Campus ‘Prove Me Wrong’ debates by Restore Britain activists spark protests in Manchester

Controversial campus debates organised by two young right-wing activists linked to Restore Britain have sparked protests in Manchester and other UK cities.

Montgomery Toms, 21, and Thomas Moffitt, 18, have held 12 filmed debates at university campuses across the country since the beginning of the autumn term.

The pair use a format known as ‘tabling’, which involves setting up a public debate and inviting students to challenge their political views.

Their events imitate the ‘Prove Me Wrong’ debates popularised by American conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was shot and killed while speaking at a university event in Utah last year.

Toms and Moffitt regularly upload footage of their campus encounters to social media, sharing clips of confrontational exchanges with students.

Toms runs the Freedom Watch GB tour, travelling with two security guards and a gazebo displaying the slogan ‘Prove Me Wrong’.

In one video posted online, Toms questioned an Asian student’s British identity, arguing that having a British passport did not necessarily make someone British.

The student explained that she and both her parents were born in the UK, but Toms maintained that British identity was connected to ancestry and lineage.

Toms’ political affiliations have also attracted attention, with his previous biography on X stating that he works at the headquarters of Restore Britain.

He previously described his Freedom Watch GB tour as a way to attract younger voters to the party, which was founded by former Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe.

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Moffitt, who uses the online pseudonym Young Bob, has also been linked to the party after previously working for Turning Point UK, the British branch of  Charlie Kirk’s organisation Turning Point USA.

He was suspended from Turning Point UK after Hope Not Hate, an anti-facist campiagn group, published details of private comments he had made about the organisation and its chief operating officer.

Moffitt was arrested in October on suspicion of using a racial slur and was subsequently arrested again on suspicion of affray following an alleged physical altercation with a University College London lecturer.

The pair’s campus appearances have prompted protests in several cities, including Bristol, Cardiff and Brighton, where police escorted Toms away from an event following clashes with antiracist demonstrators.

In Brighton, footage later posted by Toms appeared to show his gazebo being destroyed, with the activist also claiming he had been spat at.

The activists have also received financial backing from figures including cryptocurrency entrepreneur Peter McCormack, who described Toms as the “British Charlie Kirk” on his podcast.

Toms has received more than £11,000 in donations through a GoFundMe campaign, while Canadian political activist Ezra Levant helped raise money for Moffitt’s legal defence following his arrest.

Alex MacKinnon, a researcher at Hope Not Hate, described the debating format as “fundamentally a way for the far-right to farm content.” 

He noted that ignoring the activists was the best response, arguing that doing so would prevent them from gaining the attention they sought.

Featured image via Unsplash