How Oxford taught the no-platformers a lesson

Three weeks ago Amber Rudd travelled to Christ Church, Oxford, to speak to students about her experiences of being a female politician. She was there at the invitation of the UNWomen Oxford UK society, which had organised a number of events in the run-up to International Women’s Day on 8 March. But half an hour before she was due to appear, Rudd was told the event had been cancelled. Nothing to do with coronavirus, which had not yet swept the country. Rather, it was because a number of students had protested about the ex-Conservative MP being allowed to speak. Rudd had been no-platformed.

The society published an apology on its Facebook page, but not to the former home secretary. Instead, it apologised ‘for all and any hurt caused to our members and other wom*n [sic] and non-binary people in Oxford over this event’. According to the society’s now ex-president, Felicity Graham, she had to pull the plug after protesters drew attention to Rudd’s links to the Windrush scandal. ‘It was ultimately my decision but every single person on the committee was against and I was given no choice,’ she said. ‘It was the Oxford African and Caribbean society — who hold a lot of power — who really applied the pressure and forced us to cancel.’

Incredibly, this was the second such incident at Oxford in less than a week. Five days earlier, Selina Todd, Oxford professor of modern history, had been no-platformed by the organisers of an event at Exeter College to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first Women’s Liberation conference. She was given slightly more notice than Rudd — she was notified the night before — but the reason was the same. A group of activists had objected to Todd being allowed to speak and the organisers had capitulated.