Note to Labour: don’t tackle Priti Patel over ‘black lives matter’

For many MPS in the Commons yesterday, talking about the weekend’s protests must have been awkward. On the one hand, they wanted to stress their support for the right to protest, and their support for this protest in particular. But on the other hand, they also wanted to stress that there was a pandemic on – and holding mass gatherings, therefore, was extremely risky.

As Priti Patel told the Commons in a statement: “The right to protest is integral to our fundamental democratic freedoms.” However, she added: “The severe public health risk forces me to urge the public not to attend future protests.”

True enough, it isn’t easy to organise a rally that’s socially distanced.

How this conundrum can be resolved remains to be seen. Perhaps the Home Secretary will make a further statement, to provide clarity on the Government’s position.

“Mr Speaker, I’ve been very clear. Anyone wishing to stage a protest should hold it in their own home. If they wish to riot, they are permitted to do so with up to six other people in their back garden, provided that while fighting they maintain social distancing at all times. If their garden does not contain any statues of 17th-century slave traders, they are advised to pull down a garden gnome or bird table.”

To begin with, yesterday’s exchanges in the chamber were reasonably calm.

Tensions grew, however, when Labour MPS started to question Ms Patel’s grasp of the protesters’ motives. “Does the Home Secretary understand that people want to see action from this Government?” cried Florence Eshalomi (Lab, Vauxhall). “Black lives matter, and we need to see this Government doing something about it.”

Ms Patel stiffened. “I’m saddened that the honourable lady has effectively said this Government doesn’t understand racial inequality,” she said. She had clearly been stung.

“It must have been a very different Home Secretary who as a child was frequently called a ‘p---’ in the playground,” she said, coldly. Her voice quivered with quiet anger. “A very different Home Secretary who was racially abused in the streets. Or even advised to drop her surname and use her husband’s, in order to advance her career.”

‘Her reply turned into a deeply personal mini-speech – and was loudly hailed by the Tories behind her’

Her reply ended up turning into a deeply personal mini-speech that lasted over two minutes – and was loudly hailed by the Tories behind her.

Opposition MPS repeatedly asked Ms Patel about statues of slavers and colonialists: did she agree they should all be removed? The Home Secretary, however, flung the blame back at Labour. Asked about the statue of Edward Colston that was pulled down in Bristol, she retorted: “Why didn’t the Labour mayor remove it?”

Asked by Labour MPS whether she would support the removal of similar statues, she told them to “join me in lobbying Labour councils where they’ve been in charge for many years”.

For reasons of social distancing, there may have been few Tories in the chamber. But they all cheered her on.