Students walked out of last night’s controversial and heated debate at the Cambridge Union following comments made by a speaker about the British Empire and slavery last night (10/11).

Calvin Robinson, a deacon in the ‘Free Church of England’ and a regular on GB News, was opposing the motion “This House Would Pay Reparations” when he made the comments.

Robinson defended colonialism, arguing that the British empire “brought a lot of good to the world” — including “hospitals, schools, charities, railways…Christianity and the English language”.

Later in his speech, he criticised the way conversations about reparations are centred on the transatlantic slave trade. He argued that the transatlantic slave trade was the focal point because it was “popular” and “fashionable”, following the Black Lives Matter movement, to “talk about reparations in terms of black people”.

When an audience member made a point of information drawing attention to those still suffering the repercussions of Empire — such as the Windrush Generation — Robinson asked: “In what way are you suffering?”. The deacon went on to tell the member that he was “privileged”, and rebuked audience members for “gasping and clutching [their] face”.

Audience members in the Chamber were visibly shocked by the comments. Robinson was heckled by many on the floor and there were audible outcries among the audience.

A student who was in the audience told Varsity that a number of people left the Chamber after Robinson had concluded. They told Varsity that “the atmosphere afterwards was very much a feeling of ‘what did we just watch?’’. 

Further disruption in the chamber included one point of information simply saying "your mum" to Robinson. In the recording published on YouTube by the Union, students can also be seen to walk out of the chamber after the second opposition speech.

The second speaker, author and broadcaster Rafe Heydel-Mankoo was also controversial. In one part of his speech, he argued that reparations were unnecessary because “while slavery was abhorrent… had they stayed in Africa the lives of their decedants would be unquestionably worse”. Heydel-Mankoo also claimed that the slave trade was “abolished far too early” and thus didn’t “fuel the industrial revolution”, making the settlements paid to slave owners justified.

A member of the Union’s full committee told Varsity that there were “moments in the debate” when they, and many others, felt “extremely uncomfortable with the conduct and comments of a particular speaker”. However, they emphasised that while “a singular speaker made last night unpleasant”, the members “continued to participate in a debate that is extremely important and topical in a respectful way”.

In regards to the invitation of Robinson, the full committee member told Varsity: “the Union failed to anticipate the direction in which this debate would be taken.” They also acknowledged that: “The Union does not always get things right”.

In response to the events in the debate, Union President Lara Brown said, “The primary purpose of the Cambridge Union will always be to provide a space in which to discuss difficult topics and provide members with the opportunity to debate them. Last night, I was proud to see so many insightful contributions from our members through both floor speeches and points of information.

“The Cambridge Union will never blacklist or no platform speakers.