Death threat forces Jenrick to get restraining order
Robert Jenrick has been forced to take out a restraining order against a man who sent him a death threat.
The shadow justice secretary received the threat in a voicemail message during the final week of his Conservative leadership campaign last autumn.
It comes amid growing threats to the safety of MPs, and after an arson attack that allegedly targeted Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, at the start of last week.
The Telegraph can disclose that Mr Jenrick took out a restraining order last month against a 41-year-old man in Surrey who was convicted of a malicious communications offence.
On April 2, the man pleaded guilty to sending an offensive, indecent, obscene or menacing message by a public communication network.
Court records show that this took the form of a voicemail message in which it is understood the man threatened Mr Jenrick by saying he would 'smash his head to s---'.
Further threats are believed to relate to the Tory frontbencher's home and family.
The man was sentenced to 60 hours' unpaid work but avoided a jail sentence. He has been ordered not to contact Mr Jenrick or his constituency office until April 2027. The man was also forced to pay £85 in costs, as well as a further £114 surcharge.
A source close to Mr Jenrick said: 'If people think threats will silence Rob, they need to give their head a wobble. This only makes him more determined to keep going.
'Rob just brushes these things off, but not everyone can do that. The constant threats and attacks on politicians will stop the good people we need from entering politics.'
'An attack on democracy'
Two MPs have been killed in the past decade while performing their public duties.
Jo Cox was fatally shot and stabbed just before holding a constituency surgery in 2016, and Sir David Amess was killed during a constituency surgery in Southend in 2021.
At the end of last week, Roman Lavrynovych, a 21-year-old Ukrainian national, was charged after two properties and a car linked to Sir Keir were torched in suspected firebomb attacks.
On Saturday, another man, 26, was arrested at 1.45pm at Luton Airport in connection with the fires.
Speaking at Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday, Sir Keir described the incidents as an ' attack on democracy '.
The Speaker's Conference, an extraordinary committee convened by Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Commons Speaker, is expected to make recommendations about improving MPs' safety within weeks.
Vijay Rangarajan, the chief executive of the Electoral Commission, said the authorities must do more in response to social media abuse as well as deepfake porn targeting female MPs.
Mr Rangarajan said: 'We've seen some horrendous social media abuse and deepfake porn of prominent female politicians and some others on social media.
'All of that is criminal and actionable but at the moment when someone gets some of this horrendous stuff, their instinct is to delete it and to ignore it because they don't want to amplify it.
'A pilot finding who's behind this and prosecuting them when it meets the threshold is working well in the Scottish Parliament, and we want to see this rolled out more broadly.'
He went on to say the quality of interactions between voters and candidates had decreased, and that a rising atmosphere of intimidation was 'putting off candidates from standing'.
'Wave of intimidation in public life'
Lord Walney, the Government's former adviser on political violence, said the attacks allegedly targeting Sir Keir must lead to greater protections for MPs in their constituencies.
He told The Telegraph: 'The alarming attacks on the Prime Minister's house and related properties underlines why we need a zero tolerance approach to elected representatives being targeted in their homes.
'For too long, too many have tried to blur the line between legitimate protest and appalling intimidation that can put people's families at risk.'
Lord Walney warned of a 'wave of intimidation in public life' that he said was 'fuelled by extreme activists' who risked driving people out of politics altogether.
'The apparent links between the attacks related to Sir Keir also highlights the need for better intelligence and data sharing between police forces,' the peer said.
'My review found weaknesses in the system which meant that criminal incidents targeting MPs in their constituencies were not always properly flagged through to the Westminster-based monitoring and acting on threats to elected representatives.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
39 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Labour at war over spending plans as Number 10 tries to stem threat from Farage
Sir Keir Starmer is fighting to quell mounting Labour tensions over how to deal with the threat from Nigel Farage, as bitter Whitehall negotiations over the Government's Spending Review go down to the wire. Sources describe 'very unpleasant' exchanges between Rachel Reeves and senior Cabinet ministers, including Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and Local Government Secretary Angela Rayner, as the Chancellor prepares to give the NHS a £30billion boost at the expense of the police and local councils. Preparations for Wednesday's announcement have been held against the backdrop of slamming doors and raised voices, as No 10 and the Treasury work out how to divide a limited pot of public money in a way most likely to arrest the surge in support for Mr Farage's Reform UK. Ms Reeves is expected to set out plans for an extra £113billion in spending on infrastructure projects such as Sizewell C nuclear power plant, and an extra 2.8 per cent real-terms increase in the NHS's £200billion-a-year budget, amounting to an extra £30billion by 2028. But with the economy barely growing, other departments have had to take a hit as a result. A source said: 'It turned nasty between Yvette and Rachel. It was just as bad as that between Rachel and Angela, who walked out during her negotiations. 'Yvette was just passing on the concerns of the police, who said that without more money they would be forced to make stark choices about which crimes they prioritise. 'The anger of the police shows they've been briefed by Cooper on how the negotiations are going, and they're not happy.' Reeves plotting £3bn tax raid on pension By CALUM MUIRHEAD Rachel Reeves is planning a £3billion tax raid on millions of pensions. The new Pension Schemes Bill lays out a blueprint for companies to take out 'surplus' cash from certain schemes. The theory behind the plan is that companies can use the money to invest in their business and that would fuel growth. But experts fear this could lead to a repeat of the Robert Maxwell scandal of the early 1990s, when the late tycoon stole £400 million from his staff pension fund to prop up his companies. The Chancellor, who is desperate to raise tax revenues, would benefit because any 'surpluses' released are taxed at 25 per cent, which could raise almost £3billion over a decade. The bill, tabled in Parliament last week, will affect old-style pension schemes where retirement incomes are linked to people's pay packets, which have around nine million members. A minister said: 'The negotiations over the final settlements are still not sorted for some departments. They're going to carry on fighting it out over the weekend.' Another source added: 'Rachel will stand up and promise things she can't deliver. There will be a lot of guff about how she will deliver security for the country. 'But how can you promise to deliver security when Trump's doing what he's doing on tariffs and Putin is so active?' At the heart of the schism is an ideological divide between the party's Blairites, represented in No 10 by Liz Lloyd, Sir Keir's head of policy delivery, and Morgan McSweeney, the Downing Street chief of staff. Mr McSweeney is desperate to tackle small boats migration while Ms Lloyd is encouraging spending more on the NHS. Rachel Reeves is planning a £3billion tax raid on millions of pensions. The new Pension Schemes Bill lays out a blueprint for companies to take out 'surplus' cash from certain schemes. The theory behind the plan is that companies can use the money to invest in their business and that would fuel growth. But experts fear this could lead to a repeat of the Robert Maxwell scandal of the early 1990s, when the late tycoon stole £400 million from his staff pension fund to prop up his companies. The Chancellor, who is desperate to raise tax revenues, would benefit because any 'surpluses' released are taxed at 25 per cent, which could raise almost £3billion over a decade. The bill, tabled in Parliament last week, will affect old-style pension schemes where retirement incomes are linked to people's pay packets, which have around nine million members.
Daily Mail
39 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Whitehall staff are flouting the Supreme Court ruling on biological sex 'by telling transgender women it's okay to use the female toilets'
Civil servants are flouting the Supreme Court ruling on biological sex, with some declaring it is 'completely the choice' of a man who is transitioning to choose which bathroom they use. A message sent to officials by the LGBT + network in the Department of Transport after the landmark court judgment said staff can decide themselves if they can use 'any appropriate single sex toilets and other facilities'. 'It is assumed that the individual knows which facilities are the best match for their gender identity and expression,' it added. The message, obtained using Freedom of Information requests, was sent to staff on April 22, the week after the Supreme Court ruling that men who change gender are not legally women. It says 'HR have assured us that all current guidance and policies still stand' and gives the example that a recently transitioned man may need to 'build confidence in his new gender expression' and that the bathroom they choose is 'completely his choice'. Members of LGBT+ networks in other government departments also sent messages expressing disappointment with the court ruling, including staff in the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology being told: 'While the judgment itself is outside of our hands, we want to say clearly that we're disappointed by the decision.' A message sent to officials by the LGBT + network in the Department of Transport after the landmark court judgment said staff can decide themselves if they can use 'any appropriate single sex toilets and other facilities' Elliot Keck, of the TaxPayers' Alliance, which compiled the research, said: 'The correspondence demonstrates how out of control staff networks are.' A Government spokesman said: 'Staff networks do not set policy in this space. We will update policy wherever it is necessary.' It comes as another report, by think-tank the Policy Exchange, has found that dozens of organisations question the Supreme Court's ruling on the definition of a woman. Independent MP Rosie Duffield said: 'Government ministers must lead from the top to ensure public bodies comply with the law.'
Daily Mail
39 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Is Angela 'Two Homes' Rayner paying the council tax surcharge on her grace-and-favour second residence?
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner was last night facing questions over whether she is paying her own council tax surcharge on her second home. 'Two Homes' Rayner moved into her four-bedroom, grace-and-favour residence in Admiralty House in December – four months before her Local Government Department started levying an extra 100 per cent council tax charge on second homes. Official records of MPs' expenses show that when she entered the Government, Ms Rayner designated her Ashton-under-Lyne constituency home as her 'primary residence', and her pre-Admiralty home – a rented London flat – as her second home. That allowed her to claim back the £1,621 council tax bill on the London flat from the taxpayer as one of the housing costs reimbursed by Commons authorities. But if she is still designating Ashton as her primary residence now, the £2,034 council tax bill for Admiralty House doubles to a whopping £4,068 if classed as a second home. And, as a minister living in an official residence, she would have to pay both that and the £3,338 bill for the Ashton house herself – a total of £7,406. Ashton does not attract a second-home premium because she has family members living there permanently, but questions have been raised as to whether or not she is paying the full £7,406. Tory Shadow Minister Richard Holden asked the PM and the Chancellor if they were paying council tax on their Downing St flats as primary residences, and was informed that they were. If she is still designating Ashton as her primary residence now, the £2,034 council tax bill for Admiralty House (pictured) doubles to a whopping £4,068 if classed as a second home But on asking the same of Ms Rayner, he was stonewalled with: 'The Deputy Prime Minister's council tax responsibility is properly discharged.' In a letter to Ms Rayner, Kevin Hollinrake, Shadow Secretary for Housing and Communities, asked if she had evaded the surcharge by 'flipping' her primary residence designation. He said: 'If the minister in charge of council tax has dodged the super-tax by 'flipping', this raises serious concerns about the ethics and integrity of Labour ministers.' She became known as 'Two Homes' Rayner after this newspaper revealed she shuttled between two council properties early in her marriage. When her office was asked if she was paying a bill of £4,068 in London and £3,338 in her constituency, a source said: 'The administration of council tax for Admiralty House is for the Cabinet Office and Westminster Council, as has been the case for successive Secretaries of State.'
