Last week Alistair Campbell, the former chief adviser to the Labour Party, was walking to his London home, minding his own business after completing his regular morning jog when some fruitcake stopped him, told him he was “the biggest piece of s**t  I’ve ever seen in this street”, kicked him and then spat in his face.

The abuser then went to the police claiming that Campbell had punched him, a claim which the former politician denies. It’s very similar to the incident in 2001 when the then Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, punched a protester after the man, from close range, had thrown an egg striking the Deputy PM on the face. The difference was that the Prescott incident was recorded by television cameras so we were all able to see the smart right hook expertly thrown by the politician, who just happened to be a former amateur boxer!

It doesn’t matter what we think about the politicians involved in these incidents and it doesn’t matter what we think of their policies. The point is they were both innocent targets of assaults by men who no doubt thought that their victims, as politicians in the public eye, would not respond to their cowardly and unprovoked attacks. However, by law, any victim of assault has the right to defend him or herself provided the defence is proportionate to the attack.

I have no idea whether or not Campbell punched his assailant but I hope he did. We often say that politicians are no different to the rest of us and should not be above the law and that is right. It works both ways however and, like us, they surely deserve the protection of that law. Violence should never be condoned but sometimes neither should turning the other cheek.