A Conservative minister quitting parliament over a raft of death threats and abuse has told Sky News: “There comes a point when you just have to say ‘enough’.”
Mike Freer, who has served as the MP for Finchley and Golders Green since 2010, told the Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge he had reached the moment where “the level of risk becomes too much”.
And he said the impact on his family “when they see you going out to do some part of your job in a stab vest” is “really not fair on them”.
The Tory MP also called for action from social media companies to “get to the root cause” of the problem, saying people are “being given the green light to feel they have got open season on their public servants” through the platforms.
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Mr Freer announced his plan to leave the Commons on Wednesday, saying an arson attack on his north London constituency office on Christmas Eve was “the last straw”.
But it was the latest in a line of incidents – including what he described as a “narrow miss” with the killer of his colleague, Southend MP Sir David Amess.
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“The man who went on to kill Sir David came to Finchley first,” said Mr Freer. “And it was purely fluke that I had been reshuffled into a different position by Boris [Johnson] and I ended up being in Westminster and not in Finchley [that day].
“Otherwise I suspect I would have been attacked, because he did say he would come to Finchley armed and with intent to harm.”
