A full-capacity House of Commons met without the yoke of pandemic restrictions for the first time in 18 months, revealing a stark new UK political divide: masks. To see which MPs would be wearing masks (still recommended by government guidelines for crowded indoor spaces) political pundits had been expecting to wait until the return of Parliament in early September. That moment was brought forward when the government called an extraordinary session of the House of Commons for Aug. 18, to discuss the crisis in Afghanistan. The pattern in the full-capacity chamber was clear. On the Conservative government benches only a small proportion of MPs wore masks. The prime minister and most of his Cabinet did not wear masks. On the opposition benches, meanwhile, the Labour leader and his shadow cabinet all wore face coverings, as did most Labour MPs, except to speak. The only government ministers to wear masks were Cabinet …