There are some weeks in politics where what Westminster needs is a monsoon to wash away the toxicity enveloping this place and clean up the atmosphere – and this week is one of them.
Be it the Number 10 agenda this week on better defining extremism, an unruly MP in the shape of Lee Anderson, or a Conservative party donor – seemingly unrelated stories all have something in common – an undercurrent of toxicity in our politics driven by a combination of culture wars and tensions over the drawn-out war in the Middle East, set against the backdrop of an election campaign that is already in full flight despite there being no poll in sight.
It’s not really that surprising. I remember Sir Keir Starmer telling me in an interview at the beginning of the year he was going to “fight fire with fire” against Conservative attacks, setting up the long and bruising campaign we are now living through.
For all the talk about finding consensus, particularly in the battle against the threat of far-right and Islamist extremism that has intensified in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war, what our politicians are looking for are dividing lines.
In Electoral Dysfunction this week, Ruth Davidson, Jess Phillips and I talk about those divisions – and find between us some common ground.
