In comparing Remainers to jihadis, David Bannerman has given a green light to the far right. He is not the first Brexiteer to try and scare pro-EU activists.

Well that certainly wasn’t written on the side of a battle bus during the referendum: “It is about time we brought the Treason Act up to date” to deal with pro-EU campaigners, said Tory MEP David Bannerman today.

While the original tweet has now been deleted (original below), it was soon replaced with another stating the Treason Act should apply to those “actively working undemocratically” against the UK.

(It is neither here nor there that there is no 1372 Treason Act – there is a 1351 Treason Act which remains in force in amended form, as Open Britain have pointed out).

This type of rhetoric is not an anomaly. It represents the latest in a spate of attacks on free speech by Brexiteers.

As Best for Britain champion Virendra Sharma MP noted: “This type of extremism is the real danger facing this country.” The aim is to stifle debate – to stoke fear among pro-EU campaigners.

But it also gives a green light to those who want to take matters into their own hands against Remainers.

Given that there is no realistic prospect of Treason laws being amended, the message is performative: it declares Remainers to be traitorous. It stands to reason (in their warped logic) that consequently, action must be taken against this high demeanour. And if the state isn’t going to take action, it is left to others.

The juxtaposition with jihadis – via the Telegraph headline – only reinforces this. We fight ISIS with force. If you compare Remainers to jihadis, Remainers must presumably be taken on with the full force of the law. And if the law can’t do it, who will?

Let’s not forget, all this comes amid the UK signing off the deportation of two Islamists, to face their likely execution in the US.

This is the dog-whistle politics of the hard right. It should come as no surprise that Bannerman was only readmitted to the Conservative party in 2011, under David Cameron’s leadership – having previously been UKIP’s deputy leader.

The language of ‘treason’ is not new. It is part of a deliberate campaign to intimidate Remainers.

The use of the Telegraph is interesting. Last November, their de facto ‘wanted’ poster of ‘The Brexit Mutineers’: 15 MPs who opposed the self-defeating policy of enshrining Britain’s departure date in law.

That front page was identified as leading to a torrent of abuse, particularly against – as so often is the case – the six female MPs.

And we saw the Daily Mail‘s ‘enemies of the people’ splash, attacking specific High Court judges after they ruled that Parliament – not the Prime Minister alone – would need to trigger Article 50 to start the Brexit process. (Many have forgotten that the Telegraph ran a very similar front page that day, too).

Then this May, Nadine Dorries called John Major a ‘traitor’ for backing a vote on the Brexit deal.

David Lammy and others hit back at the time, but these are shock and awe tactics. Putting the word out there does irreversible damage – and legitimises a further decline in the quality of ‘debate’.

When decent, democratic debate falls apart, people turn to other modes of expression: the street.

David Bannerman knew what he was doing when he compared Remainers to jihadis. So did the Daily Mail, the Telegraph, Nadine Dorries and all the others. They are banging on the kennel doors.

All parties pledged to uphold reasoned, civil debate after the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox in June 2016. What happened?

Josiah Mortimer is Editor of Left Foot Forward. Follow him on Twitter.

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