What turned the tone of British politics from civil to bitter?

The admonition was authoritative and stark. “Intimidation in public life presents a threat to the very nature of representative democracy in the U.K.”

But that warning two years ago from the Committee on Standards in Public Life, an independent body advising then-Prime Minister Theresa May, fell on deaf ears. Bullying, insults, and threats have become commonplace in British political life since. And as the current election campaign in the United Kingdom moves into top gear, many politicians fear that things could get even worse.

Some of them can’t face that prospect.

“Nobody in any job should have to put up with threats, aggressive emails, being shouted at in the street, sworn at on social media, nor have to install panic alarms at home,” Heidi Allen, a former Conservative member of Parliament, wrote to her constituents explaining why she is not running for reelection next month.

The “nastiness and intimidation” of public life had “exhausted” her, she wrote.

So toxic has the political atmosphere grown – fouled largely by angry disagreement over Brexit, which has split the country in two – that a quixotic group of prominent political figures last month launched an award for civility in politics “celebrating politicians who behave with courtesy and decency to one another.”

“Politics have gone from occasional belligerence

A lost temperatenessThe taint of BrexitUnsocial mediaPolitical polarizationLooking for moderationWhat chance for reform?