UNIVERSITIES should stop giving in to woke ideology, the Education Secretary blasted last night.
It came after The Sun revealed that left-wing Bristol University quietly axed the national anthem from its graduation ceremonies.
Gillian Keegan wrote on X, formerly Twitter, after reading the story: “This is ridiculous. Universities should stand up for our British values and stop giving in to woke ideology.”
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden wrote: “If Bristol University are too ashamed of their British heritage, presumably they no longer want to be subsidised by the British taxpayer?”
And Tory MP Scott Benton wrote: “How on earth could our national anthem be considered ‘offensive’?
“The way some institutions bow to a tiny woke minority with their self-loathing of our country and traditions really knows no bounds.”
Yesterday we told how Bristol bosses decided against playing God Save the King at every ceremony, as they used to do.
Instead they would only sing it if a representative of the Royal Family was present.
It came as current students told us they thought God Save the King was “old-fashioned”, “irrelevant” and even “offensive to some”.
A Bristol University spokesman said they routinely update their graduation ceremonies.
The decision was originally made in 2020 but would have properly started coming into effect last year because of ceremonies cancelled by Covid.