What all this confirms is that Islamic identity politics, in which Palestine now plays a pivotal role, is becoming a significant electoral force in the UK. Of course, you do not have to be a Muslim to take an interest in the Gaza war, but polls show that one in four British Muslims names Palestine as his or her most important election issue, compared with just three per cent of the public as a whole.

It seems the victory of George Galloway in the Rochdale by-election in February – a contest he described as a ‘referendum on Gaza’ – was a foretaste of this new sectarianism. The Workers Party of Britain sought to appeal to Muslim voters as Muslims first, Rochdale residents second. Galloway addressed them not as citizens of the UK, electing a member of parliament to pass and scrutinise our laws, but as members of a grieving ummah, to send a message to the ‘Zionist’ enemy and her Western allies. In last week’s elections, we saw this replicated across much of England, with Palestine flags appearing on candidates’ flyers where pledges about public services would ordinarily be.