In Liverpool and Birmingham party machines whir on, while blood-stirring debate is absent from the agenda

If one of the most memorable images of a party conference is of hands around a human throat, something has surely gone very wrong. Last Monday, on the second day of Labour’s gathering in Liverpool, there it was: as two activists from the campaign group Climate Resistance disrupted the speech by Rachel Reeves, 45 seconds of panic ensued, in which the most vocal protester – who decided to remain anonymous, though he was soon named by the Daily Mail – was violently bundled out in the most grim way imaginable.

I am not sure whether the ugliness of what happened really registered, but the footage makes it clear. “We are still selling arms to Israel,” the protester shouts. “I thought we were voting for change, Rachel. Climate breakdown is on our doorstep.” He lets out a few more words, but they are lost in what happens next: a sudden knock to the floor, quickly followed by one hand curling around the back of his neck to the point that it looks as if he might choke, before another hand momentarily comes close to strangling him from the front.

John Harris is a Guardian columnist

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