An award-winning charity boss who was sacked for criticising the Left-wing agenda of Black Lives Matter has today been reinstated by a new board of trustees.
Nick Buckley was last month dismissed by the trustees of Mancunian Way, a ground-breaking charity he founded nine years ago, after an online mob accused him of ‘inappropriate’ and ‘insensitive’ views and demanded his removal.
He described BLM’s policies as ‘neo-Marxist’ and said they risked dividing communities in a blog published in June 6 after protests erupted in the UK following the killing of black American George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Campaigners branded his post racist and set up an online petition demanding he be removed. Within a week, Mr Buckley was sacked by the trustees.
Mr Buckley was supported by the Free Speech Union, which got behind a counter-petition and found him top lawyer Geoffrey Davies.
In tweets published this morning Mancunian Way, which helps young people in Manchester avoid a life of crime, said the trustees have resigned and a new board has asked the 52-year-old to return to his former role.
Nick Buckley was last month dismissed by the trustees of Mancunian Way, a ground-breaking charity he founded nine years ago, after an online mob accused him of ‘inappropriate’ and ‘insensitive’ views and demanded his removal. He described BLM’s policies as ‘neo-Marxist’ and said they risked dividing communities in a blog published in June 6 after protests erupted in the UK following the death of black American George Floyd in Minneapolis
In tweets published this morning the charity Mancunian Way said the trustees have resigned and a new board has asked the 52-year-old to return to his former role
The outgoing board denied removing Mr Buckley because of his social media posts or because of the online petition, and said he had been sacked in order to ‘protect the charity’s reputation following legal advice and Charity Commission guidance’.
Speaking to The Critic magazine, Mr Buckley said: ‘It has been a difficult five weeks, but common sense prevailed in the end.
‘We have rights in the UK that our forefathers fought for, we cannot allow them to be eroded for the sake of a quiet life.
‘I would urge everyone to stand up for their rights.’
He added: ‘The FSU is a much-needed organisation and without it I would have not stood a chance of righting an obvious wrong.’
Toby Young, general-secretary of the FSU, told Guido Fawkes: ‘I’m delighted Nick has been reappointed to the charity that he founded and which has done so much to help disadvantaged young people in Manchester.
‘No one should lose their livelihood at the behest of a Left-wing outrage mob.
‘Nick’s sacking was an example of cancel culture at its worst and I’m pleased that the FSU and Geoffrey Davies have been able to get him his job back.’
Mr Buckley wrote his blog after protests organised by BLM UK following the killing of black man George Floyd by police in the US. Writing on Medium.com on June 6 Mr Buckley said its slogan ‘is far too simple but is perfect for our modern age of social media and the willingness of social justice warriors to take up another cause’ (pictured, demonstrators in London, July 10)
The response was immediate and furious. Writing on Mr Buckley’s LinkedIn page, Reece Williams, a poet who works for a mental health charity in Manchester, said: ‘Please know that we will be doing everything in our power to have you removed from your position. Expect us.’ A few days later, an online petition calling for Mr Buckley’s removal was posted on Change.org by Karlet Manning (pictured, BLM protest in London, June 3)
A statement from Mancunian Way published on Twitter said: ‘Mancunian Way, its trustees and Mr Buckley have confirmed a mutually acceptable statement to avoid litigation. The relationship between the parties irretrievably broke down following Mr Buckley’s recent public and private statements.
‘All trustees have made the decision to step down. A new board of trustees have been appointed and they have chosen to ask Mr Buckley’s company, BNB services Ltd, to resume the provision of its support services’.
Mr Buckley worked for Manchester City Council for seven years before setting up Mancunian Way in 2011, which has helped thousands of BAME youngsters to secure jobs and spot the signs they are being groomed by criminal gangs.
He previously told The Mail on Sunday that the charity’s trustees had been put in a ‘terrible situation’ by the pressure on social media to axe him.
‘That’s why the mob wins. They make people take a step backwards and once you take one step backwards, they know you’ll take another,’ he said.
Mr Buckley wrote his blog after protests organised by BLM UK following the killing of George Floyd by police in the US.
Writing on Medium.com on June 6 – the day protesters clashed with mounted police in London – Mr Buckley said its slogan ‘is far too simple but is perfect for our modern age of social media and the willingness of social justice warriors to take up another cause.’
He wrote: ‘What is happening in the UK over the last few days has very little to do with the horrendous incident in the USA.
‘It is better described as part ‘new fashion craze’ and part ‘an opportunity for anarchy. Do you know who Black Lives Matter are? Do you know what this self-proscribed political movement wants? According to their website, they want to end white supremacy, disrupt the Western prescribed nuclear family and dismantle the patriarchal practice. These are fancy words, what do they mean?
‘They are exactly what post-modern, neo-Marxists use when they call for the destruction of Western democracy and our way of life.’
Referring to Floyd’s criminal convictions, he questioned why the demonstrations were focused on the ‘unlawful death of a career criminal’ in the US rather than UK issues including knife crime, female genital mutilation, honour killings and a lack of house-building.
The response was immediate and furious. Writing on Mr Buckley’s LinkedIn page, Reece Williams, a poet who works for a mental health charity in Manchester, said: ‘Please know that we will be doing everything in our power to have you removed from your position. Expect us.’
A few days later, an online petition calling for Mr Buckley’s removal was posted on Change.org by Karlet Manning, who also works for a mental health charity.
The petition claimed his views ‘undermine the Black Lives Matter movement whilst working in a diverse community’ and were ‘inappropriate, insensitive and have since been deleted’.
On June 13, the row exploded on Twitter when the petition and Mr Buckley’s comments began to be tweeted by Left-wing campaigners and anonymous accounts. Two days later, Mr Buckley received an email from the charity’s trustees informing him their relationship with him was ‘terminated’. A red flag and the word ‘victory’ was later posted on the Change.org petition page.
Mr Buckley said he stands by what he wrote, although he accepts he could have better conveyed some of his arguments. He said he had declined an offer from his trustees to issue an apology for the blog.
‘That’s the coward’s way and I’m not a coward,’ he said. ‘If I had the guts to say what I said, then I need the guts to stand up and continue to say what I said.’
He holds no ill-feeling towards the trustees. ‘They are lovely people but they weren’t ready for a fight. They found themselves in a terrible situation not of their making – pressure online. Did I think it was controversial?
‘Well, I knew it was going to upset some people because everything you put on social media upsets somebody. But it is not racist. I am not a racist.’