These are uneasy times for British democracy. Some MPs now live and work in fear for their lives. Menacing protestors lay siege to their homes and intimidate them as they go about constituency business. Three women parliamentarians have already been given bodyguards. Taxpayers will now fund security for the rest. So febrile and rancorous is the atmosphere that has hung heavily over this country’s streets since the Hamas attacks of October 7 that, privately, many politicians confess they no longer feel able to vote with their conscience. The prime minister warns that Britain is descending into “mob rule” and the police risk losing public confidence if they fail to use the powers granted to them to protect democracy. This assault on our national life cannot continue.
Nearly five months on from Hamas’s bloody incursion into Israel, provoking a brutal response in Gaza, Britain’s body politic is under strain. Proscribed Islamist groups join the thousands of well-meaning protestors on the streets of London and elsewhere, sowing hatred. Marchers have been prosecuted for glorifying antisemitic slaughter. In Westminster Sir Keir Starmer, the leader of the opposition, felt obliged to urge Sir Lindsay Hoyle, Speaker of the House of Commons, to rip up parliamentary precedent and spare his MPs opprobrium for failing to back a SNP motion calling for a ceasefire. Sir Lindsay said the physical threat to members was such that he had no option but to agree.
In Rochdale, where Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Thursday’s by-election has been disowned for spreading antisemitic conspiracy theories about October 7, a divided community has become a playground for George Galloway. For a war thousands of miles away to pose a threat to MPs and warp domestic politics to such an extent is shocking. Any responsible citizen who cares for the health of British democracy — and many of those who march weekly in London to support Palestinians clearly do — must work to ease rather than exacerbate tensions. It is time, as James Cleverly, the home secretary, said this week, for protestors to reflect on the consequences, however unintended, of their actions.
Those opposed to Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, many motivated by nothing more than sympathy at suffering on a huge scale, and compassion for innocent victims caught up in the violence, have made their point. Mainstream western political opinion is now closer to them than they might think. They should consider what purpose their continuing presence on these demonstrations serves. The freedom to protest is a cornerstone of democracy. To ban the marches that now bring London to a standstill several times a month would be wrong. But, as Mr Cleverly rightly told this newspaper, taxpayers who expect a basic standard of policing are being forced to shoulder the cost of controlling the crowds. It is money that ministers do not have and diverts officers from fighting crime.
Notwithstanding the fact that the vast majority of marchers are peaceful, there is an obvious reason why these demonstrations require heavy policing. Using the throng for cover, hate groups and extremists have celebrated the murder of Jews and called for the eradication of Israel. Six hundred protestors have been arrested. Decent people need to consider the company they keep.
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Ministers are considering recommendations from the home affairs select committee, which argues that organisers of any demonstration should be obliged to give police a fortnight’s notice rather than six days. This is a sensible proposal that would do much to ease demands on police and cool tensions. Britons have a right to peaceful protest within the law. But fringe political interests must not be given carte blanche to bully elected representatives, terrify Jews, and paralyse the centre of our capital city every weekend.
