Protester rushes stage as Reform UK councillor George Finch speaks at Warwick

Community Safety removed a solitary protester from Warwick PPE Society’s George Finch event on Wednesday as SU Full-Time Officers picketing the venue chanted “fascist scum”.

Minutes after heckling Cllr Finch, the protester, who acted alone, ran to the front of the hall, preparing to throw both of his shoes at the Warwickshire County Council leader. He was swiftly tackled to the floor and carried from the venue, with Finch commenting that he had “lost control” and “should take a chill pill”. Several police officers were later seen in the building.

The Reform UK councillor, who has previously described universities as a “conveyor belt of communism” and “a complete joke”, told the Coventry Telegraph: “It was quite shocking. It just goes to show that I am right, our educational establishments are full of lefty socialists.”

Posting on X on Thursday evening, he reflected: “Universities should be the place where debate and disagreement of opinion is encouraged. Violence and aggression should have no place in politics. I look forward to attending more events like this in the future, even if some people don’t want me there!”

SU VP for Education, Ananya Sreekumar, described the high attendance as ‘shameful’

The invitation of Cllr Finch to speak at the society’s ‘Democracy in Action’ event had drawn widespread criticism over the preceding days, with Warwick SU officers on Wednesday morning issuing a joint statement sharing concerns over “far-right rhetoric”.

The statement, signed by six Full-Time Officers and all 10 Part-Time Officers, blamed a lack of action from the SU on “the Conservative government’s Freedom of Speech legislation” and said that the event “is in direct opposition to Warwick SU’s values, and the mandates that we were elected on last year”.

Although the Officers had been aware of the event for over a week, they had not voiced their opposition to the event to Warwick PPE Society prior to releasing their statement. 

SU Full-Time Officers were among those picketing the venue | Image: Martin Day / The Boar

The event drew an almost full house in the Gibbet Hill lecture theatre, with all 393 tickets sold. Unexpectedly high demand saw the waiting list rise to over 130 people, pushing the society to upsize their venue. According to the exec, this was their biggest speaker event to date.

At least a dozen protesters picketed both entrances to the building. SU VP for Education, Ananya Sreekumar, spoke on a megaphone, telling arriving students that she would “expect better from our Warwick community” and describing the high attendance as “shameful”. 

Warwick Against Hate, the newly set-up group behind the protest, which describes its aim as “building a diverse anti-fascist coalition against the politics of hate at the University of Warwick”, later also expressed “deep shock” at the police presence at the picket. The coalition further clarified in a statement that it has “no affiliation or connection with the individual who attempted to charge Councillor Finch”.

This individual is instead believed to have polled his Instagram followers on whether to “throw a shoe” at the councillor, claiming to have obtained 92% support in favour of the act. Photos seen by The Boar confirm a figure of at least 78%.

The formation of Warwick Against Hate comes as a recent survey by the Higher Education Policy Institute revealed that 35% of students said they would bar Reform politicians from speaking on campus. 69%, however, told the survey that universities should “never limit free speech”.

[Cllr Finch’s] comments around immigration, DEI, and LGBTQIA+ rights raised tensions, spurring an intervention from the host

Much of the backlash to Wednesday’s event stemmed from PPE Society’s original decision to have “pre-selected questions”, which some students feared would allow Cllr Finch to avoid scrutiny. 

While the SU Officers’ statement claimed that “PPE Society listened to the widespread backlash to allow some form of free questioning”, the society’s president Ryan Friis told The Boar: “While it may not have been made initially clear, we asked for pre-submitted questions to understand the important topics. We would … then open the floor to further questions/scrutiny from the audience. This was always how we had our event planned.”

The society subsequently clarified at the event that the first section would involve pre-submitted questions followed by a live Q&A.

Cllr Finch is the country’s youngest ever council leader | Image: Warwick PPE Society

The event drew an almost full house, with all 393 tickets sold | Image: Warwick PPE Society

Cllr Finch became the country’s youngest ever council leader in June last year, achieving the backing of the local Conservatives after his predecessor resigned. His leadership has since come under fire for attempting to take down Pride flags and sharing an image of a rival councillor in a burglar’s outfit.

The Q&A event began with a less politically charged tone, as Finch recounted his rise to council leader and enthused over the potential of pothole-filling machinery. 

[Cllr Finch suggested] that migrants should ‘take WizzAir flights for £25’ instead of ‘expensive’ boats

Questions critical of Reform UK policies were met with enthusiastic applause while the councillor’s comments around immigration, DEI, and LGBTQIA+ rights raised tensions, spurring an intervention from the host.

The politician conceded he was walking into a room where most people disagreed with him, but added that calling Reform fascist, racist, or homophobic “devalues” those terms.

Other questions concerned party attitudes towards multiculturalism, the NHS, and the fallout from Brexit. 

The politician conceded he was walking into a room where most people disagreed with him | Image: Warwick PPE Society

Cllr Finch branded the NHS a “cash cow” and claimed that multiculturalism “hasn’t worked the way it’s supposed to”. In an unprompted comment on small boat crossings, he went on to suggest that migrants should “take WizzAir flights for £25” instead of “expensive” boats.

In response to a question from The Boar, Cllr Finch further claimed to be unaware of comments made by former Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick about a lack of “white faces” in Birmingham. The two politicians convened at a Reform rally on Monday, which was held to welcome recent defector Jenrick to the party.