Mike Freer: MP who wears stab vest reveals string of vile abuse ahead of quitting

An MP who narrowly avoided the killer of Sir David Amess has revealed the string of vile abuse he's suffered and said he was staggered by death threats aimed at other politicians.

Conservative justice minister Mike Freer has become so worried for his safety that he's standing down at the next General Election.

He said parliament should publish a report each year to highlight the number of threats MPs are being bombarded with.

Speaking to ITV News London, the MP for Finchley & Golders Green said he was called a 'Jewish homosexual pig' during an event where he met voters.

The threats became so intense Mr Freer started wearing a stab vest to public events.

"After Ali Harbi Ali [man who fatally stabbed Southend West MP Sir David Amess] if I was doing something, a public event where my presence was known - so I do like many MPs what's called a supermarket surgery," Mr Freer said.

"Stand by the front door. You've got your pull up banner and people come and chat to you, but it's advertised.

"So on those kind of events, I would wear a stab vest," he added.

Ali Harbi Ali had watched Mike Freer's Finchley office before going on to stab Sir David Amess to death during a constituency surgery in 2021. Mr Freer's office was also targeted in a suspected arson attack.

He added: "I think the final straw was the arson attack. So as people probably know, like every MP, you get low level stuff these days, you know, the abuse and graffiti on the office that you kind of take on the chin.

"But I think the arson attack on top of a couple of fairly serious incidents. "Such as Ali Harbi Ali - he'd come to Finchley first. And by a pure fluke of luck, I wasn't in Finchley that day.

"Otherwise, I suspect I would have been attacked and possibly dead. And before that, I had a run in with a group called Muslims Against Crusades. "Rather unsubtly said they would come to Finchley to stab me with the implicit threat.

"So there have been numerous kinds of incidents which had unnerved both me and Angelo, my husband.

"But the arson attack really was the final straw. So after that, Angelo's view was it doesn't really matter what the motive is.

"You know, you're done. So that was really was what made us think that we can't go on."

Mr Freer said threats often came from a group banned by former Prime Minister Theresa May called Muslims Against Crusades.

"When three individuals broke through into the [constituency] surgery the first line of abuse was you’re Jewish homosexual pig because many people assume I'm Jewish, which actually I'm not," he explained.

He said standing down as an MP wouldn't mean an end to his support for the Jewish community, her would just "find another platform for doing it".

Asked about the Prime Minister's reaction to him quitting as MP for Finchley and Golders Green, he said Rishi Sunak was "disappointed" but "entirely understanding".

But many colleagues and constituents have begged him to change his mind, "I think that boat has sailed," Mike added.

Asked what surprised him most about the reaction your colleagues to his resignation, Mr Freer said he was "staggered" by how much abuse was aimed at MPs.

He added: "The week after I made the announcement, four Labour MPs told me that they had death threats

"Why didn't I know that? My personal view is that Parliament should publish at least an annual report saying this is what's happened this year."

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