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Swayne O’Pie wants Britain to have a minister for men.

The Gloucestershire-based father-of-three says he is not anti-women but believes men and boys are not being treated equally or given the same respect as the fairer sex.

So he has founded The Society to Establish a Minister for Men and begun holding monthly meetings for its Bath branch.

Keen to expand his project, he tried to set up a branch in Cheltenham - not a million miles away from his home in Wotton-under-Edge - but then, he says, the problems began.

Finding a venue for the meeting was simple enough, with The Swan in High Street, Cheltenham, identified and a room there booked.

But after Mr O’Pie and a colleague advertised the meeting by displaying posters and handing out flyers, they experienced difficulties.

He said a small number of young women complained to the pub’s landlord about the meeting.

The landlord agreed, he said, and told him he would not be able to use the pub after all.

Mr O’Pie said: “I find it astonishing that in an era of ‘equality’ and ‘democracy’, it is acceptable to close down freedom of speech and ban an innocuous meeting simply because you do not agree with its content.

“Everyone with whom I have spoken on this matter finds it difficult to believe, that a small group of young women can possess so much power and influence on what can and cannot be talked about, even in private. This would have been a quiet, private meeting.

“To be honest, I thought Cheltenham, of all cities and towns, would have been the very last place to manifest such prejudice and I dare say to exhibit such totalitarian behaviour.”

Mr O’Pie, who lives with his female partner, said he wanted to explore the reasons why the inequalities experienced by men and boys had not been addressed in the UK’s schools, universities, the media and the political system.

He added: “My ultimate aim is to establish a Minister for Men as there has been a Minister for Women since 1997.

Insisting that he just wanted equal rights for males and females, the author of the Why Britain Hates Men book said his work was academic and “driven by a need for genuine fairness and democracy for young men and boys as well as for women and girls”.

A spokeswoman for The Swan said the booking for the meeting was made without Mr O’Pie explaining to staff what it was about.

She said that when they discovered what it involved and that it might be controversial, they decided to withdraw the offer of hosting the event.

“We just thought it would be best to avoid. We had some quite angry feedback from people.

“It was unfortunate we hadn’t known what it was going to be about before he made the booking,” she said.

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