Abuse in politics is not new.

No amount of cajolery, and no attempts at ethical or social seduction, can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party. So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin.

Aneurin Bevan 1948

No amount of cajolery, and no attempts at ethical or social seduction, can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party. So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin. Aneurin Bevan
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/aneurin_bevan_408938

No amount of cajolery, and no attempts at ethical or social seduction, can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party. So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin. Aneurin Bevan
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/aneurin_bevan_408938

BBC Wales website carries a report  two Welsh MPs have said abuse against politicians has "definitely got worse", both online and in person. 

It says 

David Davies, Conservative MP for Monmouth and Carolyn Harris, Labour MP for Swansea East, said they had received "threatening" personal abuse.
It comes after a cross party committee called for a new code of conduct for MPs, Peers and workers in parliament.
They said members of the public were launching personal attacks rather than debating them on politics.
Speaking on BBC Radio Wales' Sunday Supplement, Mr Davies said abuse against politicians was on the rise.

"It's definitely getting worse," he said. "I noticed at the last election there was a level of unpleasantness I haven't seen before.
"I was involved in a row this week which is on YouTube and people said I was aggressive but I'm not going to sit and take a load of rubbish.
"The first thing you see on the video is a protestor saying to me 'you are the worst piece of scum I've ever met'. If I went up to somebody in the street and said 'you are the worst piece of scum' I would expect a fairly robust response.

"People think because he's an MP they can do that and get away with it...we shouldn't have to put up with stuff that nobody else would put up with."

A Conservative LGBT group recently  apologised over a tweet which criticised a Mr Davies  views on transgender rights.

LGBT+ Conservatives objected after the MP for Monmouth said someone with male genitalia is "definitely not a woman".
The group's Twitter account said David Davies's views were "abhorrent" and also appeared to imply a swear word in the same message.
Mr Davies called the language "appalling".


 
Ms Harris, also on the programme, said much of the abuse came from social media.

She said was particularly targeted after the death of her eight-year-old son in 1989, but also after shadow home secretary Dianne Abbott wished her husband a happy birthday earlier this year.
"I've had it online and I've had in in person. I find people who have got nothing valuable to say or haven't got a good argument will just turn it into aggression to try and make a point.
"I think social media's played a big part in it. Keyboard warriors are now a lot braver because they have avenue to channel their hate."

 Whilst I sympathise  with Ms Harris and other abused politicians. I wonder why they do not point  out that many on the right taking the lead from the likes of the Sun and Daily Mail.

Why is such language from members of the public deemed unacceptable  on social media whilst newspaper Editors are allowed   to put this crap on the front page.



 


As Another Angry Voice points out

Yes some noisy protesters turned up to interrupt a Jacob Rees-Mogg speech, but Rees-Mogg went over to talk to them and they certainly didn't "attack" him as claimed by desperately dishonest outlets like the (Daily Mail owned) Metro in their coverage of the incident.

As Rees-Mogg was talking to the protesters, one of his supporters waded in violently, striking a young woman twice in the face, escalating the scene from unruly but peaceful protest to a violent melee. 

The mainstream media and a whole bunch of politicians (including a load of clueless Labour Politicians) mindlessly regurgitated the hard-right Guido Fawkes/Breitbart propaganda line that the violence was instigated by the left, when the video evidence proved that it was instigated by the white-shirted Jacob Rees-Mogg supporting goon.

The outrageous Tory opportunist Brandon Lewis even used the Orwellian misrepresentations of this incident smear Jeremy Corbyn and launch a new government crackdown on political protest to supposedly protect free speech.

 Bevan's "vermin" remark - one of the most famous jibes in politics - was adroitly turned against the Attlee government by Tory speakers, who pretended it insulted their voters rather than policy makers. 

David Davies is no shrinking violet and i find his views on a whole range of subjects  to be appalling,   but those of us who oppose him should not give him, the opportunity to  play the victim, but we should also not reduce ourselves to the level of the gutter press and the far right ,.

 

We must continue to protest against those in power vigorously, but  take care that it does not play into thier hands.