Rajan Patel, News Editor

27th November 2007

Historian David Irving and BNP leader Nick Griffin, both prominent Holocaust deniers, were scheduled to speak at the Oxford Union last night amidst allegations that the Union was "promoting anti-Semitism".

The event has been plagued by controversy, with the Oxford Union – the debating society of Oxford University – attracting sustained criticism for its decision to give the controversial pair a platform.
Irving was imprisoned for three years after pleading guilty to Holocaust denial in Austria, whilst Griffin was convicted in 1998 of incitement to racial hatred for material relating to Holocaust denial. The BNP has always insisted that it is not a racist organisation, but that it occupies a position on the extreme right of the British political spectrum.

Last Friday, members of the Oxford Union voted by a margin of two to one in favour of permitting Irving and Griffin to address students at a 'Free Speech Forum'. The president of the Oxford Union, Luke Tryl, claimed that the pair had been invited to discuss "the limits of free speech" and were not being offered an open platform to extol their views.

Tryl said that "pushing the views of these people underground achieves nothing" and argued that denying Irving and Griffin the chance to speak would make them "free speech martyrs".

He added, "I think it's patronising to suggest that Oxford students aren't intelligent enough to debate with these people and I do have great faith in the ability of Oxford students to challenge them."

Peter Barton, vice president of the LSE Students' Union (LSESU) Debate Society, said, "To stop them speaking on the limits of freedom of speech ironically pre-empts the conclusion of debate."

A spokesperson for the LSESU Jewish Society commented, "It is disappointing to note that such a prestigious establishment has given a platform to falsifiers of history, bigots and those who represent the thick side of the wedge of racism in Britain. In placing itself outside of the NUS 'no platform to racists' policy, Oxford Union is bestowing credability and respectability upon persons who deserve none."

However, the decision met with a wave of protest from prominent figures and Oxford students.

Jeremy Seeff, an Oxford law student and member of the Oxford Jewish Society, said: "Would you invite the paedophile to discuss the limits of the law on child abuse? Would you invite the man insulting your mother into your living room? Regardless of what happens in the chamber on the 26th, the world will see that the august Oxford Union has played host to these men and that will carry great weight with their neo-Nazi supporters."

Trevor Phillips, the head of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, suggested that the Oxford Union was using freedom of speech "as a silly parlour game" and called on the Union to "think again".

He added, "If this goes ahead I hope the Oxford students will turn their backs on this shabby exhibition."

A Conservative MP resigned from the Oxford Union on Sunday in protest at its decision. In his resignation letter to the Union's committee, Julian Lewis, the shadow defence secretary, said: "Nothing which happens in Monday's debate can possibly offset the boost you are giving to a couple of scoundrels who can put up with anything except being ignored.

"They have been exposed and discredited time and again by people vastly more qualified than you in arenas hugely more suited to the task than an undergraduate talking-shop, however venerable."
Oxford students participated in a rally last Wednesday to demonstrate their opposition to the Union’s decision and a large number have faced intimidation from far-right groups.

Duncan Money, a second-year undergraduate from Balliol College, told the Oxford student newspaper Cherwell that he had received "hundreds of threats from members of the BNP and far right groups" after criticising the extreme right on his blog.

The extreme right had called for a campaign to target students opposed to Griffin's appearance and the police expected a large extremist presence at the event