North London Polytechnic (Hansard, 17 May 1984)

§ Mr. Jeremy Corbyn (Islington, North)

I beg to ask leave to move the Adjournment of the House, under Standing Order No. 10, for the purpose of discussing an urgent matter of great public concern, namely, the presence this morning at the Polytechnic of North London of over 200 policemen, 17 of them equipped with riot shields, in order to force entry into that building to allow one member of the National Front to assume studies in that particular college.

I must remind the House — because Conservative Members are obviously not prepared to consider this serious matter—that the college was closed today on the orders of the governors yesterday. It was only later this morning that a further court order was obtained to attempt to open the college. Two hundred police surrounded the college and tried to force their way in to enable one member of the National Front to get into a college. That college was closed by a student who, while he was supposed to have been a student there for two years, has barely attended the college and has not yet even taken out a library card. Yet he asked if he could be taken to the library when he got in.

These matters are serious. The presence of the police this morning was intimidating to the local community. It was seen as a method of supporting the propaganda war of the National Front against many students of all races who study peacefully in that college, who have shown their abhorrence of the National Front and its racist attitudes.

During this morning's incidents outside the college where the police had a command post, a number of riot vehicles and policemen with riot equipment, they refused admission to the college to myself, the regional organiser for the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education, Mr. David Triesman, and the chairman of the NATFHE branch, who is also a governor of the college, Miss Pat East. We were refused admission to the grounds of the college to observe what the police were doing and we were refused admission to the building when the police had entered it. It appeared to me the police had taken control of it.

In fact, the local community and the student and teaching unions were opposed to the presence in the college of that member of the National Front. They all asked the ILEA and the college governors to do what they could to prevent him from coming in and arrangements were made to offer the student individual tuition away from other students. The majority of students said that it was offensive to have a member of the National Front in their classes. The student concerned, and the court, chose to reject this sensible course, and chose to go down the path of confrontation, which is designed to be a propaganda exercise for the National Front.

I believe that the decisions taken, the presence of the police, the methods used by the police, and the methods being used by the National Front are matters of grave national concern. They are serious and important matters, and I believe that the House ought to debate them. It cannot be right that one person who represents Nazi views, who represents racist views, and who represents views that are anathema to the entire community, in a design to divide that community on racist lines, should be allowed to call on large numbers of police to enable him to enter the college. The people outside the college this morning 517 told me that they found it surprising that so many police could be made available for this incident when unfortunately there are daily incidents of racial harassment in other parts of London, particularly the east end, in which there is only minimal support for people who suffer from racist attacks.

I believe that this is a serious matter, and I trust, Mr. Speaker, that you will agree that the House should adjourn so that the matter can be fully debated.