‘I’d like to smash your face in till it bleeds’, said one letter in the run-up to the forum. I wanted to fight extremism but I’m not violent and this was something I had never experienced.
The media focus started to become intense a week before. There were live TV interviews and all of a sudden I was faced with a camera. It was scary and daunting. There were calls from MPs and members of the House of Lords; some speakers pulled out of the debate.
One thing which really upset me was an attempt to portray me as a public school toff when I’m from quite a working-class background – my grandparents were immigrants and I was the first in my family to go to university. It does upset you, as much as you try and detach yourself personally from it. You just want to say, look, I think the BNP are awful and abhorrent and I want to defeat them just as much as you do. But journalists had a signature of what they wanted me to be and that was what they wrote about. It was just a cheap shot at me. I smoked more, I lost weight.
There were times when I wasn’t sure whether I could carry on. I never thought there was a justification for stopping but at times the pressure was too much. I’m 20 years old.
On the day itself, the calls were just constantly coming in. It was definitely adrenaline that kept me going through the day. I’d be on the phone and there’d be two more calls waiting; some journalists said if you don’t get back to me in 30 minutes we’re going to say you wouldn’t comment. In the end I had to give my phone to someone else.
But the worst bit was when the protesters stormed the chamber. They’d been shouting ‘Kill Tryl’ earlier and I was worried about what they might do. The police were there but I get the feeling they didn’t want the event to happen. I was really disappointed with the protesters. When you effectively start inciting hatred, I don’t think you do the anti-fascist cause any favours.
We had to split the forum in two in the end, and I stayed with David Irving. Irving was just crazy. His arguments about free speech didn’t stand up. It was very weird meeting him and Griffin; they are both deeply unpleasant men.
That night, my friends walked me home, and I collapsed. We had Russell Brand in the next day so I had to be up again immediately. Most presidents spend their time getting drunk. They go to clubs, they have lots of parties. Previous presidents were ringing me up, saying, ‘Why are you doing this? You’re meant to be enjoying yourself.’ But I was constantly dealing with this – the most exciting period of my life, though I never enjoyed it for a moment.
People like attacking Oxford and it is easy to throw around allegations of student naivety. I regret the fact that it did get so out of control but I don’t think it I was naive. The media focus ended up being on the fact that the extremists were speaking rather than on the debate itself, and interesting, intelligent people were overshadowed. But I believe in the principle, I do think that debate is the best way to defeat extremists. Harold Macmillan described the Union as ‘the last bastion of free speech’ so if we can’t debate these people there, where can we debate them?
It was right that I was called to account, to defend the decision, but people said it was a publicity thing, which it was never, ever meant to be. That hurt.
I think this sort of thing can stay with you for life. My dad went to vote in Halifax when I was five; while he was in the polling station, I stood outside telling people to vote for John Major. So I’ve always been politically interested and this hasn’t put me off. In the future, I have to try and do something more meaningful.
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