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Comment by Joshua Foster: A Labour Party & trade union supporting freelance journalist
The act of and ability to, protest is a fundamental core and cornerstone of an effective, accountable, and reasonable democracy. It has been the bedrock of holding those in power to their word and ensuring that the voices of the governed are heard and acted upon.
However, when a peaceful protest turns into violence, and mobs of dangerous people unleash abuse at elected representatives of a country, our brilliant democracy plummets into the depths of the sewers. Moreover, when this type of behaviour is incited by the Prime Minister, a dangerous precedent, something which derives from Trump’s playbook, becomes the new reality.
In a decade where two Members of Parliament have been assassinated in the heart of their own constituencies, the PM should not be the ringleader of inflammatory language at the despatch box, for his words have dangerous and everlasting consequences.
In this instance, it all started on the 1st of February when the PM was quizzed by MPs after the partial release of the all-anticipated Sue Gray report into the parties held at Downing Street. While the country was clonfined to their homes – with some unable to spend time with dying relatives - there were reportedly illegal gatherings and celebrations held in Number 10. In response to a question from Starmer about "Partygate", Johnson replied: "The report does absolutely nothing to substantiate the tissue of nonsense that [Starmer] has just spoken - absolutely nothing." Johnson continued to try and score a cheap political point through fuelling a conspiracy theory that harms victims above all else, adding: "Instead, this leader of the opposition, a former director of public prosecutions -although he spent most of his time prosecuting journalists and failing to prosecute Jimmy Savile, as far as I can make out - chose to use this moment continually to prejudge a police inquiry."
Starmer consequently stared the PM down, presumably in anger and disgust. Two days later, at Prime Minister's Questions, the Labour leader opened with: "Theirs is the party of Winston Churchill, our parties stood together as we defeated fascism in Europe, now their leader stands in the House of Commons, parrottng the conspiracy theories of violent fascists to try and score cheap political points, he knows exactly what he is doing -- it is time to restore some dignity."
This unwarranted, false, and completely out-of-context comment was then cheered by some Johnson loyalists, however, it was palpable that a large chunk of the Conservative MPs behind the PM was not impressed.
Days after the comment was made and circulated throughout the entirety of the British mainstream media, four of Johnson’s closest aides all resigned from the offices of Number 10. Johnson’s government lost Policy Chief Munira Mirza, senior civil servant Martin Reynolds, Director of Communications Jack Doyle, and Chief of Staff Dan Rosenfield. This dealt a hard blow to Johnson’s already-struggling chances of survival as PM.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer later told journalists: “Being honest, I wouldn’t have said it’’, publicly distancing himself from the PM, and stating that it was ‘’for the prime minister to decide’’ in response to calls for an official apology.
Then, on Monday night, exactly a week after the PM’s comments, the Leader of HM’s Opposition, Sir Keir Starmer and Shadow Foreign Secretary, David Lammy were attempting to leave the Parliamentary estate when they were suddenly chased down and subjected to hurls of abuse by far-right conspiracy theorists.
Starmer was met with chants of “’traitor”, ‘’paedophile protector’’, “you should be hung’’ and ‘‘c*nt’’ repeatedly. This harassment persisted, as flurries of people attempted to break through the police shield that had been formed for his security. When it became clear that Starmer would not be safe enough to walk down the road, the police made the decision to bundle him into a police car and evacuate the area, which was met with angst by the mob.
Minutes after the clip was posted online, MPs from all parties united to condemn the abuse they had witnessed, with Shadow Ministers and MPs from the opposition benches calling on the PM to make an official apology to Starmer at the despatch box as soon as possible. Even Conservative MPs have blamed the incident on Mr Johnson’s comments.
Chair of the Parliamentary Standards Committee, Labour MP Chris Bryant explained that what occurred resembled the plot from a Trumpian playbook. He believes that, if such behaviour persists, the country could face a very dangerous future.
The PM eventually tweeted: "The behaviour directed at the Leader of the Opposition tonight is absolutely disgraceful. All forms of harassment of our elected representatives are completely unacceptable. I thank the police for responding swiftly."
There has been no official response from Starmer, however, his team told reporters that he was safe, had returned to his desk, and went to play his weekly 5-a-side football match shortly after the incident.
Still, no apology has been made by the PM and the consequences of his words could cause more damage in the very near future.