Birkbeck College has let itself down badly in surrendering to threats by Britain First racist boneheads against this weekend’s Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) conference on Islamophobia.

The IHRC has succeeded in finding a new venue, which is positive, but this does not absolve the University of London of the charge of knuckling under to far-right Islamophobic demands with menaces.

The college took its decision without any discussion with either staff or students, as Birkbeck Unison joint branch secretary Steven Ellis confirmed.