Shortly after 9.30am, the green benches were almost half full. For a minute’s silence to remember the 80th anniversary of the first public declaration of the Holocaust by the then foreign secretary, Anthony Eden, in the Commons. It was a powerful and moving moment. The Commons is often at its best when it says nothing at all.
Then, just as quickly as they had appeared, nearly all the MPs vanished into the ether. They had either done their bit for the day and were taking the opportunity to nip off home early for Christmas or were staging their own strike. Hell, many workers elsewhere in the country were taking industrial action, so why shouldn’t MPs? After all it’s been a hell of a year, what with the three prime ministers. Each, in their own way, worse than the last. Who wouldn’t want to be better paid for dealing with all that crap?
