MPs have spoken about the lengths they are going to to keep safe amid heightened tensions over the war in the Middle East. Some Labour MPs who have been vocal on Israel and Palestine said they were fearful there could be a violent attack on a politician. While the vast majority of people make their views on the conflict known peacefully, MPs and staff said the politically charged atmosphere had brought an increase in abuse and threats. Tan Dhesi, the Labour MP for Slough, said he felt his life was at risk. He has been subject to death threats and faced protests at his office and constituency surgeries since October. He said Thames Valley police had located the individual behind one death threat and charged them. “Everyone has a legitimate right to protest, but it’s the vitriol and the abuse and death threats which are completely unacceptable,” Dhesi said. “Some people are looking to blame somebody – their MP, councillor, anyone.” Like other MPs, Dhesi has had to take extra security measures since October, and now has a police presence at his constituency surgeries. “This will deter a lot of good people from entering politics simply because they know they have to basically get accustomed to a lot of abuse,” he said. He added that disinformation was making the problem worse. “I fear that someone sooner or later will be very seriously injured, if not killed, based on what people are perceiving to be the truth.”
Margaret Hodge, the Labour MP for Barking who once faced down a challenge in her constituency from the then British National party leader Nick Griffin in 2010, said that since October she had taken extra security precautions, including wearing a panic alarm. “I’m more careful about changing my route walking to the tube station or if I’m coming home,” she said. “I look more carefully around me.” She recalled resolving to go to John Lewis to buy a reading light before realising it was the Saturday of the first big pro-Palestinian march in London. “I just thought, ‘This is crazy Margaret – there will be loads of people in central London’. I didn’t do it,” she said. It was the same day that Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, was mobbed by pro-Palestinian protesters as he walked through Victoria station. Hodge said she had seen an increase in threats and abuse, of which her staff bear the brunt. “Anything we think is awful, we go to the police. Some of my Muslim colleagues have been having a much harder time than I have.” A Muslim Labour MP who asked to be kept anonymous said they had received a “very serious death threat” before Christmas for being vocally pro-Palestine. “I live with my young children in my constituency and I hid it from them,” they said. “It’s an incredibly lonely place to be when you are worried about your family but can’t share it with them.” Several MPs argued on Friday that fears of intimidation and abuse should not be used to shut down legitimate protest, nor should pro-Palestine protesters be depicted as a mob. Diane Abbott, a former shadow home secretary, said on X: “I get more abuse and threats than most MPs. But the suggestion that police could close down peaceful demonstrations outside MPs’ offices, town halls and parliament is appalling.” Jess Phillips, the Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley, said on the social media platform: “Level of Islamophobia people are displaying currently is sickening. My constituents, family and friends are not Islamists, they do not hate any of these things. They are not a mob, they are just people. No one bullied me (any more than on any issue).” Lindsay Hoyle, the Commons speaker, sparked a debate on the intimidation of MPs this week when he broke parliamentary protocol to allow three separate votes on a ceasefire in Gaza. An emotional Hoyle told MPs he had taken his decision, which allowed Labour to dodge a difficult vote and sent the Commons into uproar, because he was fearful of an attack on MPs. “I don’t ever want to go through the situation of picking up a phone to find that a friend, of whatever side, has been murdered by terrorists. I also don’t want another attack on this house,” he said. Parliamentary staff said Hoyle’s decision had them “in the middle of a storm” and placed them at increased risk.
One parliamentary worker said her colleagues had received messages since the ceasefire votes accusing them of being “complicit in genocide”. Another had received voicemail messages saying they had “blood on their hands”. A staff member for an MP said it was “only a matter of time” until “the worst happens”. They said abuse had become normalised and that MPs had a platform to speak out about it, but staff do not have the same ability. A fourth parliamentary worker said Hoyle had created more risk for staff because of the perception that the Commons was undermining debate about Gaza. “Instead our safety is being used to defend decisions to undermine these debates, which then makes us a greater target,” they said.