Perhaps the strangest thing about the Unite the Kingdom rally was just how unremarkable it felt. There were no mass chants calling for the death of particular groups, no calls for the eradication of foreign countries, and no flags of terrorist groups or tyrannical theocracies waved in the crowd. Nobody cited scripture to urge the slaughter of another people, nobody waved terrorist symbols, and nobody I saw during the entire day covered their face.

Of all the political protests we’ve witnessed since Labour won the general election – and we’ve witnessed many – this was the one he chose to obstruct repeatedly

Of all the political protests we’ve witnessed since Labour won the general election – and we’ve witnessed many – this was the one he chose to obstruct repeatedly

We live in such peculiar times that this is what set the march apart from the dozens of others which have descended on the streets of London over the last couple of years, totally unchallenged – even protected – by the police and our government. Yet this outlier was the first march Keir Starmer decided to speak out against since taking office as Prime Minister, threatening police action and the full force of the law against those involved, and pulling out all the stops to block foreign speakers from entering the country at the last minute. Of all the political protests we’ve witnessed since Labour won the general election – and we’ve witnessed many – this was the one he chose to obstruct repeatedly. This was the hill he chose to die on.

And just in case anyone had forgotten what the other type of march looks like, they handily held one just around the corner so we could compare and contrast. The far-left omnicause supporters took to the streets........

© The Spectator