Tag Archives: safety of MPs and journalists

Whatever happens with Brexit, our MPs and Journalists need to feel safe

By Chris Key | Sat 30th March 2019 - 11:02 am

Last weekend’s People’s Vote March passed off peacefully. I missed it because it was my daughters birthday but it would have been an amazing family atmosphere.

Yesterday by contrast, saw disgraceful scenes outside Parliament. A Channel 4 film crew was jostled by pro Brexit protestors. One person was arrested for assaulting a police officer in central London and additional arrests were made.

Frankly we should hardly be surprised.

Perhaps this was a reaction to Nigel Farage’s call for a “revolution” to save British politics in the Daily Telegraph on Brexit day?

In 2017, Farage also told us that he would “pick up a rifle” if Brexit isn’t delivered.

Betrayal is at the core of their message. No matter that the language of war has already seen one MP killed or that others have received death threats to the point that Anna Soubry was told by police not to go home last weekend.

When Soubry was labeled a Nazi by one protestor before Christmas, fellow MP Kate Hoey re-tweeted a piece by spiked which talked about the “confected outrage” over the incident. If a fellow MP won’t stand up for you in the face of such aggression, then something has gone badly wrong in our democracy.

Of course Anna Soubry is being protested against – spiked https://t.co/GLWM4pn0rw

— Kate Hoey (@KateHoeyMP) December 20, 2018

This febrile atmosphere has also been created by the Prime Minister herself with her ill judged attempt to pit MPs against the people last week in a desperate attempt to get her deal through Parliament. Her friends in the media have never taken the time to apologize for penning by lines about judges being “enemies of the people” or rebel Tory MPs being “mutineers and saboteurs”.