Safe spaces on campus are “mad” and “oxymoronic”, according to the chancellor of Oxford University.
Lord Patten of Barnes, the former governor of Hong Kong, said free speech had to be protected and that too many people saw arguments as an attack on their identity.
He also criticised David Cameron and George Osborne’s stances on China when they were in government, and said attitudes towards the country were becoming more sensible.
Patten said in an interview with the Oxford Student newspaper: “I’m an old-fashioned liberal and I believe that free speech and tolerance are one of the most important values in an open society.
“The only thing that you shouldn’t tolerate is intolerance. If universities aren’t bastions of free speech, who’s going to be?
