King’s College has hired “safe space marshals” to police controversial speaker events on campus, it has emerged.

The university’s students' union employs the £12-an-hour officials to patrol meetings where there is a potential for audience members to be offended.

While on duty at an event, the marshals are expected to hand out leaflets detailing the students' union's Safe Space policy, and put up posters reminding students that “This is a Safe Space”.

They must be ready to take “immediate action” if anyone expresses opinions that breech the Safe Space policy. This could include derogatory comments about someone’s age, disability, marital or maternity or paternity status, race, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, gender identity, trans status, socio-economic status, or ideology or culture.

Three marshals were present when Jacob Rees-Mogg MP spoke at the university’s Conservative Association last week. He said that the concept of safe space marshals is “bizarre” and “antithetical to free speech”.