The question of whether Donald Trump should be allowed to the UK doesn't need even a minute's consideration

Frank Underwood, the character played by Kevin Spacey in House of Cards speaks directly into the camera as he is about to be sworn in as President of the United States. He says: “One heartbeat from the Presidency, and not a single vote cast in my favour. Democracy is so overrated.” I couldn’t help thinking of this magnificently cynical rejoinder yesterday as MPs fulfilled their contract with democracy by spending three hours of parliamentary time engaged in a completely pointless debate.

They did this simply because it was the public will. Or at least it was deemed to be. More than half a million people had “signed” an online petition demanding that American presidential candidate Donald Trump be refused admission to the UK.

Since 2011, the Government has pledged to debate in the chamber any issue that has exercised the public enough to attract more than 100,000 “signatures” on a petition. I use the inverted commas deliberately. In the pre-digital age – and petitions have been an effective way of protesting to Government since the 18th century – a petition required a certain amount of effort to gain validity. Someone had to go out on the streets and canvass signatures, those who signed also had to leave their homes, and would add their name with a certain amount of consideration.

The online petition is a very different beast. No one has to leave their bedroom, and you’re done with just one keystroke.

I don’t think the question of whether Donald Trump should, if he so seeks, be allowed to visit our shores deserves even a minute’s consideration, let alone all that parliamentary time. Of course he shouldn’t be denied entry: he should be free to make a fool of himself like we all are. In any case, it’s mostly hot air and confected outrage, and the Government, by establishing a benchmark for a parliamentary debate, is making it a numbers game. And where does that get us? A total of 576,000 (and counting) have so far petitioned the Government to stop Donald Trump coming to Britain because of his poisonous views about closing American borders to all Muslims, and yet 457,000 British residents have signed an online petition to “stop all immigration and close the UK borders until Isis is defeated”.

That’s the trouble with democracy. It is indeed messy and complicated and, yes, it might even be overrated. And in the cyber-age, we must remember that there’s a fine distinction between democratic will and mob rule.