Sauce for the goose…

Few of us would have any sympathy for the gang who’ve been hanging around Westminster posing as French ‘Yellow Vests’ to hurl abuse at Remainer MPs and anyone else believed to support a second referendum who crosses their path outside the Houses of Parliament. Their mouthy spokesman is an admirer of Donald Trump and a vocal supporter of the Free Tommy Robinson campaign, whilst the rest look like the usual dregs seen on racist marches or outside the pub at ‘football lads’ rallies.

But we have none at all for Anna Soubry and the other bleeding hearts in parliament who are calling for police action to clear Parliament Square of those who have been routinely calling MPs who support the European Union (EU) “Nazis” and “traitors” over the past few weeks.

John Bercow, the Speaker of the House of Commons, has now called on the Commissioner of the Metropolitan police, Cressida Dick, to address “as a matter of urgency, a number of incidents of aggressive, threatening and intimidating behaviour towards MPs and journalists” around College Green, a grassy area opposite parliament used by broadcasters.

“There seems to be a pattern here of a regular coterie of burly white men who are effectively targeting and denouncing members whom they recognise and dislike – most notably female and those from ethnic minority backgrounds,” Bercow wrote.

"It's a type of fascism. Let's be quite clear about that, it's a type of fascism. Women and ethnic minority citizens, in particular, are being targeted. I don't say that they're the only people on the receiving end of this completely unacceptable behaviour but they have been and are being deliberately and disproportionately targeted. That is not acceptable and we have to ensure that something is done about it," Bercow later told MPs.

His call has been endorsed by at least 115 MPs, including Blairites who regularly dismiss Leavers as “racists” and “fascists” and those who said nothing when George Galloway, then a Respect MP, was beaten up by a Zionist thug in 2014.

These are the worthless politicians who are endlessly plotting to replace Jeremy Corbyn as Labour’s leader. These are the people who call Corbyn’s supporters “Nazis” because they support the legitimate demands of the Palestinian Arabs. These are the people who support the austerity regime that has plunged millions of working people into poverty and despair. They claim to “work for us” but they only work for themselves. In the old days they would claim to be one of the people. Nowadays they seem to think that they are a different breed who, like Roman patricians, are above reproach.

Heckling and general abuse was once a regular feature of British politics when those who sought our votes had to actually tread the streets to woo the electorate. Although the hustings have largely gone, personal abuse, lies and smears remain the stock in trade of all bourgeois politicians who cannot justify their self-serving politics by any other means. They don’t mind doling it out but they soon bleat when it’s turned against them.