The tweets and memes Waitrose is using to threaten one of its own employees with the sack can be revealed for the first time today.
Wine specialist Ben Woods, 41, has worked at the Henley branch of Waitrose in Oxfordshire for 25 years – since he was just 15 years old.
But ‘woke’ bosses at the upmarket store have accused Woods of misconduct, listing 27 pages of tweets in its investigation into Woods.
Today, has published the exact tweets that could see Woods sacked.
His critics have highlighted his posts in support of Tommy Robinson and Enoch Powell as evidence of ‘white supremacy’ and being a ‘Nazi’.
However, the posh supermarket listed no tweets that mentioned Robinson or Powell, instead opting for posts including a cartoon mocking trans ideology and a meme likening a black umbrella to Shamima Begum.
Woods previously told that Waitrose had ‘destroyed’ his life and made him suicidal by suspending him from the job he loved.
He said: ‘I’ve given them my life. Waitrose has been treating me like a criminal. I’m a Conservative. That’s not illegal.’
Scroll down to see the ‘offensive’ tweets Waitrose listed as part of its investigation into Ben Woods that could see him sacked…
understands Waitrose believes it has fair and detailed people policies to safeguard its employees’ welfare.
In a meeting on Monday, Waitrose chiefs said they needed more time to determine whether they would sack Woods.
Now he is in limbo as the supermarket’s bosses decide his fate.
Although Ben remains afraid of being sacked, he fears what his treatment could spell for other Waitrose employees.
‘Does that mean anyone who works for Waitrose can’t have an opinion? They’re not allowed to vote?
‘I’m very passionate about politics and my country. I have an opinion – my personal account has nothing to do with Waitrose. All views are my own.
‘I have to fight back and protect my name and image.
‘It’s been really hard. It’s very overwhelming. I’ve been there 25 years. It’s destroyed my life.’
In what may come as a surprise to many, Waitrose did not use any tweets mentioning either Tommy Robinson or Enoch Powell.
Social media users attacking Woods have said his support for both men was an issue.
In posts seen by , Woods said that he believed former MP and classical scholar Powell had ‘hindsight and vision decades ahead of his time’ and was ‘proven right’ despite being ‘villainized’ when he was alive.
Powell has long been a controversial figure in British political history. He is best remembered for ‘rivers of blood’ speech about how immigration could change the national identity of Britain.
Powell’s 25-minute speech contained high rhetoric, vivid language and was peppered with phrases that even in 1968 would have been offensive to many people.
He warned, in the starkest possible terms, that unless immigration was stopped – and immigrants already in the UK were given financial incentives to return home – there would be racial strife of a seriousness never before seen in Britain.
He never actually uttered the phrase ‘rivers of blood,’ instead referring to a classical line from Virgil Aeneid.
He said: ‘I am filled with foreboding; like the Roman, I seem to see ”the River Tiber foaming with much blood.”’
Powell added: ‘We are seeing the growth of positive forces acting against integration, of vested interests in the preservation and sharpening of racial and religious differences, with a view to the exercise of actual domination, first over fellow-immigrants and then over the rest of the population.’
Far-right thug Tommy Robinson’s real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon.
He was born in Luton and is the son of an Irish immigrant mother and and an English father.
He later founded the Islamophobic English Defence League (EDL) and has been jailed multiple times.
He allegedly changed his name to distance himself from his violent behaviour, his membership of the fascist British National Party (BNP) and his Irish roots.
The moniker ‘Tommy Robinson’ was previously used by the leader of a group of violent Luton football hooligans before Yaxley-Lennon adopted it.
However, as well as supporting Powell, Woods has also expressed support for right-wing thug and convict Tommy Robinson, 41, the founder of the far-right and Islamaphobic English Defence League.
Robinson’s real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon and he is the son of an Irish immigrant.
However, despite his immigrant roots and years of lawbreaking, the father-of-three has remained the darling of far-right thugs hellbent on bringing racism and violence to the streets, as seen in the sickening riots last summer.
Woods has asked his thousands of followers whether they support Robinson, but also wrongly stated Yaxley-Lennon was jailed for telling the truth. In fact he was last jailed for repeating false allegations about a Syrian refugee.
Woods also suggested Robinson should receive a knighthood and should be freed from prison.
People opposing Woods on social media have suggested posts such as these are the reasons Waitrose is right in suspending him.
However, Waitrose sent Woods a file with 27 pages of his ‘offensive’ tweets and none mention Robinson or Powell.
One was a tweet joking that a horse standing beside an obese woman should ‘run away as fast as you can old boy’.
Another said a book entitled ‘In My Daddy’s Belly’ with an image of a pregnant man was ‘spreading misinformation’.
A third joked a black umbrella spotted over a fence allegedly resembled Shamima Begum.
In more of his tweets, Ben called OnlyFans model Lily Phillips a ‘pathetic narcissist with low self esteem and a greedy appetite for fame and money’ and asked if burqas and hijabs should be banned in the UK.
A poll he made asking if the UK should close its borders received more than 4,000 votes, with 98.3 per cent voting yes.
The wine specialist doesn’t believe any of his tweets were racist and he was not a ‘white supremacist’ or a ‘Nazi’ as some social media users have called him.
The posts, which some people have found offensive, were seen as problematic by Waitrose.
Some people alleged they were discriminatory, racist, sexist, transphobic, classist and insulting.
Many of the posts were not opinions but questions asked by Ben. Of the ones that did have opinions, many people disagreed with him and many agreed.
Ben maintained he was simply a Conservative who enjoyed posting his views on social media.
Woods is now raising money to support his legal battle against Waitrose with the help of employment lawyer Elliot Hammer from legal firm Branch Austin McCormick.
Hammer, who is the head of employment and a partner at Branch Austin McCormick, said: ‘Employees like Ben have rights under the Equality Act and Article 10 to manifest lawful beliefs and engage in robust debate about political matters’.
Elon Musk’s team is rumoured to have reached out to Woods, although has not been able to verify this.
A Waitrose spokeswoman said: ‘We would never discuss individuals so we won’t be making any comment.’
Toby Young, the founder of the Free Speech Union, said: ‘John Lewis must ask itself if it would sack Ben for expressing robust left-wing views on social media. If the answer is ”no”, as I suspect it is, then it must conclude it would be wrong to sack him for expressing robust right-wing views.
‘Ben is a member of the Free Speech Union and if he is sacked we will help him in any way we can, up to and including suing John Lewis for unfair dismissal.
‘In that scenario, I would hope the Employment Tribunal would rule that Ben’s political beliefs are protected by the Equality Act, just as a belief in democratic socialism is. If that is the conclusion, sacking him for expressing those beliefs would be an act of unlawful discrimination.’
Enoch Powell became Tory MP in 1950 and was Shadow Defence Secretary at the time of his so-called ‘rivers of blood’ speech.
It was delivered ahead of a second reading of the Race Relations Act 1968.
Feeling distressed at what he felt was his party’s weak opposition to the Labour government’s immigration policy, he resolved to speak out, in the strongest possible terms, about what he felt had to be done.
Powell’s 25-minute speech contained high rhetoric, vivid language and was peppered with phrases that even in 1968 would have been offensive to many people
He warned, in the starkest possible terms, that unless immigration was stopped – and immigrants already in the UK were given financial incentives to return home – there would be racial strife of a seriousness never before seen in Britain.
He quoted the poet Virgil when he said: ‘Like the Roman, I seem to see the River Tiber foaming with much blood,’ from where the speech takes its ‘rivers of blood’ name.
Powell passed away in 1998.