Minister reveals he has received ‘several’ death threats this year and calls for change in political debate

Trade minister Sir Chris Bryant has said that he has received several death threats this year and called for a change in the tone of political debate.

On the death of Ann Widdecombe, he told The Camilla Tominey Show on GB News: “Every single person in the political sphere, as it were, is really shocked. What an awful set of events. I didn’t know Ann particularly well. In fact, I think I only ever met her once. But I mean, to use the words from ‘I am what I am’, she was her own special creation.

“Our hearts just go out to the family. It must be particularly horrid knowing the tiny amount that we do about the events that have happened, and worrying, wanting to know what exactly has happened. So I’m glad somebody’s been arrested, but obviously I don’t want to jump to any conclusions about what that means at all.”

He added: “We should be worried about the state of the British political debate, which has led to two murders, and you could also add, for that matter, Stephen Timms was viciously stabbed, wasn’t he, in a constituency surgery some years ago.

“In my political lifetime, to have seen two murders and that stabbing, and we’re speculating, aren’t we, a bit about precisely what’s happened to Ann? It has been a very worrying time, and I predicted ages ago, before Jo Cox was murdered, that somebody would get killed if we didn’t take the security of MPs more seriously.

“I’m glad that over these recent years there is an offer to all MPs from the their local police force. I found the police force here be phenomenally helpful. You do have to judge things a bit.

“I can’t tell you how many death threats I’ve had over the years, including several this year, including from one guy who’d only just been let out of prison.

“You’re never quite sure how seriously to take them. Sometimes, of course, it’s not just about you; it’s about your constituency office staff who might be in the office much more than you would be, and there’s anxieties for families and so on. But I am really glad that over the last 10 years, Parliament has taken and government has taken this issue much more seriously.

“I’ve been saying this for many years, I don’t think all the language about traitors and scum and all that, whoever it’s come from, I don’t care. Incidentally, I just don’t think it helps progress. What do most people want in this country? They want people of different political backgrounds to sit down and sort out the problems of the country.

“They want us to come to solutions, not to spend all our time sort of backbiting and screaming abuse at one another. I try to use humour in my own social [media]. I get fairly robust stuff thrown at me on social media, and some of it is very, very horrible.

“How thin a skin do you want politicians to have? You want them to have thin enough skin to be able to read the room, if you like, around them, and not to be remote from everybody else and arrogant and so on. But at the same time, you want them to have thick enough skin to be able to take some of the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.”