British MPs have shared fresh experiences of receiving death threats as they prepare to pay tribute to David Amess in the wake of the Conservative backbencher’s murder in England.
Labour’s Chris Bryant said a man has been arrested over a threat on his life after the MP for Southend West was killed while meeting constituents in Essex.
British justice secretary Dominic Raab spoke of having received at least three threats on “life and limb” in the past two years, with the latest being of an acid attack.
British prime minister Boris Johnson will lead tributes in the UK Commons to Mr Amess later on Monday before MPs and peers attend a service in his honour nearby at St Margaret’s Church.
The killing of the veteran parliamentarian at Belfairs Methodist Church in Leigh-on-Sea on Friday has led to fresh scrutiny over the security of MPs.
Just a day later, Mr Bryant said he received a death threat after returning from Qatar where he has been investigating the situation faced by refugees from Afghanistan.
“I got back on Saturday and the first message in my inbox was this death threat, pretty clear, so I notified the police and they have taken action,” he told the PA news agency.
He said abuse in British politics has risen in recent years, particularly over Brexit and from anti-vaccine protesters who he said had targeted his Rhondda constituency office in the last year.
Mr Raab said colleagues – particularly women – have received “worse abuse” than himself but that he has been the victim of three recent threats that required “intervention”.
“I have had three threats to life and limb over the last two years,” the deputy prime minister told BBC Breakfast.
He told ITV that the most recent threat was of “someone threatening to throw acid over me”.
