The Claimant had been engaged through an employment agency to deliver consultancy services to the Trust for just under three months. He was notified by the employment agency that his assignment had been terminated because it had come to light that he had an unspent conviction which he had failed to declare. The Claimant believed that the real rationale for his termination was his political affiliation - that he had stood for political office between 2004 and 2016 for the political party, the English Democrats – and therefore his dismissal was due to his philosophical belief: what he described as “English Nationalism”. The Claimant alleged that this was discrimination contrary to the EqA. The only question to be determined at the ET was whether the Claimant's anti-Islamic views were incompatible with the fundamental rights guaranteed under Articles 2, 5 and 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights, such that they would prevent the claimant’s belief in English nationalism from being a protected characteristic. The ET held that the Claimant's anti-Islamic views did not satisfy the fifth Grainger criterion, such that they prevented the Claimant’s belief in English nationalism from being a protected characteristic. The Claimant appealed.

The EAT dismissed the appeal. The Claimant's views were not capable of protection under the European Convention of Human Rights as they would offend Article 17. The Claimant was not prevented from holding his views, but he was outside of the right to complain that he had been discriminated against in relation to those beliefs in the circumstances covered by the EqA.