An “emergency debate” due to be held by the King’s Union on whether October 7th protests should go ahead has come under fire from pro-Palestine groups, which criticised the Union’s links to a “free speech” organisation run by a Conservative peer.
The King’s Union, an on-campus debating society established in 2025, announced the “emergency debate” on 1 October after members decided on the motion wording of “This House would not march on October 7th”. It is scheduled for 6 October for students at King’s to “voice their opinion”, the group said.
King’s Stands for Justice (S4J) – a pro-Palestine activist group which Roar understands received advance notice of the debate’s wording – immediately released a sharp attack of the Union’s partnership with the Free Speech Union (FSU), founded and run by Conservative life peer Toby Young.
The Union recently announced that they would receive a grant of £1,500 a term and legal support through the FSU’s Ian Mctaggart programme. Grants are given to schemes that “foster open inquiry, independent thought and free expression”.
Funding allegations
S4J’s post claimed that the FSU is a “well-known fascist organisation” – though did not provide evidence for this claim – and alleged that Young had connections to sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell. Young maintains that his relationship with Maxwell was minimal.
Responding to the claims against the FSU, Young told Roar that it is a “mass membership organisation that stands up for the speech rights of its members, regardless of whether they’re left-wing or right-wing.”
The King’s Union told Roar:
“We are proud of our partnership with the Free Speech Union, helping us to run debates on topics that are important and, yes, sometimes controversial. Like us, the FSU defends the free speech of people of all political persuasions.
“The grant accordingly does not affect who speaks or what is said in our debates. These decisions lie exclusively with our committee and ever-growing membership base.”
S4J’s post continued to suggest that the King’s Union should be “deratified” by KCLSU given its funding by the FSU.
The debate was initially advertised as “for Union members only” but has since been opened to all King’s students after “additional security precautions”, the Union said in a follow-up statement. Recording has been explicitly banned.
“Tuesday’s emergency debate is now open to all at King’s, and will be held in Bush House Auditorium at 18:30,” the King’s Union told Roar, “We encourage anyone with a view on the motion to attend and partake in the political life of our campus.
“The debate will be secure and under the Chatham House rule. We welcome criticism of our decisions and partnerships, and encourage those who disagree with us to come and say so in the Auditorium.”
Diversity spending criticised
The FSU has also targeted King’s College London on multiple occasions, often accusing it of stifling freedom of expression. In 2026 it criticised the university’s spending on diversity programmes as compared to freedom of expression programmes, calling it a “striking revelation”.
Young told Roar that the FSU have “defended over 6,500 people in the last six years, including a Palestine Action protestor, a former Labour MP who was no-platformed by Royal Holloway University for supposedly being ‘anti-semitic’ and the publishers of left-wing magazines who’ve been debanked.
“Indeed, we would defend the authors [S4J] of the defamatory social media posts about the Free Speech Union and me if someone sues them for libel, provided they were members.
“Judging from their Instagram account, I would strongly advise them to join.”
KCL Stands for Justice did not respond to a request for comment.
- CORRECTION (5 October 2026): An earlier version of this article misquoted a post by King’s Stands for Justice. It wrongly presented allegations made in that post as being about the leader of the King’s Union and wrongly implied that the Union is run by Toby Young. The post’s allegations concerned Lord Young, not anyone at the King’s Union, and there is no suggestion that the Union’s leader has any such connection. The earlier version also wrongly stated that the Free Speech Union had received funding from the Trump administration; the FSU says it does not accept government funding. The misquoted passage and that statement have been removed. Roar apologises for these errors.
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