The Cambridge University Conservative Association (CUCA) cancelled an upcoming event with YouTuber Tom Rowsell after the Cambridge University Labour Club (CULC) claimed that he was linked to the “far right” in a statement attacking the choice of speakers on the society’s term card.

In a term card published on Sunday (18/01) CUCA invited Tom Rowsell, a YouTuber accused of links to “eugenicists”, and Jack Anderton, an adviser to Reform UK who has previously said the UK should “regain” its former colonies, to address members. Following condemnation from the Cambridge University Labour Club (CULC), CUCA has cancelled Rowsell’s appearance, though Anderton is still due to speak.

Responding to CUCA’s termcard, CULC quipped that CUCA had become the “Cambridge University Eugenics Platformers”, and described Rowsell as a “self-professed far right heathen”. They also criticised Anderton for comments it said included suggesting that Britain was wrong to fight Nazi Germany.

The club has called for those responsible for the invitations to resign.

Rowsell is best known for producing content on YouTube about Indo-European history and paganism, and is also the leader of the Hearth of Devon, an ‘Odinist’ pagan worship group linked with the Odinist Rite organisation. While the Odinist Rite claim to be apolitical, experts in British ‘heathenry’ movements have reported on a number of far right symbols present in its materials.

In one video, published last year, called “What is English Identity?” Rowsell criticised ‘left wing’ efforts to “deconstruct our very identity […] and undermine the idea of identity itself, particularly for the English people.” He argued that there was an English ethnic group based on “genetic continuity”.

According to the campaign group Hope Not Hate, Rowsell attended a gathering in December 2023 of the private members club Neo-Byzantium, a branch of the eugenicist organisation the Human Diversity Foundation.

Rowsell responded to CULC’s statement in a post on X, calling it a “cancel-culture attack” and named Hope not Hate a “Labour funded, far left, anti-white hate group”. He denied all allegations that he had expressed racist or eugenicist views, or made use of far-right symbols, and stated that he hoped “this invitation can be reconsidered based on evidence rather than assumptions”.

CUCA cancelled the event hours after CULC published its statement on social media, with its co-chair, Oscar Lingwood, stating: “[Rowsell’s] associations, beliefs and statements make any association with this person inappropriate and untenable”.

They emphasised that “many members of the society as a whole do not feel comfortable freely associating with Mr Rowsell” and that CUCA “does not align or support any of the institutions or views associated with Mr Rowsell”.

CULC also criticised the invitation of political commentator Jack Anderton due to remarks he made in a blog post arguing that “Britain would be better off” had it stayed neutral in the Second World War rather than fighting Nazi Germany, and that “in the coming Meritocracy” the country could and should “regain” some of its former colonies. CULC’s statement said that these comments were “an insult to the thousands of servicemen who died fighting against antisemitic tyranny”.

In a separate post, Anderton called for “mass deportations” as a means of restoring “hope to a generation of British youth”.

Anderton, 25, has worked as a social media adviser to Reform UK, helping to establish Nigel Farage’s TikTok account – which has 1.3 million followers – and writing a column for The Daily Mail. He has been credited with helping Luke Campbell become the Reform mayor of Hull and East Yorkshire.

Anderton is still due to speak in Cambridge on 30th January. His visit forms part of his ‘A New Dawn Tour’, in which he plans to visit several right wing university societies, including Reform UK societies at Edinburgh, York, and Durham, to give talks on the topic of “Britain and its future”. His tour has already faced significant protest, with Anderton claiming that he was targeted by 400 protestors, some of which were affiliated with campaign group Stand Up To Racism during his visit to York.

Anderton said: “Though I may be protested by left-wing activists, I’m excited to speak to young people at Cambridge. They know the system is broken, they know their future has been stolen, and they want to build a better Britain”.

CUCA also faced backlash for the invitation of a speaker last year, when it was forced to reschedule a planned event with Suella Braverman after “unprecedented security and logistical difficulties” amid student protests. Braverman at the time condemned student protesters for using “threats, intimidation, and mob-rule tactics” to force CUCA to postpone the event.

CUCA’s decision to invite these controversial speakers follow multiple cases of student Conservative societies switching support to Reform UK. Newcastle University Conservative Society decided to merge with the Reform UK society before the start of the academic year, and reported a “tenfold increase” in student participation, while the University of York’s Conservative society reported losing around half of its members to the York Reform Society.

Support for Reform has risen among young men, while Conservative support among under-25s remains stubbornly low.