The Authoritarian Iain Dale

Iain Dale has gone all authoritarian on us, demanding that something is done about those Parliament Square protestors in an open letter to BoJo. Let's see what he has to say:

I'm sure that like me, you cherish our right to protest. But like me you also believe people should obey the law. And also like me, you will no doubt believe that those who have the power to enforce the law should do so.

Tomorrow, the State Opening of Parliament takes place. It will be a magnet for the many tourists who visit the Capital. They will line the route to watch the Queen as she proceeds from Buckingham Palace through Parliament Square.

And what faces her when she gets to Parliament Square? A mini hippy camp. Over the last few years a few tents have been allowed to go up on the edge of Parliament Square. But in recent weeks the whole of the grass of Parliament Square has been taken over by people who don't seem to be there to protest about anything in particular. They even drape the statue of Winston Churchill with their banners.

Right, where to begin... where to begin? I dislike so much about these three paragraphs that I genuinely don't know where to start with this. So let's just start with a random thing; let's start with the pointless royalism. I don't give a fuck what the Queen has to see in her journey from one palace to another. And as someone who used to live in Westminster, allow me to say that I found the tourists far more of a hassle than I ever did the protestors.

And the term "mini hippy camp" sounds like Nixon in his prime. If people are camping outside the Houses of Parliament, then it is always going to look like a campsite. I mean, what does Dale want? People to build houses there? Of course not! He just wants the filthy protestors sent away, so Queenie doesn't have to see the riff-raff on her way to open up the all-new Con-Dem parliament.

The whole Square is an embarrassment to our city and our nation.

Don't be bloody silly. You might find it embarrassing, but you don't have the right to speak on behalf of the city and/or the nation. Personally, I find it a point of pride for this nation that people still want to protest, but that is only my opinion. Like Dale, I don't have the right to speak for everyone in the country. I just don't pretend that I do.

What I don't understand is why you and the Metropolitan Police have done nothing to enforce the law. If you or I launched a one man protest in Parliament Sqaure or Whitehall we'd be swiftly moved on under anti terrorism laws. Why is the law different for these people who now inhabit the Square? I don't happen to agree with the anti terrorism laws, but there are other byelaws which are being blatantly transgressed too. You know that and so do I.

But all this is predicated on the assumption that those laws are just and right. That simply isn't the case. The anti-terrorism laws are not just, they are not right. The laws restricting protest around the Houses of Parliament are an egregious restriction of our right to protest, and a crude attempt on the part of the Nu Labour to remove those dirty hippy protestors from their eyesight when they arrive and leave work. And guess what? Now Nu Labour has been replaced, one of the top bloggers of the dominant party in the Commons now wants to restrict protest around Parliament. Is that the warm, pungent aroma of naked hypocrisy I smell in the air? Maybe not, maybe Dale's always wanted to restrict protest in Parliament Square. But I can't help but feel that the message is that it's alright to protest under Labour, but when Dale's party is in power, then you need to move along.

This is a great example of where we need to change the law. Rather than accept the law unquestioningly for the sake of the Queen and some tourists.

I'm all for a quiet life and am well aware that the people now residing (and that's the right word) in Parliament Square would not go quietly. But a line has to be drawn, and you should draw it now.

I'm not surprised that Dale doesn't care about the forced removal of protestors from Parliament Square provoking protests - after all, his entire post is about restricting protest at the supposed heart of British democracy.

Like most people I am am (sic) embarassed whenever I pass the site, and yet I should feel proud of a Square that is home to the Houses of Parliament, the Supreme Court, Westminster Abbey together with many historical statues.

Once again, Dale feels he can talk on behalf of "most people". Where's the evidence that most people feel that way when they walk past the site? And even if they do, does that makes the protest wrong?

The site outside of Parliament is not just about pretty buildings and pretty statues. It has also come to represent protest, and protest is a vital, essential part of British democracy. It might be unsightly, unseemly, but fuck it. To have a political voice someone doesn't have to be wearing a suit and working in Parliament. Those damned "hippies" in the square are participating in democracy, even if Dale sees them as an eyesore.

Please do something about it. The time for action is long overdue

The time for action is long overdue. We should all be in Parliament Square, demanding our right to protest in front of the so-called "Mother of all Parliaments". We should be protesting for this new government to overturn all the draconian policies of the last administration, and reinstating our right to make our voices heard in arguably the most political space in the whole country. Dale's pathetic post is an example of someone hiding behind the law not because the law is right, or good, but because the law happens to back up his deeply conservative, even reactionary, concerns for the aesthetics of the Queen's view as she comes to Parliament.

In the very first line, Dale states that he cherishes the right to protest. Unfortunately, his letter suggests that he actually cherishes the right of people to protest within the law - which means they have to protest out of his eyeline when he strolls through Parliament Square. I write a lot on this blog about how the Tories at heart are deeply socially conservative, and this is a great example of that. The right to protest is less important to Dale than the right to have your views of those nice old buildings around Parliament unimpeded by those dirty hippies.