As part of my work, I have spent the last few years working with politicians from across the political spectrum and with people from many different political parties. I believe strongly in engaging with people I may not always agree with, because that is how healthy political debate should work. This weekend, I attended the Reform Party conference, where I met a number of politicians and supporters and had some genuinely positive conversations. I was also in the main hall, and I have to say that some of the videos now circulating online do not show the full picture of what I witnessed. I do not support violence or intimidation of any kind, regardless of who is responsible. What I did see, however, was a number of protesters not simply heckling, but behaving aggressively towards people attending the conference both inside and outside. I also saw the response from Reform supporters, which at times became heated and fear was high considering the recent murder of Anne. The level of security needed was extremely high and honestly, justified. One moment that particularly stood out to me was seeing completely ordinary people, myself included, standing in a queue waiting for a bus, while protesters attempted to force their way towards us, shouting things such as "Nazi scum" and "racist thugs." The irony was difficult to miss. The people accusing others of being "thugs" were, in that particular situation, the ones behaving aggressively and targeting ordinary people simply because they had chosen to attend a political conference. Anyone entering or leaving the conference appeared to be vulnerable to this kind of confrontation. And it genuinely made me wonder: what happened to being able to have different political opinions without being attacked for them? What happened to healthy debate? What happened to the acceptance of people having different beliefs and political views? You do not have to agree with someone to respect their right to hold an opinion. I have worked with people across the political spectrum, and I will continue to do so. I will also be attending the Conservative Party conference next month, and I will be interested to see whether the same level of protest and confrontation follows there, or whether Reform was specifically being targeted. I will equally be interested to see what happens around the Labour and Green Party conferences. Do they experience the same attempts to confront and verbally abuse their supporters? Do ordinary people attending those conferences receive the same treatment? I am not suggesting that everyone on one side behaves the same way, nor am I excusing poor behaviour from Reform supporters. There is no justification for violence, intimidation or abuse from anyone. But I do think we need to be honest about what is happening on all sides. The police presence was important. Without officers there to prevent confrontations from escalating, I genuinely believe some situations could have gone much further than verbal exchanges. Democracy means accepting that people will have different political opinions. You can challenge those opinions, debate them, campaign against them and try to persuade people to see things differently. What you cannot do is attack, intimidate or abuse someone simply because they disagree with you. Forcing your beliefs onto somebody else and punishing them for refusing to conform is not democracy. Political debate should be about challenging ideas, not attacking people or parties.