Notice however that their arguments are pragmatic rather than principled:

"Democrats will use this against us when they come to power again," not "It's morally wrong to censor the speech of your political opponents."

I haven’t found a morally-intact politician in many years. If pragmatism gets us to the right place, I think it’s good

I wonder if they're just saying that not to annoy the king though? Like maybe they are genuinely concerned and want to put a spin on it to keep the boy king happy?