A pro-Israel activist had planned to sabotage a fringe meeting on Palestine at the Labour Party conference in Brighton this week - booking 150 tickets online with the aim of leaving the seats empty on the night. But he had to think twice about the spoiler plan when police called him to say that the pro-Palestinian camp had expressed concern about the bookings. As the police feared the event could become a flashpoint, he reassured them that "we had no intention of attending" and instead released the tickets.