Enraged at Irving's invitation, one Conservative politician resigned his life membership of the union, and several prominent people, including Britain's Minister of Defence Des Browne, have cancelled engagements to speak at future debates.
"IRRESPONSIBLE"
Oxford Union President Luke Tryl defended the decision to invite Griffin and Irving saying the best way to counter extremism is to defeat it intellectually in debate. Members of the union voted two-to-one to allow the debate to go ahead.
"These people are not being given a platform to extol their views but are coming to talk about the limits of free speech," he wrote in a letter to union members who had expressed concern.
"It is my belief that pushing the views of these people underground achieves nothing ... Stopping them speaking only allows them to become free speech martyrs."
Britain's interior minister, Jacqui Smith, herself an Oxford graduate, stopped short of condemning the debate, but said that Irving's and Griffin's words would be closely watched, saying there was legislation that would prevent them "overstepping".
"The Oxford Union society is, of course, a debating society," she told parliament when asked for her opinion.
"I think it is up to them to make their own decisions but I completely deplore the views and attitudes of those who will be speaking there in this debate."
Ned Temko, the chief political correspondent of the Observer newspaper and a former editor of the Jewish Chronicle, said it was disingenous of the debating society to invite extremists and then try to hide behind the banner of freedom of speech.
"It's not a question about giving them a platform, it's about giving them credibility," he told the BBC. "It's ridiculous and it's irresponsible."
