Waitrose wine specialist Ben Woods sacked by 'woke' John Lewis bosses over his online posts and 'free speech'

Ben Woods, 41, who works as a wine specialist at the supermarket off King’s Road, said he has been sacked by Waitrose over about 30 posts on X, that were flagged by his employer. He said these tweets included a Daily Telegraph cartoon he posted in which a teacher at parent’s evening tells a student’s parents that their son is falling behind in sex education as “he could only name 47 of the 100 different genders”.

Another post included a poll in which he asked his followers “If a referendum was held tomorrow, would you vote to close the borders?”. He previously said that he was the subject of an internal investigation and disciplinary process.

He set up a fundraiser on the website Crowd Justice, where he is seeking £15,000 to cover legal fees, and described himself as a “passionate patriot, royalist and advocate for conservative values”. He said that in the case that he loses his job, the funds will be used to challenge the decision on the grounds of unfair dismissal, citing discrimination of his “protected beliefs.” He has argued that his posts are “expression” of his values.

Mr Woods has argued that his X account is unrelated to his work. On Monday 24 March he updated those who have been following his case that he has now been sacked by Waitrose.

He posted on X: “Today I was SACKED by John Lewis because of my personal thoughts and opinions. If employers have the right to do this to YOU they will and force their woke ideology on all of us. Please support me if you can.

“I have been sacked for believing in what most of the country thinks. I have given John Lewis my life and now they have thrown me to the wolves of Wokeism. They now want to silence me because of the woke management.“

Mr Woods has garnered a lot of support. One user wrote: “Never going to buy from John Lewis again”. Another said: “I am so sorry Ben. Take them to the cleaners. Your views are none of their business.”

However, not all were so supportive. One user posted: “Or you could just abide by the terms of your employment?“. Another said: “You publicly displayed the fact you were a Waitrose employee on a profile that you also published your political opinions, you can’t do that. It’s unfortunate, but you breached your contract. I feel for you, but you have a sock puppet account for a reason.“