucy Connolly failed in her bid to reduce her 31-month jail sentence.
Connolly, 42, ended up behind bars after after pleading guilty to stirring up racial hatred by urging her X followers to "set fire" to an asylum hotel.
The post was viewed 310,000 times in three-and-a-half hours before being deleted.
Boris Johnson
PA
Connolly's appeal against the length of her sentence was thrown out by the Court of Appeal yesterday.
However, Johnson joined a growing gaggle of critics who fear the country is "losing its reputation for free speech" following a series of incidents involving police clamping down on social media posts.
The ex-Prime Minister warned: "Starmer's Britain is losing its reputation for free speech and turning into a police state, where we must all learn to fear the knock on the door simply for something we say.
"The UK police are now making over 10,000 arrests every year for online comment, more than the police in Russia itself, and this judgment is yet another propaganda gift for Vladimir Putin."
Lucy Connolly shared the post on the same day as three girls were stabbed to death in SouthportXConcerns have also been raised about Connolly's case being yet another example of so-called "two-tier justice".
Haris Ghaffar, who attacked a Birmingham pub as racial tensions reached boiling point, was given a custodial sentence of just 20 months.
Connolly is unlikely to be released from Staffordshire's HMP Drake Hall until August.
Following yesterday's ruling, Connolly's husband Ray said: "My wife Lucy is a good person and not a racist.
Raymond Connolly
PA"Lucy got more time in jail for one tweet than some paedophiles and domestic abusers get.
"My wife has paid a very high price for making a mistake and today the court has shown no mercy."
He added: "The 284 days of separation have been very hard, particularly on our 12-year-old girl.
"Lucy posted one nasty tweet when she was upset and angry about three little girls who were brutally murdered in Southport.
Keir Starmer reacts to Lucy Connolly appeal being dismissedGB NEWS"She realised the tweet was wrong and deleted it within four hours. That did not mean Lucy was a 'far-right thug' as Prime Minister Keir Starmer claimed.
"As a childminder, she took care of small children of African and Asian heritage; they loved Lucy as she loved them."
However, Starmer defended the state of free speech in Britain after being quizzed on Connolly's appeal being dismissed.
The Prime Minister said: "I'm strongly in favour of free speech. We've had free speech in this country for a very, very long time and we protect it fiercely.
"I'm equally, though, against incitement to violence against other people. That has long been an offence in our country and rightly so. I don't know the details of this case, but free speech, yes, incitement to violence, no."
