Harman calls for Westminster conference to tackle abuse of MPs

Labour MP Harriet Harman has called for a Westminster conference to tackle the abuse of MPs.

Mother of the House Ms Harman said she wanted the conference to happen “immediately” and said it should not have to wait until after the UK is scheduled to leave the EU on March 29.

The renewed push for protection comes after Tory MP Anna Soubry was mobbed by angry men shouting “traitor” and “Nazi” and blocking her entrance to Parliament this week.

“Are all MPs expected to be as fearless as Anna Soubry?” said Ms Harman, who said there had been “too much hand-wringing” but no action to tackle the problem.

She said: “We don’t want to drift into a situation where is does actually become dangerous to be an MP or you’ve got to risk danger, but we have to get the balance right, nobody wants MPs to be feather-bedded.

“We don’t want MPs who are looking over their shoulder, who are keeping their heads down, not holding open surgeries, who don’t travel on their own because they don’t want to come back late at night, this is all actually happening.”

Ms Harman, MP for Camberwell and Peckham, spoke of how she had received death threats but didn’t report it for years because “I didn’t want to look like a victim or that I couldn’t stand up for myself”.

“I only did report it once the Maudsley (psychiatric hospital) got hold of me and said we’ve got the guy here who is threatening to kill you here and we believe him – You’ve got to do something about it.

“So at that point I produced all the letters and things I had been getting for years and the police were absolutely horrified.”

Arch-Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg has also been mobbed by intruders in balaclavas, said Ms Harman, as she said there had been an upswing in abuse against all MPs since Brexit.

“I think undoubtedly there are times when things are more and less toxic for MPs,” she said.

“But the thing about Brexit is it’s people and Parliament so it’s a rather unique thing, plus great division and great toxicity.”

However, a bigger catalyst seemed to be the anonymity afforded by social media, which the Labour MP said was “fuelling” abuse.

“I think it’s worse in a way because somehow the relationship between social media and the ability to get yourself into a great boiling state of anger anonymously has a cumulative effect and seems to licence people doing it in the street,” she said.

“It whips it up, it legitimises it.

“I think in the past the person who was fuming at their MP, they might fume down the pub but they would be unlikely to then all rush out of the pub and do something, so I think in a way it’s the kind of gathering online of the anger.”

“It’s an incredible development for transparency and democracy and I totally think it’s a huge blessing but the downside is that social media is definitely fuelling it as well, especially the anonymity.”

Ms Harman has teamed up with the Father of the House Ken Clarke to ask Speaker John Bercow to organise the conference and hopes organisation can begin from next week “when we’ve got a meeting with the head honchos”.

When asked if Mr Bercow was the right person to chair the conference, given the allegations of bullying against him, Ms Harman said the office of Speaker was “the pinnacle of the authority in Parliament” and Mr Bercow was keen to support the conference.

She said: “I think we just need to get on with it, no definitely, and he has said from the chair on recent occasions when there have been points of order ‘this is awful, something should be done about it’ so he has shown he thinks something should be done about it.”