One would be forgiven for thinking that a liberal party should be a bastion of free speech, open to people from all political backgrounds. Sadly, this is not the case; it is plainly obvious that Flat Earther Lib Dems are being silenced.

We, the Lib Dem Flat Earth Society, are a group of  Liberal Democrat members seeking to promote free speech, evidence-based policy, skepticism and respectful debate surrounding the shape of Planet Earth.

We are firm believers in free speech. As all true liberals know, free speech means that Flat Earther members’ concerns must be listened to, that our motions must be accepted at conference (regardless of the overwhelming wishes of our round-earth cultist membership), and that our elected Lib Dem representatives must take seriously everything we say. These inalienable rights are being denied to us.

Our cause is not ‘offensive’, ‘discriminatory’ or ‘completely insane’ as our round-earth cultist opponents claim. The Lib Dem Flat Earth Society merely seeks to question the current ideology-driven (un)scientific ‘consensus’ around the shape of the earth. And what are these lines of questioning met with? Rage, ridicule and outright censorship. 

This is not the way a so-called ‘liberal’ party should treat people with serious and valid concerns about the shape of the planet. The preamble of our party’s constitution declares that we seek to build a society in which “no-one is enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity”; yet our members are expected time and time again to conform with nonsensical ideological claims about the shape of the Earth.

Our question is simple: is it really so outlandish to believe that shady, powerful figures in the British ‘space’ industry have sought to mislead ordinary people like me and you? Do you side with the wealthy, unspecified figures who censor anyone who dares question whether the earth is a sphere (why, then, do we not fall off?), or do you side with us ordinary men and women who simply seek to promote healthy debate on the topic? Many of these anti-disc diehards even deny the evidence that we can plainly see with our very own eyes: that the sky is a glass dome and the stars are painted onto it.

Why is the horizon always at eye level? Why can I not see the curvature of the earth, even when I am flying to Flat Earth conventions funded by ordinary, concerned citizens? Why is my OS map flat? If the earth is “rotating”, as the round-earth conspiracy theorists would have you believe, then why can’t I feel it moving? 

These are all difficult questions that round-earthist bullies like Mark Pack and Ed Davey flat-out (see what I did there) refuse to answer. Luckily for us, bastions of liberalism such as The Daily Express and The Telegraph are willing to support us by studiously documenting every time a Flat Earther has been personally slighted by the party.

Many of our flat earther colleagues will know all too well the nasty authoritarianism used to silence dissenting voices. Flat Earther candidates being deselected; party higher-ups speaking out against us at conference; our very own MPs spreading round-earthist conspiracy theories at the behest of shady Globe-ist organisations and wealthy vested interests (globe salesmen, Big Science, Google Earth, the Illuminati, NASA, lizardmen from outer space). The round-earth radicals screeching at us on X would not exist were it not for these shady organisations.

It is truly a sorry state of affairs when our supporters are being laughed out of local party AGMs for suggesting ideas that would have been commonplace a mere 500 years ago. Our fellow Globe-Critical members know all too well the nasty intolerance against our views, promoted by the party leadership, that leads to incidents like this. This vile ideological discrimination is unacceptable. The Lib Dems should be a party for everyone. Everyone should feel welcome in the Lib Dems. No matter their views, no matter if they hold irreconcilable ideological differences with our party, no matter if they are deeply anti-liberal. It would simply be illiberal for the party to exclude anyone (except, of course, for the round-earth activists).

Most scandalous of all, our cause was denied a stall at Lib Dem Conference this September. After denying the Lib Dem Flat Earth Society a stall this year at conference (on a trivial technicality of “not being able to afford it”), senior Lib Dems could nonetheless have made the positive, liberal case for platforming members advocating for Globe-Critical ideas. Instead, they refused to endorse our ideas or recognise just how serious we are. 

As I am typing this, our organisation’s wealthy supporters are working on hiring leagues of expensive lawyers to cost the party millions of pounds in frivolous lawsuits. Let’s make this clear: the lawyers we hire are virtuous freedom-fighters who want nothing but to uphold the truth and rule of law; our opponents’ activist lawyers are globe-ist zealot cultists.

Nothing brings us more pleasure than when the party we claim to support is either forced to cough up millions in damages, or forced to acquiesce to our every demand to avoid lawsuits. Lawfare is truth. Lawfare is free speech. Lawfare is freedom. Lawfare is liberal.

Every belief must be respected. Every belief must be debated. Every belief must be protected – except for those who disagree with us.

If you agree with us, please sign up to our mailing list and read our manifesto. Mark Pack and Ed Davey MUST listen to our entirely serious flat-earth views.

* The Lib Dem Flat Earth Society is a home for the tiny number of "Globe Critical" Lib Dems