Good morning. In 2014, a backbench Labour MP named Shabana Mahmood lay on the floor of her local Sainsbury’s in protest against the sale of products made in illegal Israeli settlements. A week later, she spoke to crowds at a Free Palestine protest in Hyde Park, of the “compassion and humanity expressed for the people of Gaza … from every race and every religion.”
Compare and contrast with the 2025 Shabana Mahmood, now home secretary, whose new policies could see people arrested for the very same actions. She has just announced a fresh tranche of anti-protest policies that would allow police to re-route, and potentially shut down protests which repeatedly take place in the same area because of their cumulative impact.
