King's College London ‘Tory Society’ debate reinstatement of the British empire

The King's College London Conservative association has faced severe backlash after hosting a debate motion which debates the reinstatement of the British Empire. The society held the debate as part of their regular Port and Policy event. Days prior, the event was posted on their Instagram. 

They declared the debate’s motions would be: 

1. THW [this house would] scrap party members right to elect their leader
2. THW Restore the British Empire. 

People voiced their opposition and called the debate ‘vile’ and ‘shameful’. Further criticism was launched at the society as the debate was operating “strictly off the record” which made many question the content of the debate. The most prominent accusation was the glorification of genocide due to the actions of the British empire. 

In response to this post, Liberate KCL, a society which aims to decolonize and end the attainment gap, stated that they would be holding an “emergency demo” which protests the event. The group said they had written to union staff urging the event to be cancelled as it was inherently racist, however, it was rejected on the grounds of free speech.

While this led to the event being moved to University College London, there was still backlash from the UCL conservative society who stated they were “firmly in opposition to the second motion”. The UCL conservative society pressed for the motion to be dropped however it was reinstated prompting a walkout from members of UCL, LSE and UOW.