A teacher at an English school has been accused of posing a risk to children and referencing the government’s counter-terrorism plans after showing a video of Donald Trump to his US politics class.
The teacher, who is in his 50s, told The Telegraph he was “likened to a terrorist” after showing videos, including one from Trump’s inauguration, to A-level students.
Henley College, a sixth-form school with more than 2,000 pupils in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, reported the politics lecturer to the local child protection agency, which concluded that referring him to the government’s counter-terrorism program Prevent was a “priority”.
Donald Trump’s inauguration was featured in one of the videos the teacher showed the class – Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
The teacher is accused of causing “emotional harm” to A-level students aged 17 and 18. In a document seen by The Telegraph, local officials responsible for child protection said showing the videos could constitute a “hate crime”.
The extraordinary allegations prompted the teacher, who first qualified in the mid-1990s, to start a grievance process against the college. In a negotiated settlement, he was awarded £2,000 in compensation after being forced to resign from his £44,000-a-year position.
His case is the latest reported by The Telegraph in which child protection laws appear to be used to try to ban adults with so-called right-wing views from working with children.
The Free Speech Alliance believes that laws designed to protect children from murderers and rapists are wrongly used against adults with inappropriate views. The report said the teacher’s case was a clear example of child protection protocols “weaponized to silence someone for political reasons”.
The teacher, who asked not to be named, said: “They compared me to a terrorist. It was completely shocking. It was dystopian, like something out of a George Orwell novel.”
Documents seen by The Daily Telegraph show how Henley College began an investigation in January 2025 after two of the lecturer’s students made complaints. He was accused of “biased” and “off-topic” teaching.
The college said in an official email on January 28 that he was accused of “showing students videos of Donald Trump, his campaign, propaganda and other content that had nothing to do with what was being taught.”
The college later claimed one of the videos “made a student feel extremely uncomfortable.”
The teacher said: “It was horrible and unbelievable. We were discussing the US election and Trump had just won and I showed several videos from the Trump campaign. The next thing I knew, I was accused of bias. One of the students said they had an emotional breakdown and claimed to have nightmares.”
Asked whether he was a far-right extremist, the devout Catholic teacher admitted he was a Republican supporter but insisted his views were mainstream, saying: “I’m not an extremist.”
He accused the academy of “complete left-wing bias,” adding: “They will not tolerate anything about Donald Trump.”
Donald Trump at the inauguration. Teacher says college ‘won’t tolerate anything about Donald Trump’ – Greg Nash/Getty Images
The college refers the case to the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO), who investigates safety concerns.
LADO’s May 22 report said the teacher’s views “could be considered radical” and that Henley College “should complete a prevention referral.”
The statement also read: “There are concerns that this behavior may cause harm to children, that such views may constitute a criminal offense, constitute a hate crime and that the views he promotes may become radical.”
Prevention is the government’s strategy to try to deal with terrorism by intervening where concerns about radicalization arise in schools and elsewhere.
Students claim teaching was ‘biased and off-topic’
The teacher said: “I feel completely insulted by the suggestion that children are a danger. It’s affected my mental health. I’ve had to see a counselor. It’s disrupted my physical health. It’s absolutely shocking. It’s really overwhelmed me.”
He received a formal letter in April telling him he had been accused of misconduct. The offense he was charged with was “causing emotional harm” to students as a result of you sharing inappropriate content (particularly videos) with them and a lack of balance in expressing political views that emphasized right-wing, potentially extremist views.
The letter cited student accusations that “your teaching is biased and off-topic to the point of distracting from what students should be learning.”
They include a music video called “Daddy’s Home” by Roseanne Barr, an American comedian and Trump supporter, and Tom MacDonald, a Canadian performer known as the “Maga Rapper.” The video has 7.8 million views on YouTube and was recommended by one of the teacher’s students.
Teachers remain baffled that the video, which features cheering Maga supporters in the background, could cause students to “lose their emotions”.
Scenes from the “Daddy’s Home” video made by Roseanne Barr and the Canadian rapper as a tribute to Mr Trump and played by the teacher to the class – YouTube
Youtube
He said he was convinced he was targeted by a group of students after he started taking over a politics class in September 2024. The previous year he taught business studies at the college and was praised for his work, but he was turned to politics to help address staff shortages.
The teacher, who is currently working as a substitute while a full-time teacher is being sought, has extensive family ties to the United States but insists his Republican views are not extreme, noting that Trump convincingly won the Electoral College and popular vote.
He was teaching a course on politics and advocacy to students and said he also showed them videos of Kamala Harris. He had aired about five Trump-related videos before filing the complaint.
In April 2025, he wrote to U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance (JD Vance, complained that his case was “an egregious example of the imposition of a communist-style suppression of opinion and speech, the opposite of what is imposed by the intolerant far left,” adding: “My career is in jeopardy because of this egregious abuse by these blatantly unilateral individuals with a hatred for the American Republican Party and whose agenda is to silence anyone who disagrees or has different views and opinions.” He did not know if Mr. Vance had received the letter.
‘Being bullied and harassed’
He contacted the Free Speech Union (FSU) for help refuting the allegations of “inappropriate conduct” and the ongoing disciplinary investigation. Eventually he received a written warning
In its defence, the FSU, which provides legal aid to members, claimed he was the victim of “bullying and harassment” and was also accused of showing “genocide videos” to children. It noted that the video was part of a set of teaching materials provided by the Holocaust Education Trust.
Lord Young, FSU director and fellow Conservative, said: “The United States is our closest ally and Donald Trump is America’s democratically elected leader. Showing one of his campaign ads to politics students, especially alongside one of Kamala Harris’s, does not make you a risk to children.”
“There is a clear case of the backstop being weaponized for political reasons to silence someone’s voice.”
Henley College, which attracts students from Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire, said: “Henry College does not comment on individual allegations or ongoing investigations.
“We are committed to the welfare of all pupils and staff and following statutory safeguarding procedures in line with Keeping Children in Education Safe 2025.
“In line with statutory guidance, we will handle the allegation carefully and provide appropriate support to all involved.”