On Sunday 27 September 2026, 94-year-old Jewish retired barrister Margaret Owen was among around 200 people arrested for opposing genocide outside the Labour Party Conference. A day later, Andy Burnham’s new foreign secretary Ed Miliband gave his conference speech in Liverpool. Margaret Owen was an old friend of his late mum and she told Skwawkbox she has a few words for him.

Miliband told the conference that Palestine protesters had been right and the government wrong. But Labour keeps arresting protesters as ‘terrorists’ anyway. And he claimed the idealism of his late, Holocaust survivor parents and their sense of responsibility drive him to oppose ‘oppression and injustice’.

But what he left out was that if his own mother, Marion, was still alive and healthy today she would probably also have been getting arrested right next to Margaret for protesting against her son’s government’s collusion in genocide. They had often protested together as part of their years of anti-war and pro-Palestine campaigning.

This is not a stretch. Marion’s Times obituary even referred to an sit-down protest she held in the 2000s when she made her eldest son, David – foreign minister at the time – step over her to get into Number 10. The Observer‘s obituary quoted another of Marion’s friends:

[Marion] became known as “WOW” to friends when speaking of the governments in which her sons served, not out of amazement but for her frequent lament of “why, oh why”.

Margaret Owen: why oh why indeed

Speaking to Skwawkbox by video link, Margaret Owen reminisced about her recently-passed friend Marion. She talked about Ed Miliband’s speech, his announcement of sanctions and her continued friendship with him. She also covered international law, Labour’s war on protest and free speech rights, the UK’s colluding judiciary – and what she wants Miliband to hear from her:

https://www.thecanary.co/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/M-Owen-Miliband-290926-hb-2.mp4

Share widely and perhaps he’ll get the message.

Featured image via Defend Our Juries

By Skwawkbox

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