Students at Boris Johnson's former Oxford college launch petition to have him banned from campus

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Students at Boris Johnson’s former Oxford college have launched a petition which demands that he is barred from campus.

The Balliol College students behind the petition also called for a ban on the display of any portraits of the Prime Minister on the site.

Mr Johnson, who studied Classics at the college, should be stripped of his alumnus privileges “immediately,” the petition states.

The petition calls on the college to publicly condemn the Tory leader for suspending Parliament and stop him from attending any of its events.

Harriet Lester, a Phd student, began the petition with fellow student Andrew MacGowans, after meeting at a protest rally in the city.

They said the college is no longer an "old boys' club".

Referring to the controversy over Mr Johnson's move to prorogue Parliament for almost five weeks ahead of the Brexit date of October 31, Ms Lester said "everyone" at the college was appalled by the recent "political coup".

Asked if lecturers and other pupils were supportive of her petition, she said "everyone has been on board and they agree something has to be done.

"But we have told the college, you're siding with the oppressor by not saying anything."

The petition was not about being for or against Brexit, but aimed to make people realise "things are changing; it's no longer an old boys' club (at Oxford), but a place which welcomes everyone," she said.

Ms Lester stressed that the protest which sparked the petition was attended by pro- and anti-Brexiters and people from across the political spectrum "including Conservative speakers".

"This petition is a way to bring dialogue," she added.

The petition, which had received just over 160 signatures on change.org by Thursday night, states: "Balliol College's student body has consistently demonstrated its commitment to democratic values.

"We call upon its members to sign this petition in order to to put pressure on college administration to take definitive action in this matter."

The Prime Minister studied classics at Balliol College in the 1980s and was also a member of the controversial Bullingdon dining club at the time.