Following the murder of Sir David Amess on Friday, there has been much discussion about the level of security for MPs and their staff. Amess was the second parliamentarian to be murdered in five years while out meeting constituents, following the assassination of Jo Cox in 2016, the attack on Stephen Timms MP in 2010 and the death of Andy Pennington, assistant to Nigel Jones MP, at his constituency office in 2000. Not for nothing did the security budget for MPs spiral from £170,576 in 2015/16 to £3.5 million in 2018/19.
And while much of the debate so far has focused on abuse targeted at elected representatives, their staff in Westminster and constituency offices also face numerous threats, trolls and attacks. As Tom Tugendhat MP, chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, pointed out: ‘The abuse is so often actually aimed at MP’s staff. People who have just turned up at work to help in the community, solve problems, and pull things together.
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