On a Monday afternoon in a bamboozling warren of offices next to the Palace of Westminster, Caroline Lucas is in yet another hurry. Forty-five minutes into the first part of our conversation, she reminds me that she has to sprint to the House of Commons to make sure her voice is heard in a debate – this time about Iran’s attack on Israel, and the RAF’s role in shooting down some of the drones involved. As usual, there is an inescapable obligation to fulfil: as the sole Green party MP, she says, she has no choice but to be there.
A few hours later, I watch her contribution online: an eloquent, confident, slightly weary voice, delivering an argument unheard from either the Tory or Labour frontbenches. “Like the whole House, I condemn the attack on Israel by the tyrannical Iranian regime, just as I deeply condemn the atrocities of Hamas, but I am also incredibly concerned that our prime minister has now pitched the UK into a perilous war,” she says. When Rishi Sunak gets to his feet, his reply lasts all of 10 seconds: “I am completely comfortable that what we did over the weekend was the right thing,” he says. And that’s that: the point Lucas was making, it seems, was not even worth considering.
