Scenes witnessed on January 6 on Capitol Hill, traditionally respected as the seat of American Democracy were “disgraceful”, as the UK Prime Minister commented but “disgraceful” does not reach the heart of the matter.

What the world witnessed was the will of the mob - an insurrection. Democratic processes, as we would expect them to function in US, might never do so again for many years. Those from the UK, who attended President Trump’s inauguration, openly supporting his candidacy and proudly wearing his emblematic red baseball cap have played their role too in shattering these processes.

The UK should not dismiss what happened in the US as something which is removed from us. On August 28, 2019, Parliament, OUR seat of Democracy, was prorogued by the Queen on the instruction of the incoming Government on the advice of its leader, the current Prime Minister. His advice was later declared to have been unlawful.

The response from the perpetrators of prorogation was not one of contrition or shame but brazen defiance and a threat to curtail the power of the judiciary. The fact that the threat to this country’s legislature came so blatantly from the very people who had waxed lyrical about this country’s need for sovereignty is alarming. An independent judiciary is axiomatic to democratic processes and an enlightened society.

There are still those who sit in the Mother of Parliaments, who instructed, promoted and defended the act of prorogation and willingly sacrificed this country’s seat of Democracy on the altar of megalomania, narcissism and mockery.

It is important to remember that insurrections do not spring from nowhere; they are worked on in advance and then allowed to occur by people who look the other way while supporting the instigator in chief.

B Kelly