King’s Think Tank: We never uninvited Boris Johnson to speak at our Brexit series

The email circulating the internet was never approved by presidents of KCL Think Tank


In a mix up which has garnered national news coverage, KCL Think Tank reveals that they did not rescind the invitation of Boris Johnson to speak at their Brexit series.

The email, which was covered in national newspapers including The Independent, Huffington Post, The Telegraph and The Tab, was revealed to not have been approved by the Presidents of the society in a statement the released on their Facebook page earlier this week.

 

The official statement from King’s Think Tank

The email, which began circulating social media on the 23rd April, has been revealed to have been sent by an individual with no affiliation to either King’s Think Tank or KCL.

The society, who wanted to keep the identity of the individual responsible for sending the email anonymous, spoke to The Tab and said:

“The email withdrawing the invitation to Boris Johnson, following his comments relating to Barack Obama over the weekend, was not approved by the President, Vice President, or student committee of King’s Think Tank.”

“As the invite was never rescinded by us, the invitation to Mr Johnson stands.”

“We would like to apologise on behalf of King’s Think Tank, a student-led society at King’s College London, for the misunderstanding which has arisen.”

Amongst the falsehood of the email, King’s Think Tank have been targeted for no-platforming Boris, a policy which the society has always been against.

Reactions to the fake email on Twitter

A recent BBC report, which reflects the reactions of both the students of KCL and the public, found that 63% of students in the UK agree with the NUS policy of no-platforming controversial figures.

Reacting to the allegations of no-platforming Boris, King’s Think Tank said:
“Free speech and the right of no-platforming is a crucial debate in current media, especially when students are concerned. As a society we have always strived to provide an open platform for speakers with different perspectives to debate topical issues of interest to the UK and beyond, and so we regret that this has happened.”

In response to the numerous articles and social media attention that the email has created for the student led society, King’s Think Tank told The Tab:

“Given our commitment to offering students informative events with all sides of a debate represented, this put us in a negative light. We have spent the past few days trying to rectify the situation, getting in touch with as many newspapers as possible to explain.”

“We just hope that our names and our society is not permanently damaged by this, since what happened is not representative of our commitment to impartiality.”

Tickets for the Brexit series, which will run from April 20th- May 12th, are available on the society’s website.