Sunak's Imaginary Mob
This week, the government announced a new package of £31 million that is designed to help the police protect MPs. Concerns have been raised in relation to pro-Palestinian demonstrations calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. In particular, this latest move appears to derive from a vote in the House of Commons last week that descended into chaos.
As I recently wrote in this newsletter, those shameful scenes arose mostly as a result of mistakes made by the Speaker. However, there is little doubt that fears surrounding MP safety also played a role.
There is, quite rightly, cross party consensus on the need to protect Members of Parliament. Westminster is the home of democracy in the UK and all MPs should be able to represent their constituents without fear or favour. In recent years, politicians have died whilst serving their communities and everything should be done to prevent something like that from ever happening again. Members of Parliament still continue to receive death threats and the police should have sufficient resources to investigate and prosecute those involved.
All of the above can be true but problems can still arise when legitimate concerns around safety are politicised as part of an effort to undermine legitimate protests on important issues.