Denzil Lush recalls his approach to a patient with extreme far right views

The statement, “I disapprove of what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it”, is usually attributed to the French philosopher Voltaire, though it first appeared in a biography, The Friends Of Voltaire, published in 1906. Nonetheless, it is an elegant summary of his views on tolerance – which I applied in the following case.

Edward James Alderson (Eddie) was born in Keighley, Yorkshire in 1944. He was a welder and spent most of his career in Bexleyheath, Kent. In 1998, he suffered catastrophic brain damage when he fell from a roof. Two years later he returned permanently to Yorkshire and the Court of Protection appointed the chief executive of Bradford Metropolitan Borough Council to be his receiver. In 1995, Eddie was awarded personal injury compensation of £380,000. Politically, he was on the far right. He collected books about the Third Reich and supported David Irving’s stance on holocaust denial. In 1999, he expressed a wish to donate £250 to the British National Party (BNP) which led to him receiving a letter from his receiver.

The letter said: “I believe that you are a member of the British National Party and were so before the accident. I am also told that you would like to show some support for them. The holding of any extremist, nationalist, or racist views is fundamentally opposed to the principles of this council and its staff. I am therefore torn between assisting you, as is my duty as your receiver, and not wanting to be seen in any way as assisting an organisation of which neither I or my employer can approve... I will send you the sum of £250. This will be a oneoff and you can spend it as you like. I do not need to know (and I do not want to know) how this money is spent.” I asked Eddie’s caseworker to tell the receiver that, notwithstanding the council’s commendable principles, it was the court’s duty – and his duty as Eddie’s receiver – to do whatever is “necessary or expedient for the benefit of the patient” and to make “provision for purposes for which he might be expected to provide if he were not mentally disordered” (section 95(1) of the Mental Health Act 1983). Nowadays, using the terminology of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2006, we would describe it as a duty “to respect the rights, will and preferences of the person with a disability”.

Eddie duly gave the £250 to the BNP. Shortly afterwards, he consulted a firm of solicitors about drawing up a will. The solicitors obtained medical evidence confirming that he had testamentary capacity and I authorised them to go ahead and take his instructions. He executed a will on 16 August 1999, leaving a legacy to the BNP of “such sum as represents the inheritance tax threshold at the date of my death less the value of the preceding bequests”. One of those bequests was a legacy of £1,000 to the David Irving fighting fund which was set up following his disastrous libel suit against Penguin Books in 1996. Eddie died on 31 January 2010 aged 65, leaving a gross estate of £365,000.

The legacy to the BNP amounted to just over £100,000 and was used as a war chest for its campaign in the general election on 6 May 2010. It fielded 338 candidates and, although it won no seats, it received 1.9 per cent of the total vote and managed to save 73 deposits – its best performance ever in a general election. 

Denzil Lush is a retired senior judge at the Court of Protection