Written by Alba Azzarello
On Thursday 20 November 2025, exactly one year after it was kicked off of campus in 2024, Turning Point UK reappeared at LSE, setting up a stall in the Plaza with a banner reading the quintessential Turning Point mantra: ‘Prove Me Wrong’.
Turning Point UK is the British branch of Turning Point USA, an ultra-conservative activist organisation founded by Charlie Kirk. Turning Point USA has the stated mission to “identify, educate, train, and organise students to promote the principles of fiscal responsibility, free markets, and limited government”. It operates through affiliated student groups on American university and high school campuses, recruiting ‘field representatives’ to create forums for discussion on right-wing issues. It is well known for its ‘Professor Watchlist’, which names professors who are accused of ‘discriminating’ against conservative students, and spreading ‘leftist propaganda’. Turning Point USA has evolved to include multiple offshoots including national and regional summits, a grassroots activist arm, a faith division focusing on religious advocacy, and a charitable arm. The group raised $85 million in 2024 alone, largely backed by conservative private donors.
Turning Point USA has been criticized for controversial comments made by its prominent leaders. It promotes a staunch anti-immigration stance, conservative views on gender, identity and sexuality, Christian nationalist thinking, and pronatalist traditional views of women’s role in society. Notable representatives of the organisation also promote the racist ‘grand replacement theory’.
The organisation has been lauded as an incredibly effective tool to get young people involved in right wing politics, and was instrumental in Donald Trump’s recent re-election. Turning Point USA’s online success has been largely driven by clips of debates between Charlie Kirk and students at US university campuses, with clips regularly amassing millions of views. Since Kirk’s assassination at a Turning Point event in September 2025, the popularity of the movement has grown, with 350,000 new students signing on to the organisation in the week following Kirk’s death.
Turning Point UK (TPUK) was created in 2019 and has since been endorsed by notable conservative figures such as Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and former Home Secretary Priti Patel. Its mission is “to challenge the often far-left bias in our educational institutions, particularly focusing on universities across the country” through chapters and campaign groups at different UK universities. While LSE briefly had a Turning Point UK chapter in the past, it has since been shut down.
TPUK’s stand featured two TPUK representatives, one of whom is an LSE student, seated at a table with a microphone and a banner reading: “The West needs conservatism. Prove me wrong.” Students were invited to engage in filmed debates with the two TPUK members. Many students rejected TPUK’s presence on campus, with one student criticising the organisation saying, “this campus is smarter than you” and “you aren’t allowed to be here”, before attempting to take down the organisation’s banner. When one representative asked the student: “Do you think that’s promoting good culture?”, the student responded stating: “You know what’s bad culture? You promoting racist ideology.”
Protests quickly commenced, with students blocking the stand touting flags and chanting: “Fascists off our campus.” TPUK began packing up soon after. Protesters later started to chant, “Charlie’s in a box.”
One student protester’s identity was later revealed by Turning Point UK’s official X account. Violent comments immediately spread to the student’s account, using slurs, offensive language, and calling for their expulsion. Both TPUK representatives reposted the student’s identity. The student has since deleted their account.
When asked why they felt it was important to protest, one student responded: “As a prestigious university, if LSE is producing students who support and accept fascist ideology, they and the student community need to reflect on what type of education they are providing and getting, respectively.” Another student stated: “Inviting fascists arrested for inciting violence and having someone like that on campus to get more people to subscribe to fascist ideology – everyone should be concerned.”
One representative felt that, despite LSE’s left-leaning reputation, “Even if it is an area that completely disagrees with our views, it documents the opinions of young people, and that goes towards the right-wing in terms of how we actually win back these people.” He expanded, stating: “I think that every single university, regardless of its political affiliation, should have a Turning Point UK chapter and stand to engage in discussion.” The representative affirmed that “it’s good to continue the legacy of our late founder Charlie Kirk”, making it clear that Kirk’s ideology and influence lives on, an ocean away. The representative stated that TPUK would be back, denoting the protests “pathetic”.
One protester recounts meeting “many outraged students, rightfully so”. Many students were visibly uncomfortable with TPUK’s presence on campus. Others had mixed feelings about TPUK’s stand. One student stated that, while he doesn’t support TPUK, it’s interesting to have those conversations. He elaborated, arguing that, “We live in the age of Uber-Eats politics, of Trumpian politics, where policy doesn’t matter but reaction matters, it’s like watching a reality TV show, so I suppose that’s why their style has become like that. I don’t think that’s good, but I still think we should have the discussion on campus, no one else is doing it.” Upon further reflection, the student felt that “they should not be platformed”. In reference to the protests, the student said, “what these people are doing (referring to the protesters) is right, they have the right to free speech, but I think there’s a way to do it where there’s a certain sensibility that should be done”, criticising the use of the “Charlie’s in a box” slogan.
While some LSESU Conservative Society members were involved in the event, the LSESU Conservatives were “not directly affiliated with the event”, contrary to FOX News Digital’s report. Upon a request for comment, the Conservatives stated that, “the society neither endorses nor opposes TPUK”, clarifying that the Conservative Society member involved was “acting in his own capacity”. However, the Conservative Society Treasurer, present at the event, stated, “I hope that we can have nice conversations about our differing political ideologies”, stating that he wished the protesters “could do better”.
The TPUK representatives have continued to post about the event and subsequent protests on their X accounts, with clips of debates and protests, and commentary such as “this is what the woke mind virus does to people”, and “we will not surrender to the far-left”.
An LSE spokesperson said: “Freedom of academic enquiry, thought, and speech underpins everything we do at LSE. Our Code of Practice on Free Speech is designed to protect and promote lawful freedom of expression on campus, including the right to peacefully protest.
“In line with our Code of Practice, events are carefully planned to ensure freedom of speech is protected, and discussion and debate can happen safely. This event was on a public highway, and neither LSE nor the LSESU had any notification that it was taking place.”
