Politics just keeps getting stranger in these times during this New Labour government.

Tony Blair had a powder bomb launched at him during a session in the House of Commons shortly after noon yesterday. The purple-dyed flour spilled across his back. Chancellor Gordon Brown was hit by the powder as well, which was packaged in a condom and thrown from the gallery, where members of the public can, after being signed in, question the Prime Minister or other members of his government.

Many are angry at Blair for a variety of reasons: His continued support and nation's participation in the Iraq War, his motives for tying Britain to the proposed European Constitution, for shunning the Rail Unions, etc. But the condom full of colored flour launched from the Commons gallery yesterday wasn't launched by an anti-war activist, a Euroskeptic, a union leader, or any other assorted terrorist.

It was an embittered father, fighting for the right to see his kids and feels let down by Mr. Blair, who angrily disrupted the Prime Minister's Question exchange.

The man at the centre of the powder bomb incident, one Ron Davies, is a member of Fathers 4 Justice, a protest group which campaigns for the rights of fathers to see their children, rights often taken away by court action arranged and supported by their ex-wives/ex-girlfriends. Fathers 4 Justice have also engaged in other bizarre protests, as with last October when two campaigners protested on the roof of the Royal Courts of Justice dressed as Batman and Robin. Also, last autumn, F4J member David Chick scaled a crane dressed as Spider-Man.

Somehow, I don't think taking cues from the risible stunts of PETA are going to gain embittered fathers fighting for their rights much respect. But respect they are owed nonetheless. It's a shame how little men are allowed to decide what happens to their children in cases of abortion (and yet if you are anti-abortion, you're somehow automatically anti-woman) or the break-up of a relationship. The women take all, it seems. I sympathize completely with Mr. Davies and his Fathers 4 Justice.

But Mr. Davies has a lot to answer for, and so does his group. They breached the peace and the trust of Baroness Golding, who invited them to the Common sessions. Although amusing in retrospect, this is in a visceral way, still frightening.

Although a barrier between the public gallery, where Mr. Davies was seated, and the chamber where ministers sit was erected in the wake of the anthrax scare, Mr. Davies was still able to accurately pinpoint the Prime Minister and his henchmen with the flour bomb. This naturally raises questions about how far to go to ensure the security of the House of Commons.

Home Secretary David Blunkett responded to the incident by commenting, "Thank God this has not led to danger or a fatality."

The government is still not entirely sure what to do. Normally, placing trust in one of their peers, such as Baroness Golding, to admit respectable spectators should do the job. Enforcing barriers may be seen as an affront to the democratic process.

But it is clear that after yesterday's incident, though it was harmless, something needs to be done, that the public's right to take part in debates in the Commons isn't breached by security, but then, that security isn't breached.

Indeed, interesting times for poor ol' Tony Blair and New Labour. As if they haven't got enough issues on their plate.