The silence emerging from the Labour camp in the row over the Moroccan human rights work of their MP Khadija Arib is deafening. Were there any Labour MPs in parliament at all during last night’s shameful attack on Arib?

Certainly very few column inches are given to anything any of them might have said in the press today.
And coalition partner Christian Democrats then? Their only newsworthy comment was that the extra curricular activities of MPs are nothing to do with them. But of course this isn’t the issue.
And where was the usually so outspoken leader of the Socialist Party? If there’s anyone that can match Wilders’ talents for ‘straight-talking’ and appeal to ‘the man on the street’ it’s Jan Marijnissen.
Instead it was left to the brave but rather ineffectual GroenLinks leader Femke Halsema and the small Christian parties to express outrage at Wilders’ unprovoked attack on Arib.
The time to humour Wilders as a harmless political maverick are over. His public popularity surely stems from the fact that he is willing to open his mouth and say what he thinks loudly and clearly in language people can understand.
It’s time other MPs followed his lead – not with politically-careful comments but with passion and a rightful sense of indignation. And perhaps it’s also time for Labour MPs Khadija Kalid, Ahmed Aboutaleb and Nebayat Albayrak to raise their voices too.