It’s a difficult position modern Britain has found itself in. With an ever-changing, inconsistent political landscape, party leaders seeming increasingly fleeting and elections that come and go, we seem to be heading into a strange ambiguity. Not to mention the post-pandemic, precarious world we’re entering, where the big cloud of tragedy and divisions over vaccines and lockdowns seems like it will loom above us for the foreseeable future. So this recent event of Opposition Leader Keir Starmer being mobbed by anti-lockdown, anti-vax protesters is, though shocking, yet another drop in an already-big ocean.
On the evening of Monday 7th February, Keir Starmer was walking from a briefing on Ukraine at the Ministry of Defence, back to Parliament. Before reaching Parliament he was surrounded and mobbed by the group. They repeatedly shouted ‘traitor’ at him, as well as ‘protecting paedophiles’ and ‘Jimmy Savile.’ Those latter verbal abuses were the result of Boris Johnson’s comments at PMQ’s a few days prior, where he accused Starmer of failing to prosecute Savile when he was Director of Public Prosecutions. This incident should shock and worry all of us, on all sides of the increasingly-divided political spectrum.
Though this is an example of the extreme ends of protest and political anger, it is worrying in a wider, more general sense due to it being indicative of a bigger problem. Politics in Britain has been adversarial for years now. With the grip social media has on the way we consume news and culture, the disconnect between politics and the public and a growing general distrust of politicians and government, opposing political sides are getting more and more angry. One of the most worrying outcomes of this adversity is the endangering and the abuse of elected representatives. This categorically is something that must end and mustn’t creep its way into the political sphere.
To live in a country where our own MPs and the Leader of the Opposition can’t walk between their vital political duties without being accosted, would be no life for any citizen. To have such a growing presence of this abuse of MPs in our culture is symptomatic of the dark place Britain is headed. This is not so much a slippery slope but a steep, dangerous drop that our country is leaning towards. As Tory MP Dominic Grieve said on ITV News, this (the mobbing) is ‘part of a downward spiral of behaviour in our politics.’
The footage of Starmer being mobbed is particularly alarming when we consider the tragedies that have already happened with our MPs. In 2016 Labour MP Jo Cox was murdered by a far-right white supremacist, who shouted ‘Britain first’ as he attacked her. Just a few months ago, in October 2021 Tory MP David Amess was stabbed to death at his constituency surgery; making him the second serving MP murdered in the last five years.
The fallout of this worrying event has resulted in, well not much. Boris Johnson, who evidently inflamed this mob with his Jimmy Savile comments, simply 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’, with no reference to his Savile remarks. Despite the fact that his own MPs have disavowed his comments. Chancellor Rishi Sunak said ‘I wouldn’t have said it’ at a press briefing, and Sir Roger Gale MP on Sky News said ‘I would be saying to the PM, go to the House of Commons tomorrow… and apologise for any part that anything you have said had.’
Even Keir Starmer’s reaction to the incident somewhat downplayed its severity, saying he was soon back at his desk in the Commons and still planned on playing five-a-side football later. Of course, Starmer is the victim in this and he has a right to his own reaction. However, this does seem slightly misguided and leans towards a let’s forget this ever happened type of outlook.
Granted, two people from the mob have been arrested. But what if these protestors are just a handful of many angry, extreme people who see surrounding and verbally abusing our MPs as acceptable behaviour?
And so, here is where modern Britain’s difficult position reveals itself once again. We have two recurrent aspects at play: the first being when political anger and deep-rooted divisions rear their ugly heads, to the point of politicians being abused, and the second being the reaction from those in charge and their tendency to ignore the severity under the guise of moving on.
With those two aspects, we’re left, yet again, in a vague political limbo. A limbo where we seem to react to these concerning events of political division and anger towards our representatives as though they happen with no following consequences. Many MPs will of course know what may follow, but this distinct lack of reaction and concern from the general public will eventually lead to a downward spiral where politics and the public becomes a hostile pairing, with ill-informed mistrust at its centre.
We may be desensitised, we may see scenes like Starmer being mobbed and be initially shocked, only to then move on, worry about other things and scroll down to the next news piece. But these divisions are there, visibly so – this isn’t a silent, invisible problem we’re dealing with and it won’t go away. It’s become more than clear that this hostility between political sides, for Britain’s sake, mustn’t go on any longer.