Violent threats against MPs 'commonplace', report warns

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/oct/18/violent-threats-against-mps-commonplace-report-warns

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Threats of murder, rape and other violence against MPs have become “commonplace” and have forced many to change their behaviour and take increased security measures when they deal with the public, a parliamentary report has warned.

The conclusion is based on a string of interviews with MPs and published before Saturday’s high-stakes Commons vote on Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal. MPs report that the volume of threats has “dramatically increased” during the Brexit crisis.

Most of the MPs surveyed wanted to remain anonymous, but one, Anna Soubry, the leader of the Independent Group for Change, said she had received death threats and “constant daily abuse through social media and email”.

The MP has stopped holding open surgeries in her constituency for security reasons and will only meet the public on a prearranged basis. Police advised her that if she did hold an open surgery, they would supply an officer to “pat down” anybody turning up.

Death threats started after Soubry was named as one of 15 Brexit “mutineers” in a front page Daily Telegraph article in 2017, while the daily abuse consisted of being called a “cunt” and “fucking bitch” as well as threats of rape.

The committee report also records that one unnamed MP was forced to hide from his flat because police had found a note that “an individual was planning to kill him” until the author was apprehended. In another incident, a person threatened to kill their MP for “not fixing their leaky roof”.

“Such cases are commonplace,” the all-party committee of MPs and peers concluded. “Death threats are frequent.” Social media was not the only source of threats. “We heard about threats by letter and threats from a constituent at a public meeting,” the report said.

Last month, concerns about the growing number of death threats were raised in a stormy session of the Commons. Paula Sheriff, a Labour MP, told the prime minister that many MPs were “subject to death threats and abuse every single day” quoting potential trigger words in political discourse such as “surrender act, betrayal, traitor”.

In reply, Boris Johnson said that her comments were “humbug” although he apologised a few days later, saying he was protesting against any attempt to prevent him using the phrase “surrender act” to describe the Benn act, which outlawed a no-deal Brexit.

In May, a neo-Nazi, Jack Renshaw, was jailed for life after plotting to murder the Labour MP Rosie Cooper. Official figures also published that month showed that crimes committed against MPs had more than doubled to 342 in 2018 from 151 the year before.

The committee chair, the Labour MP Harriet Harman, is concerned that public tensions around the weekend sitting could prompt further intimidation, and wants police to ensure that the political events remain peaceful.

“We cannot have a situation where many MPs are looking over their shoulder,” Harman said. “There needs to be a zero tolerance of threats to MPs. That is not free speech. It’s a threat to our democracy.”

The situation has become so serious, the committee concluded, that police need to be given a broad responsibility “to protect the UK’s democratic institutions” as well as ensuring the safety around Westminster.

The new Speaker of the Commons should also convene a special conference of police, prosecutors, human rights watchdogs and parliamentarians urgently “to bring this together and consider the right of MPs to get on with the job”.