Suella Braverman is scheduled to speak at an event hosted by the Cambridge University Conservative Association (CUCA) this Thursday (7/11) after postponed plans to speak in early October.

The former Home Secretary was due to speak at a CUCA event on October 10, before the event was cancelled following planned protests by student groups.

Announcing the event’s postponement, CUCA stated that they had encountered “unprecedented security and logistical difficulties” amid student protests. Braverman, in an interview with The Telegraph, slated student protesters, accusing them of using “threats, intimidation, and mob-rule tactics” to force CUCA to call off the event.

“This is not a peaceful protest; it’s an attempt to silence a democratically-elected Member of Parliament and an attack on free speech and British values,” Braverman claimed.

She added: “Conservatives will not back down. I will not be silenced and neither will the millions of British people and defenders of free speech who stand proud, firm and unyielding against radical mob rule,” she added.

Following the October event’s cancellation, a joint Instagram post by Cambridge Anti-Raids, Trans Liberation Cambridge, and the Organisation of Radical Cambridge Activists, said: “CAMBRIDGE TWO, BRAVERMAN NIL.”

Braverman’s visit to Cambridge in May, where she attended Cambridge encampments with GB News, was met with similar protest as pro-Palestinian students refused to speak or acknowledge Braverman.

Following the cancellation of the initial CUCA event, a free speech organisation under the name of the Free Speech Union (FSU) had offered to cover the security costs of Braverman’s rescheduled talk. The cost of security for the initial, now-cancelled talk was reportedly quoted at £1,500.

Established by Toby Young in 2020, the FSU advertises itself as “safeguard[ing] and prompt[ing] free speech”. The FSU’s website further claims that “cancel culture” is a “many headed hydra”, and by “cutting off one of those heads, three more grow in its place.”

The FSU is currently sponsoring Nathan Cofnas, “race-realist” fellow, in his lawsuit against his former employer, Emmanuel College, Cambridge.

When discussing the security for Thursday’s rescheduled event, CUCA Chairman Szymon Sawicki stated: “We cannot comment on the exact security arrangements, however we are working closely with local authorities and the University to ensure this goes ahead.”

He continued, “CUCA has not incurred any financial costs for this event and has not taken money from any outside source to put the event on.”

A member of CUCA, when asked about the logistics of the event, told Varsity: “Non-members are asked to fill out a sign up sheet and are working with the venue to put effective measures in place to ensure no disruption goes ahead and that anyone who does want to come is able to do so.”

When asked whether the FSU would be funding the talk, Toby Young stated: “The FSU is not paying the security costs for the Suella Braverman event. Unnecessary in the end.”