Pro-Palestinian protesters have used “mob-rule tactics” to exercise a heckler’s veto and block former Home Secretary Suella Braverman from speaking to the Cambridge University Conservative Association (CUCA) about her life and career in politics (GB News, Telegraph, Varsity).
Cambridge for Palestine, a “student-led coalition standing against Cambridge University’s complicity in apartheid and genocide”, called on supporters to “no platform” the “far Right”, claiming her “hyper-authoritarian populist policies on migration, policing and protest” represented “everything we stand against”.
“She’s showing up to a platform created by CUCA and we’ll embarrass her with numbers,” the group posted on social media. “Bring your flags, your friends and your anti-fascist energy.”
Mrs Braverman accused the “radical, militant” group of forcing CUCA to call off the event through “threats, intimidation, and mob-rule tactics”.
CUCA initially explored the possibility of paying for their own security, but at a cost of about £1,500 its officers decided it was too expensive. Having taking security advice, the group decided they could not guarantee Ms Braverman’s safety, or that of her guests and would have to postpone it.
FSU General Secretary Toby Young has now reached out to Ms Braverman and CUCA offering to pay the security costs to allow the event to go ahead at a later date.
Ms Braverman’s no-platforming follows in the wake of the Labour Government’s decision to stop commencement of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act – a vital piece of legislation designed to tackle cancel culture in English universities.
The Act would have imposed a legal duty on universities in England to uphold and promote free speech and extended that duty to student unions.
It would have also created more robust protections for visiting speakers, obliging universities to pay for security costs if student activists threatened disruption.
Having received cross-party support during the last Parliament, the Act’s most important clauses were due to come into force on 1st August.
However, because Rishi Sunak called an election before the Act had been fully implemented, Bridget Phillipson, the new Education Secretary, seized the chance to derail it. (Writing for the Spectator, David Abulafia, an Emeritus Professor at Cambridge, dissects the absurdity of Phillipson’s claim that she torpedoed the legislation to protect Jewish students.)
The no-platforming of Ms Braverman demonstrates exactly why the FSU has launched proceedings against the Government over its decision to defy the will of Parliament and stop commencement of the Act.
You can find out more and show your support for our legal fight to save the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act here.
