Final vestige of the summer of discontent

Paramount to this is a control of language, something which landed him in hot water (I do not envisage a trip by Mr Johnson to Liverpool any time soon) as a writer and has this week, as PM, perhaps defined his time at Number 10.

There was an uncomfortable atmosphere around Westminster, not all of it down to the muggy September air and violent downpours – a final vestige of the summer of discontent.

It is difficult to traverse at the best of times, with the volume of tourists and commuters, without having to walk-by the sea of protestors, some with signs which make uncomfortable reading – “traitors”, “enemies of the people”, “betrayal”.

Official advice is to make sure you take your lanyards or official passes off as you leave restricted areas – advice now offered at the Scottish Parliament too – such is the permeable fear of another horrific attack on an MP, staff member, police officer or journalist who happens to be in the course of their employment.

Since the monumental rulings of the Supreme Court earlier this week, those caught out appear to have stoked up the militaristic language surrounding Brexit.

Mr Johnson and leader of the House Jacob Rees-mogg refuse to stop referring to the Benn Bill as “The Surrender Act”, evoking worrying language towards their own colleagues as if an act of parliament was a “betrayal of the people”.

Outside the Houses of Parliament, I saw one man dressed in full Knight Templar chainmail, holding a sign calling MPS “traitors” – the same language used by the fascist who murdered MP Jo Cox, whose memory was sullied across the chamber earlier in the week, leaving many MPS in tears.

Another hoisted an effigy of Mr Johnson from a noose, in full view of the police and tourists gathered around the scaffold-clad Westminster building.

This choice of adversarial language and attitude is far from accidental. When a general election is called, it will likely be pitched on a “people vs parliament” footing, removed from party loyalties.

Mr Johnson and Mr Rees-mogg are popular, my colleagues from down south tell me, in constituencies which have voted only Labour for the last half century. To convert that popularity into votes, they will need to pitch themselves not as the firm-rooted establishment, but the heroes of the people.

Mr Johnson said he would deliver Brexit “no ifs, no buts”. If he continues to tarnish the sovereignty of parliament, pitching it as something built “against the people”, he might just do so. But it would betray every democratic belief he has claimed to hold dear.

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Picture: PA. Official advice is to take off passes when leaving restricted areas in Parliament for fear of an attack.