I was in the Northern Ireland Office in the 1970s, 80s and 90s when the Troubles were both tragic and highly politically sensitive. One regular accusation against successive British Governments related to alleged political prisoners – arguments that reached a grim climax in the hunger strikes of the early 1980s.

It was some comfort to us – officials carrying out government policies – that Amnesty International consistently found that, whatever else we might be doing wrong, there were no prisoners who by its criteria were political prisoners.

Yvette Cooper’s plan to proscribe Palestine Action has brought back this memory. During the Troubles, Amnesty International specialised in highlighting prisoners of conscience around the world and were highly regarded across a wide political spectrum for their expertise and independent authority. (I regret its loss: it has........

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