A day of chaos that shamed Britain

Today, on one of the most sacred days in our nation’s calendar, the streets of our capital city were marred in two different ways. A crowd of opportunistic far-Right thugs clashed with police near the Cenotaph, attacked the authorities in other places, attempted to disrupt the pro-Palestinian march and yelled “England” during the wreath-laying. These and other acts of disruption made a mockery of their claim to be defending the solemn celebration of a hard-won peace. Close to 100 were rightly arrested.

Elsewhere, the massive march for the Palestinian cause, supported strongly once again by the hard Left, contained within it many acting in an openly anti-Semitic fashion, including displaying grotesque caricatures of puppetmasters, references to Zionism as a disease and other racist imagery. Some carried placards and recited chants that called for Palestine to be free “from the river to the sea”. This is widely understood as a call for the elimination of the state of Israel and the murder or total displacement of its seven-million strong Jewish population. 

It was good to see the Prime Minister call this out in his statement where he rightly made an equivalence between the far-Right thugs and the pro-Hamas sympathisers. He called particular attention to the deplorable fear and intimidation imposed on the Jewish community this weekend. The police must act against those who used the protest to glorify Hamas or demonise Jews. It is extremely important that anti-Semitism is cracked down on as much as the far-Right mob.

The presence of both these kinds of extremism on our streets disgraces our nation and is a sad reflection of the current state of civic discourse and historical memory among our citizens. It is clear that this pattern of protests cannot go on. Every Saturday cannot be marred by such scenes. Some have tried to make cheap political capital by blaming the presence of the far-Right on a recent opinion piece written by the Home Secretary. This is nonsense, and a straightforward attempt at undermining Suella Braverman, whose views on the protests are very closely aligned to those of Tory voters and, in many cases, to the electorate.

It has been said that marching in favour of peace is a respectable cause for Armistice Day. Yet this weekend is a moment when we face together the tragic necessity of war, and its awful cost. We celebrate those who refused to surrender in the face of authoritarian violence, and fought and died to preserve our democratic way of life.

The poem “In Flanders Fields” by John McCrae calls on each new generation to “Take up our quarrel,” on behalf of the brave souls who have already given their lives for freedom. If not, the poet warns, if we break faith with those who fell in the flower of their youth, they “shall not sleep”. Guarding the tradition of liberty on behalf of such overwhelming sacrifice is a high responsibility, which is why we mark it with such ceremony.

No doubt there are many who march for Palestine with the best of intentions, just as there will have been many who detest the far-Right but who objected to any disruption of Armistice Day. Yet a march which calls for a democratic state to lay down its arms in the face of a murderous enemy is not in the spirit of Remembrance. It is its antithesis. Today, however, with the marches over, Remembrance Sunday provides a moment to put differences aside. Today we share our grief and our gratitude for all those who have fought side by side in our defence.

We must never forget the generations who showed their courage in the First and Second World Wars. That includes the soldiers across the Empire of many faiths and ethnicities, including countless heroic Muslims. At least 400,000 Muslims served in the British Indian Army in the First World War, and more than one million in the Second World War. These men fought and died on every front, for our shared values. 

Today, united in sorrow and pride, we honour men like Mir Dast, who received the Victoria Cross having rallied his troops and carried eight wounded officers to safety at the second battle of Ypres in 1915. The battle for freedom is never done, and we must thank too all those who have taken up the quarrel since the end of the Second World War. 
Last night’s Festival of Remembrance at the Albert Hall honoured the two million national servicemen who served from 1945 to 1963, and the 70th anniversary of the end of fighting in the Korean War. It also celebrated the 75th anniversary of the arrival of HMT Empire Windrush, a symbol of the Caribbean contribution to the rebuilding of Britain.

Remembrance Sunday is a deeply personal occasion. At some level, almost every family in this country is touched by loss and pain connected to war. At the same time, in our private grief we are united, because all this agony was endured for the same cause – defending the home we share.

Britain remains a country which is blessed with a robust democratic tradition, and which still has much more that unites than divides it. We must remember that as well.

Remembrance Sunday is a moment when we can all come together, above the political fray. Afterwards, we will have work to do. We must confront the cancer of extremism wherever we find it, whether Islamist or hard Right. We must ensure that our police force is fit for the task in front of it, and we should not be afraid to speak bluntly in defence of our values.