The past week has been a tumultuous one. With British politics further drifting into dangerous and unfamiliar territory we have seen several unpleasant and disturbing occurrences. Not least the distortion and disruption of our democratic process last Wednesday over the Gaza Ceasefire debate, but also an alarming rise in threats of violence, and worse, issued to MPs and other representatives. To add to my further concern and disappointment, I was shocked and saddened to hear that an Ipswich resident and member of our local community had pleaded guilty to two counts of sending communications of death or serious harm to the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan – this is entirely unacceptable and cannot be tolerated to happen in a civilised land.

Sadly, in recent times, this is a danger that most of us who engage in public life, especially the political sphere, have to deal with. I myself have received a number of death threats since being elected in 2019, with eight of them happening since the events that occurred on October 7 in Israel last year. Having been on the receiving end of equivalent criminal behaviour I understand the damage and distress this causes politicians and their families, even changing the way we go about the basic process of doing our jobs – me now having to consider security, much more than should be necessary, to represent the views and concerns of the people of Ipswich.

It is unfathomable and impermissible that, in Britain, you can’t have robust debate about grave and serious issues without such ugliness and threat of violence taking hold – suggesting that we are slipping into a very dark epoch. As many believed the parliamentary process itself was determined by such fears and threats last week.

The impartiality of the Speaker of the House of Commons is at the cornerstone of parliamentary democracy. MPs of all parties and all opinions rely on the chair’s judgements about who is called to speak, on what and when, that are fair and reasonable.

The same need for balanced judgement from the Speaker and his deputies as to what motions are debated and voted upon matters too. So, when the current Speaker (former Labour MP, Lyndsay Hoyle) chose to bow to pressure unfairly and unwisely brought to bear by (current) Labour leader Kier Starmer, it wasn’t the detail of the subject at hand – the current conflict in Gaza – that mattered most, but the credibility of Mr Hoyle’s vitally important role. For the Speaker is the most senior and ought to be the most honourable of all honourable members, whose authority depends upon the respect of the whole house, but respect must be earned and deserved.

I have no doubt that Speaker Hoyle was compromised, or that cynical Kier Starmer was prepared to compromise him, to avoid the political cost of a vote on Gaza which would have split his party. No one who aspires to be Prime Minister should allow himself to bow to pressure from thugs and fanatics. Lyndsay Hoyle made the wrong decision and has apologised but his fate may now depend on Labour’s Kier Starmer having the decency to apologise too, for he is the real villain of this sorry saga.

As militant protesters intimidated Members of Parliament with threats of violence, the spectre of Islamist Extremism moved from the streets of Westminster to the floor of the House. Islamist Extremism is one of the greatest threats to national security and the wellbeing of our country and those who reside here that we face today. We need to deal with this frankly existential issue robustly and be firm and effective in our response to it, whilst never losing sight of the fact that the majority of law-abiding British Muslims are peaceful people who are as appalled as the rest of us – keeping the debate within a framework of civility.

Surely all this makes it evident that we should stand in unity to this threat and that Kier Starmer’s actions, although reprehensible, do in fact at least suggest that he may share those concerns and fears. It is only through the defence and protection of the values and sentiments that define our nation and its ancient parliamentary democracy, can we weather this storm and emerge in nationally calmer waters.

Tom Hunt is Conservative MP for Ipswich