Controversy erupted after the decision at Magdalen Historical College. The government commented: “Simply ridiculous.”
The incident sparked an angry reaction from the press. Gavin Williamson, Boris Johnson’s Education Secretary, commented that it was “simply ridiculous”, who claimed in a tweet to the current monarch that he had “shown the best picture” of the country in his nearly 70 years in power and that he “worked tirelessly “to promote British values of tolerance, openness and respect in the world”.
The accusations and initiatives have followed each other in recent months, and have also been fueled by protests from the anti-racist movements for “Black Lives Matter” that have been reproduced in Europe and the kingdom in the wake of the United States.
Dina Rose, an attorney and president of Magdalene College, made it clear that the university was not involved in the decision, but added that she wanted to respect “the students’ right to freedom of expression and debate.” The pro-Conservative Daily Telegraph denounced the incident by presenting the Queen as “the latest victim of abolition culture” in a comment. “Oxford shame”, the words of the Daily Mail. Daily Express outraged: ‘How dare they! Oxford students cancel Queen’.
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