A Momentum activist organising protests against the suspension of Parliament this weekend has threatened to march on Buckingham Palace to demonstrate against the Queen.
The left-wing Corbynista group is calling for people to join protests planned in the main UK cities tomorrow in response to the government suspending Parliament in the build-up to Brexit.
Laura Parker, the group’s national co-coordinator, yesterday called on its followers to ‘occupy bridges and blockade roads’ to counteract what she called Boris Johnson’s prorogation ‘coup’. And last night Mr Corbyn urged MPs to attend the demonstrations.
Now another Momentum chief has called for protests against the Queen and compared the demonstrators to the suffragettes, who fought for votes for women in the early 20th Century.
National organiser Michael Chessum – who previously dismissed’s Jeremy Corbyn’s promise of ‘kinder politics’ in favour of a ‘heads on sticks’ approach – said Momentum is ‘encouraging civil disobedience, in whatever form that takes’.
His comments fail to take into account that the Queen had no choice but to approve the suspension, as her role is procedural and dictated by convention.
He told The Times: ‘There will be disruption and I’m sorry for that but in the face of what Boris is planning, it will be worth it.
‘The suffragettes burnt down the home of David Lloyd George, the chancellor of the exchequer I’m sure that was disruptive for him.’
Anti-Brexit protesters are planning to hold demonstrations in cities around the UK this weekend, encouraged by Labour
Demonstrators gathered outside Houses of Parliament earlier this week to protest against plans to suspend parliament
They have been joined by a number of senior Labour figures, including Diane Abbott, John McDonnell and Keir Starmer
Jeremy Corbyn has backed the protests, calling on his MPs to join them.
In a letter to the Parliamentary Labour Party, he said he would be addressing a ‘major rally’ in Salford on Monday.
He added: ‘There are also public protests this Saturday, and there will be a rally in Parliament Square on Tuesday, and I encourage Labour MPs to be present and to share our message.’
In his letter, Mr Corbyn said: ‘No one voted for Boris Johnson’s shutdown of democracy. That is why the public outrage at his actions has been so deafening, and why I am encouraging MPs to join public protests.’
Meanwhile hundreds of activists from the group ‘Defend Our Democracy’ held an angry rally outside Tory MP Alex Chalk’s constituency office in Cheltenham to confront him over the issue.
Momentum National organiser Michael Chessum compared the protests to those carried out by the Suffragettes
Elsewhere, a former Labour council candidate sparked uproar by tweeting out leading Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg’s home address yesterday and demanding people turn up outside to protest.
Police confirmed officers were braced for a large presence outside Jacob Rees-Mogg’s home in Somerset this evening after plans of a protest circulated on social media.
Howard Simpson, a former Labour councillor candidate in Bath and North East Somerset, sparked outrage by tweeting out Rees-Mogg’s home address and demanding people turn up outside to demonstrate.
Mr Simpson later deleted the tweet after being lambasted for encouraging ‘mob bullying’, but not before the address had been retweeted to thousands of people.
Nine campaigners gathered briefly outside the MP’s country home at 7.30pm before being moving on by police.
By 8pm, dozens of banner-waving demonstrators had moved to his constituency office in Midsomer Norton for a protest organised by local Labour supporters.
Momentum’s National Coordinator Laura Parker earlier announced plans for the group to grind the streets of the UK to a standstill in protest against Boris Johnson’s decision to suspend Parliament and hamstring MPs’ attempts to thwart a No Deal.
An elderly protester holds a single sheet of paper with a stark warning outside Rees-Mogg’s office tonight. She warns that shutting down Parliament is a slippery slope to creating a dictatorship
A protester heads towards the Somerset MP’s constituency office with a huge banner, with ‘Parliament rules OK!’ scrawled on it, under his arm
Cheltenham MP Alex Chalk was yesterday forced to come out of his constituency office after Angry crowds of anti-Brexit protesters hounded him from outside
In an extraordinary escalation of the Remain anger which has been bubbling up in the wake of the Prime Minister’s request to prorogue, Miss Parker vowed to join an occupation of the roads surrounding the Palace of Westminster.
Momentum, which emerged out of Jeremy Corbyn’s 2015 party leadership victory, will mirror the tactics employed by Extinction Rebellion by gumming up the transport systems in cities across the country.
Ms Parker’s grassroots rallying cry came as hardline Europhiles began to unload their fury at the government’s shock move.
Announcing the nationwide movement, Ms Parker said: ‘Eton educated, millionaire Boris Johnson is stealing our democracy so he can sell off our NHS to big US corporations in a no deal, Trump first Brexit.
‘This is an establishment coup by a tiny, privileged elite who have been eroding our democracy for decades.
‘Real power doesn’t sit with the Queen or in parliament. It’s with us, the people – and that’s why we need to take action.’
She added: ‘There are thousands of us who will join an occupation of Parliament and block the roads before we let Johnson close the doors on democracy.
‘Today we’re going to contact all Momentum supporters and encourage them to protest, occupy and blockade on Saturday.
‘Our message to Johnson is this: if you steal our democracy, we’ll shut down the streets.’
It comes after Jeremy Corbyn announced he will launch a formal bid on Tuesday to stop a No Deal Brexit and prevent the suspension of Parliament.
In an extraordinary escalation of the Remain anger which has been bubbling up in the wake of the Prime Minister’s request to prorogue, National Coordinator Laura Parker (second from left) vowed to join an occupation of the Palace of Westminster.
Momentum’s Laura Parker and Michael Chessum have been drumming up support for the protests and asking for funds
Mr Rees-Mogg, pictured in Westminster this morning, said MPs would have to show ‘courage and gumption’ if they are to stop Boris Johnson’s Brexit plan
The Labour leader said he would kickstart a bid to block a chaotic split from Brussels on the first day that MPs return from their summer holidays.
He confirmed that he will try to seize control of proceedings in the House of Commons in order to pass a law to force the PM to secure a Brexit delay from the EU in the event the two sides do not have an agreement in place by the October 31 deadline.
It is unclear exactly how Mr Corbyn intends to reverse Mr Johnson’s decision to prorogue Parliament for five weeks in September and October but his comments set the scene for all out war in the Commons next week.
Mr Corbyn said this afternoon: ‘What we are going to do is try to politically stop him on Tuesday with a parliamentary process in order to legislate to prevent a No Deal Brexit and also to try and prevent him shutting down Parliament in this utterly crucial period.’
Mr Corbyn’s comments came after Jacob Rees-Mogg told Remain-backing MPs they had two ways of stopping a No Deal Brexit: Pass a law to stop the UK leaving the EU without an agreement on October 31 or try to topple the government.
He appeared to taunt Europhile MPs when he delivered his extraordinary challenge as he suggested they did not have the ‘courage or the gumption’ to act.
The Prime Minister stunned the nation yesterday as he secured permission from the Queen to prorogue Parliament at some point in the week beginning September 9 until October 14.
The plan to ramp up demonstrations against the government follows yesterday’s mass rally in Parliament Square.
Momentum is now calling for further demonstrations across the country on Saturday and on Tuesday when Parliament reconvenes.
Mr Johnson insisted that he called for a Queen’s speech to unveil an ‘exciting’ new domestic agenda.
But the move has been widely interpreted by critics as a ploy to ram a No Deal Brexit through Parliament by not giving Remain MPs the time to seize control of the order paper.
Somerset Police confirmed officers were braced for a large presence outside Jacob Rees-Mogg’s constituency home this evening after plans of a protest circulated on social media
As grassroots campaigners geared up to take to the streets, Mr Corbyn confirmed he will try to seize control of proceedings in the House of Commons
Mr Johnson has promised to take Britain out of the bloc on October 31 ‘do or die’ and with or without a deal but his preference remains leaving with an agreement.
The premier was accused of behaving like a ‘tinpot dictator’ by angry MPs yesterday but Mr Rees-Mogg said Mr Johnson had done nothing wrong as the Commons Leader laid out his challenge to them.
He told the BBC: ‘All these people who are wailing and gnashing of teeth know that there are two ways of doing what they want to do.
‘One, is to change the government and the other is to change the law. If they do either of those will that will then have an effect.
‘If they don’t have either the courage or the gumption to do either of those then we will leave on the 31st of October in accordance with the referendum result.’
The Commons Speaker John Bercow and Mr Corbyn both said Mr Johnson’s decision represented a constitutional outrage.
But Mr Rees-Mogg said the British constitution is ‘a robust and flexible one’ which can ‘bend to the passing storm as it has done over previous centuries’.
Momentum rabble-rouser calling for street blockades against ‘Eton educated, millionaire Boris Johnson’ is a failed MEP and former Eurocrat who (without a hint of irony) claims ‘personal attacks mean you’ve lost the argument’
The Momentum organiser calling for street blockades against ‘Eton education millionaire Boris Johnson’ is a failed MEP candidate and former EU employee who has repeatedly argued that ‘personal attacks mean you’ve lost the argument’, MailOnline can reveal.
Laura Parker, 48, the national coordinator of the hard left organisation, joined the group following an 18-month stint as Jeremy Corbyn’s personal secretary, and before that worked for the European Commission.
Today she accused the Prime Minister of a coup and of ‘stealing democracy’, but just last year she told The Guardian: ‘In my experience, when people start talking about things as sinister or untoward, it’s because they didn’t go their way.’
This spring Laura Parker was parachuted in to a sought-after high position on a Labour list of MEP candidates, in a move which drew howls outrage from many in the party for being grossly undemocratic.
But she failed to win a seat in the European Parliament despite the back-office manoeuvring, rejected by the voters of London in a 13 per cent swing away from Labour.
She voted Remain in 2016, said she ‘never wanted to start’ Brexit, and wants to abandon and reverse Britain’s plans to leave the EU, possibly via a second referendum.
Tonight Momentum coordinator Laura Parker accused Boris Johnson of a ‘coup’ and of ‘stealing democracy’ whereas last year she said: ‘In my experience, when people start talking about things as sinister or untoward, it’s because they didn’t go their way’
Today Ms Parker announced plans for her 40,000-strong group to bring the streets of the UK to a standstill in protest against Boris Johnson’s temporary suspension of Parliament which will hamstring MPs’ attempts to thwart the possibility of No Deal.
In an extraordinary escalation of Remainer anger Miss Parker vowed to join an occupation of the roads surrounding the Palace of Westminster, declaring: ‘Eton educated, millionaire Boris Johnson is stealing our democracy so he can sell off our NHS to big US corporations in a no deal, Trump first Brexit.
‘This is an establishment coup by a tiny, privileged elite who have been eroding our democracy for decades.
‘Real power doesn’t sit with the Queen or in parliament. It’s with us, the people – and that’s why we need to take action.’
The former EU Commission employee called Johnson an ‘Eton educated millionaire’ just one year on from criticising ad-hominem attacks as ‘the oldest trick in the book’ adding they were a case of ‘if you can’t defeat an argument, attack the individuals’
She added: ‘There are thousands of us who will join an occupation of Parliament and block the roads before we let Johnson close the doors on democracy.
‘Today we’re going to contact all Momentum supporters and encourage them to protest, occupy and blockade on Saturday.
‘Our message to Johnson is this: if you steal our democracy, we’ll shut down the streets.’
Her broadsides against the Prime Minister and his allies do not sit well with her past utterances, many of which were issued when Momentum was attacked for alleged bullying tactics against centrist Labour MPs they were looking to unseat.
In March last year speaking about criticism of Momentum, she told a Novara Media interviewer: ‘It’s the oldest trick in the political book. If you and I start having a scrap about something, or with your partner or my husband, at some point you start attacking the person you’re talking to because you know you’ve lost the argument.
‘There’s been a lot in the press recently about issues to do with one particular council – the argument was lost. And so people have retreated to the next level of defence which is personal attacks.’
Around the same time she told Buzzfeed News: ‘It’s a political attack, it’s the oldest trick in the book – if you can’t defeat an argument, attack the individuals, or in this case attack the organisation.’
And defending Momentum to the Guardian she said: ‘We call it deselection, what does that really mean? It means that Bill wanted to stand for election, again. And the members decided they’d had enough of Bill and they voted for Tom.
‘It’s called democracy. It’s being packaged up as something sinister.
‘But in my experience, when people start talking about things as sinister or untoward, it’s because they didn’t go their way.’
Local Labour campaigners rally outside Jacob Rees-Mogg’s constituency office in Midsomer Norton tonight after being moved on from the MP’s Somerset home by police
Ms Parker, the daughter of a university lecturer and a schoolteacher from Leeds, attended the same local comprehensive school as Tory MPs Liz Truss and Nick Gibb and then studied Latin American history and politics at Liverpool University where she was elected President of the guild of students.
She started her career in the British civil service before going to work for the EU Commission in Bulgaria, and spent several years working for children’s charities in the region.
She lives in a rented house in Clapham which she shares with a friend and told the Times she only sees her husband, an entrepreneur who lives in his native Italy, every few weeks when their schedules allow.