Badenoch criticises British Museum for delaying Jewish event over protest fears

Kemi Badenoch has criticised the British Museum for postponing a talk on Jewish culture because of potential protests.

The museum said it had postponed the event after being told a “significant proportion” of attendees were planning to disrupt it.

The lecture on ancient Israel and Judah was due to take place on Thursday afternoon as part of Jewish Culture Month.

The British Museum said in a statement: “In recent days, we were informed that a significant proportion of registered attendees were individuals intending to deliberately disrupt the event, preventing others from participating in good faith and undermining the purpose of the programme.

“The British Museum fully recognises the importance of lawful protest and freedom of expression in a democratic society.

“Equally, we have a responsibility to ensure that events hosted within the museum can proceed safely, securely and without intimidation for speakers, staff and visitors alike.

“Following discussions with organisers and security partners, a joint decision was taken to postpone the event to a later date when it can take place in an environment that properly safeguards both the audience experience and the integrity of the programme itself.”

The decision was taken “to protect the event — not to diminish it”, the museum added.

Conservative Party leader Mrs Badenoch urged Sir Keir Starmer’s Government to intervene and tell the museum to “do what’s necessary” for the event to go ahead.

She said: “Jewish Culture Month is meant to promote awareness of and celebrate Jewish culture in the UK. This decision achieves precisely the opposite.

“Jewish acts and actors are now being routinely cancelled from events across the UK. As with the marches and protests going past synagogues and knocking on doors intimidating Jews, the end result is an erasure of Jews and Jewish culture from Britain’s public space.

“The Government says it wants to combat antisemitism, it needs to tell publicly funded institutions like the British Museum to do what’s necessary to put this event on. The Conservatives will always make sure that Britain feels a safe place for Jews.”

Published: 28/05/2026 by Radio NewsHub