Does this seem like bandwagon-jumping by Angela Rayner?

For context, this is the incident to which she is referring:

As you can see, there was no attempt at physical contact, let alone violence, by the bereaved Palestinian and his fellows upon Rayner or her colleague Jonathan Reynolds. In fact, they were subjected to violence by police who were in the hall in Stockport within seconds. Clearly they had been told to be on hand in case such an event happened, to rob protesters of their voice.

The only criticism that may reasonably be levelled at the hecklers is that they were too forceful – but these are people who have witnessed appalling atrocities and are experiencing deep difficulties in getting anybody to listen, due to mainstream media and political support for Israel. Rayner and Reynolds are a part of that.

Fortunately, people are seeing through the smokescreen:

Rayner said she had altered her behaviour and was no longer leaving her house after the Stockport incident and the resignation from politics of Tory minister Mike Freer, who said he had received threats:

The article said the Justice Minister had received several threats to his personal safety, but admits that these have been since the Tories negotiated their way back into government with the Liberal Democrats in 2010.

These include narrowly missing a meeting with Ali Harbi Ali, who murdered fellow Tory MP David Amess, at his constituency office. It seems Freer has worn a stab vest at public events in his constituency since then.

The MP has said he was first targetted by a group called Muslims Against Crusades in 2011, who said the stabbing of Labour MP Stephen Timms should be “piercing reminder” to politicians that “their presence is no longer welcome in any Muslim area”.

He told The Daily Mail a suspected arson attack at the constituency office in December was “the last straw”.

The MP, who has pro-Israel views and represents a heavily Jewish constituency, said: “No MP can operate effectively without the support of their spouse and wider family. Sadly the serious incidents place intolerable stress on them too.”

His decision not to stand for re-election led to a debate in Parliament:

Threats to personal safety are never an acceptable form of behaviour – but they are, sadly, a normal part of day-to-day life if a person is a public figure. Even This Writer – working on and publishing a comparatively low-popularity political website – has received numerous threats since starting Vox Political in 2011.

And what exactly constitutes threatening behaviour? Rayner suggested the incident that we can see above has changed her own behaviour, but also mentions other incidents. What are they? Does she mean messages like this?

That’s just free speech; a person pointing out – in a forceful way, certainly – the kind of atrocities that have spurred others to make such impassioned pleas to politicians as we saw in Stockport.

There is also the issue of selectivity; we are being asked to sympathise with people like Rayner and Freer, but it seems Rayner and her supporters like Lucy Powell have no sympathy for MPs in their own party who have also suffered:

Here’s a bit of background on Ms Begum:

She was (allegedly?) a victim of domestic abuse, coercive control and financial abuse during her short marriage to a Tower Hamlets councillor, Ehtashamul Haque, between 2013 and 2015.

She was falsely accused of council housing fraud and had to go through a lengthy trial, at the end of which she was cleared of all charges.

Then details of her home address were distributed to all members of her local Labour Party in a letter to her that was described as “potentially libellous and intimidatory”.

She has been involved in a lengthy Labour Party complaints procedure ever since, and released an update on it in which she says she has felt “gaslit” by the party while continuing to suffer “harassment” and – yes – death threats.

Here’s her statement:

She wrote:

The process has been extremely distressing and damaging to my health in and of itself.

I have felt gaslit and have continually expressed my serious concerns at the Labour Party complaints procedure and whether it is able to respond appropriately to domestic abuse.

I have persevered because all I have ever wanted is a chance to live freely and have equal opportunity as a Labour Party member and a Labour Member of Parliament.

This has just not been the case.

The ongoing harassment, the brutal vexatious eight-day trial in 2021 and the illegitimate trigger process conducted whilst I was certified off sick in 2022 are unjust, undemocratic and unacceptable.

I have had to cope with this alongside the heightened Islamophobic abuse, the death threats and risks to my safety.

Have Rayner, Powell or any other supporters of Keir Starmer had the decency to say or publish a single word in support of their colleague?

This Writer hasn’t seen any.

Couple all of the above with StarmerLabour’s apparent willingness to deselect MPs who oppose Israel’s genocide in Gaza, before the general election…

… and what does it all look like to you?

To me, it seems Rayner and the others in the Labour leadership are just another gang of Islamophobe cheerleaders for the Gaza genocide. Will they even try to prove me wrong?

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