New Iron Lady Priti Is Bravely Tackling The Migrant Crisis

Margaret Thatcher once claimed always to be cheered when her opponents resorted to personal abuse because it meant they didn't have a convincing argument against her policies.

- Patrick O'Flynn

Four decades later, the leading Thatcherite in today's Cabinet, Home Secretary Priti Patel, would do well to keep these words in mind as she braves a campaign against her by the Left-wing establishment.

She has enraged them by seeking to implement Tory principles the Left had assumed it had hounded off the stage.

One major bone of contention is provisions in the new Police and Courts Bill that seek to place restrictions on the way politically-motivated demonstrations are conducted.

A new test about the level of intended disruption being caused will empower the police to arrest demonstrators who deliberately disable key infrastructure such as the energy supply network or the roads.

It is claimed, particularly by some of Patel's critics in the Lords, that this will infringe the right to protest in a free society. Yet the legislation does not remove freedom to demonstrate.

It merely seeks to circumscribe a right seized by militants to steal away freedom from others by blocking the streets or halting the production of hated “fossil fuels” upon which much of civilised life still depends.