The police have contradicted Vince Cable's claim that they advised him to pull out of a visit to Oxford University today - what would have been the first ministerial visit to Oxford since the publication of the Browne Review into higher education funding. More than 12,000 students had signed up on Facebook to protest the Browne Review this afternoon.
The police have contradicted Vince Cable’s claim that they advised him to pull out of a visit to Oxford University today – what would have been the first ministerial visit to Oxford since the publication of the Browne Review into higher education funding. More than 1,200 students had signed up on Facebook to protest the Browne Review this afternoon.
When asked whether they had advised the business secretary not to attend, a spokeswoman for Thames Valley Police told Left Foot Forward:
“No. We did not tell him not to come, we did not advise him not to attend. If we receive intelligence of protests we let people know. His team carried out a risk assessment and cancelled the visit.”
Earlier, a spokesperson for Vince Cable had said:
“Vince Cable has postponed a visit to the University of Oxford tomorrow where he was due to speak to students in his capacity as an MP about his life in politics.
“This followed advice from Thames Valley police about threats of a protest and his concern about the level of disruption this could cause to the people of Oxford plus the possible cost of policing.”
Not only does their appear to be a discrepancy between Cable and the police over why the visit was cancelled, but on the nature of the visit itself. The protest organisers told Left Foot Forward:
“Vince Cable had been due to address the University’s Lessons in Government Seminar series – a lecture series noted for giving ordinary students the opportunity to cross-examine leading politicians on great affairs of state.”
Adding:
“They’re now spinning it was a private event – yet it was open to all students and faculty at Oxford, an opportunity to quiz notable public figures on current affairs – not about their ‘life in politics’.“
Nick Clegg is due to visit Oxford on Wednesday, November 17th – the question is, will he make it?
38 Responses to “Police: We did not advise Cable to pull out of Oxford visit”
LC Prestes
Remember the remarkable transformation from Stalin to Mr Bean? Here’s another one from the most popular politician in Britain to an odious, conceited, duplicitous Tory apologist. Cable you are a charlatan, how do you sleep at night? Looking at you the answer is probably not very well. Resign you clown, you’re an embarrassment.
James
Actually it was a private event, it was only for members of Brasenose College, Oxford. Your quote..
“This followed advice from Thames Valley police about threats of a protest and his concern about the level of disruption this could cause to the people of Oxford plus the possible cost of policing.”
How does that represent a discreprency. They said the police had advised him about the protest, not the police advised him not to go, as everyone keeps implying he did.
Eddy, when Nick Griffin came it was anarchy, just because you say the traffic wasn’t affected (on the pedestrianised shopping st, where-as this would have been on the non-pedestrianised high st, probably the busiest street for buses in Oxford..) Very few people got to see him speak, because the crowds forced them to shut the gates, and the people that wanted to see him speak couldn’t. The talk was disrupted very early on, by storming protesters that broke down said gate, all the speakers had been separated into different rooms anyway for security, all with different small audiences, so it wasn’t a debate, or a very useful and constructive talk. It was completely ruined by the protesters.
Sadly Vince probably made the right decision. A repeat of the Griffin case would be totally wrong.
More to the point, Cable is someone that has said, despite the Browne review there definitely will be a cap on tuition fees. So why they’re protesting to him about the review, which was an independant review that the government have yet to act on, is anyones guess. Thanks for ruining my evening.
Oxford Kevin
RT @AdamRamsay: RT @leftfootfwd: Police: We did not advise Cable to pull out of Oxford visit: http://bit.ly/cYz4eY – police contradict Cable's claims <<HAHA
Wendy Maddox
RT @leftfootfwd: Police: We did not advise Cable to pull out of Oxford visit http://bit.ly/aX2zqy
Simon
Is St Vincent’s guilty conscience plaguing him? I doubt it. He’s simply running scared, he knows his actions can’t bear the kind of scrutiny he would encounter at Oxford.