Britain should not indulge extremists

The weekend blockade of printing plants by climate change extremists was a test of the democratic credentials of all politicians. Sadly, those on the Left were found wanting.

With a few notable exceptions, Labour’s response has been slow and half-hearted to what was by any measure a gratuitous attack on one of the fundamentals of a free country. Indeed, some in the party even praised Extinction Rebellion (XR) activists for stopping the distribution of newspapers, including The Telegraph.

From Sir Keir Starmer, Leader of the Opposition, we heard nothing for 36 hours. Might this have something to do with the fact that the publications targeted were not obvious supporters of the Labour Party? Had the action been taken against The Guardian or the Daily Mirror, would his response have been so dilatory?

His advisers insisted that nothing should be read into the delay but it allowed Labour MPS like Dawn Butler and Diane Abbott to make the running in lauding XR. Ms Butler removed a laudatory tweet when pressed to do so by party managers but Ms Abbott likened the blockade to the hunger marches of the Thirties. What baloney.

This attack on our fundamental freedoms should have united all politicians in their condemnation. Other media outlets should have reflected this outrage, yet the coverage by the BBC seemed to lack conviction. The new Director General, Tim Davie, has promised a less parti pris approach from his journalists, but he clearly has a big task on his hands to change its cultural and corporate instincts.

This sense that XR and other activist organisations like Black Lives Matter should be indulged whatever they say and do extends even to the police, some of whom “took the knee” to show their support for BLM protesters even as the latter breached rules forbidding large gatherings.

Although almost 100 arrests were made at the printing works, the police initially allowed the blockade to take place on the grounds that it was an expression of the right to demonstrate.

But that is not the case if the lawful activities of others are being curtailed. We saw the same approach last year when XR extremists brought much of London to a standstill.

The law has developed in this country to allow people to protest while protecting the freedom of others to go about their business. It is not a legitimate exercise of the right to demonstrate to cause so much disruption that normal day-to-day activity cannot continue, however strongly people might feel about the cause they espouse. They think they can do what they want because they are convinced of their own rectitude.

But more than that, the very premise for their attacks on newspapers with which they disagree is phoney. The publications do not ignore climate change but regularly run articles on the impact of global warming on our lives. XR also besieged the offices of several “Right-wing” think tanks that have published reports on green technologies and routinely hold debates on these issues.

The difference is that neither they, nor we, subscribe to the anarchistic, anti-capitalist, destructive ideology that underpins much of this movement. Their proposals would impoverish the world and plunge billions into penury yet the sanctimonious, largely middle-class, group behind XR think that unless the story is covered in the way that they decree and given the prominence they demand, then newspapers should be silenced. Their pernicious arrogance should alarm us all.