A primary school teacher in London was barred from working with children after telling a Muslim pupil that “Britain is still a Christian state”, The Telegraph has learnt. The teacher was reported to the local safeguarding board following the comments, prompting involvement from a senior detective in the Metropolitan Police’s child abuse investigation team. The case has fuelled growing concern among free-speech advocates who argue that safeguarding measures designed to protect children from harm are increasingly being used to scrutinise conservative political views. Earlier this week, The Telegraph revealed that Jamie Michael, a former Royal Marine, had been banned from youth coaching after posting a video criticising illegal migration.
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In this latest incident, the teacher – who has chosen to remain anonymous – was suspended and later dismissed after allegedly reprimanding pupils for washing their feet in sinks in the boys’ toilets. Police attended the school to examine claims that the teacher’s behaviour constituted a hate crime.
According to the pupil’s complaint, the teacher remarked that the school was not a faith school and suggested there was an Islamic school nearby should they prefer to attend one. He is also said to have told the children: “Britain is still a Christian state,” noting that the King is the head of the Church of England.
Following the dispute over foot-washing, the teacher reportedly spoke to the Year 6 class about the importance of tolerance as part of British values, adding that Islam remained a minority religion in the UK. In a legal submission challenging the local authority’s actions, the teacher’s representatives argued that the school had previously prohibited prayers in the playground and designated a specific prayer room for religious observance, meaning foot-washing in the sinks was not permitted.
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Despite this, the teacher was suspended in March last year and subsequently dismissed. In April 2024, he was informed that he had been referred both to the safeguarding board and to the Metropolitan Police. The police later dropped their investigation. Safeguarding boards, introduced in 2004 following the murders of schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, are designed to protect children from risks posed by adults working with them.
The teacher, who is now pursuing legal action against the local authority with support from the Free Speech Union, was issued with a ban after the safeguarding officer concluded he had caused emotional harm by making comments deemed hurtful about Islam. He has since overturned the ban on appeal and is believed to be working part-time at another school outside London. Lord Young, director of the Free Speech Union, said: “This teacher lost his job and came close to being permanently barred from the profession simply for pointing out to a group of Muslim pupils that England’s national religion is Anglicanism.
“It is a sad state of affairs when a teacher can be deemed a safeguarding threat for expressing something that is undeniably factual. Had he incorrectly claimed that Islam was England’s official religion, I doubt he would have faced any consequences.”
Three pupils submitted written complaints, which were reviewed by nine individuals, including the local safeguarding officer, a detective sergeant, two social workers, an HR adviser and the headteacher. The children said they felt frightened and upset, alleging that the teacher had raised his voice.
He was dismissed in February after nearly three years at the school. He maintains that his dismissal for gross misconduct was unjust and notes that a teaching assistant present during the lesson reported no concerns about his explanation of Britain’s Christian heritage.
The Free Speech Union has compiled more than a dozen cases in which it claims adults working with children were referred to safeguarding panels for expressing views deemed Right-wing. Earlier this week, The Telegraph reported that Jamie Michael, a Royal Marine veteran of the 2003 Iraq invasion, had been banned from coaching youth football in the Rhondda Valley after an online post made following the murders of three children in Southport in the summer of 2024.
Mr Michael, aged 47, was charged with inciting racial hatred but was acquitted by a jury in just 17 minutes. Despite his acquittal, the local safeguarding board barred him from working with children. He is now suing the board and the Football Association of Wales for £25,000 in damages.
