It was all so calm, so British.
But when a Labour lawmaker picked up the mace in the House of Commons on Monday evening to protest Prime Minister Theresa May's decision to put off a Parliamentary defeat for her Brexit deal, he was making a statement with revolutionary echoes in more than 300 years of British history.
Lloyd Russell-Moyle, wearing tan trousers and a blue jacket, walked purposefully down the central aisle of the House of Commons and picked up a 1.5-meter-long (5-foot-long) piece of priceless silver jewelry. He held it up before carrying it toward the door, where it was seized back from him by two women in black frock coats.