The day Britain's democracy failed

As MPs gathered to debate a ceasefire in Gaza, the Commons descended into chaos, with accusations ofbad faith and bias

- Toby Helm & James Tapper

Last week had started well for the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC). Keir Starmer had finally backed calls for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and the Prince of Wales had raised his concerns about the appalling loss of life in Gaza.

But last Saturday, as more than 200 people gathered at Conway Hall in London for the campaign's annual general meeting, optimism that the Middle East debate might be turning the PSC's way had been superseded by puzzlement - and some anger.

"It's not extremist to be against the war," said Fiona Goldie, an activist from Carlisle in Cumbria. "It's the norm to want peace."

She was referring to suggestions that pro-Palestinian activists like her had been in some way responsible for the chaotic scenes inside the House of Commons on Wednesday and Thursday last week, during a debate on the Middle East conflict.

For months MPs have reported feeling intimidated by pro-Palestinian activists in their constituencies and online. The murder in October 2021 in Essex of the Tory MP David Amess by an Islamist extremist remains fresh in their minds. But last week the accusations against pro-Palestinian campaigners widened.

The front page of Saturday's Times reported that the PSC had been trying to sabotage British democracy, no less, and force parliament into lockdown.

Goldie, and others with her, seemed anything but extreme in their methods or views as they went about their business. She told how she and friends had handed out leaflets for months in Carlisle town centre most Saturday lunchtimes. The public, she insisted, was "overwhelmingly sympathetic". "The feedback we get from somewhere as non-political as Carlisle is that people are outraged. They want our government to do something."