U.K. Police Chiefs Raise Concerns Over Johnson’s Brexit Rhetoric

(Bloomberg) -- Senior police officers have raised concerns that the language being used by Prime Minister Boris Johnson and others is increasing the safety risk to politicians as the U.K. heads toward a divisive general election.

Police chiefs are stepping up security for Members of Parliament as the debate over Britain’s divorce from the European Union becomes ever more fractious, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Johnson was challenged repeatedly by women from opposition parties in the House of Commons on Wednesday and asked to moderate his language. Several said they had received death threats using words like “surrender” and “betray,” which the prime minister used in his comments on Brexit.

A 36-year-old man was arrested Thursday at the office of Birmingham MP Jess Phillips, West Midlands said. Phillips told LBC Radio that her staff had locked themselves in after someone started kicking at the door and shouting that she was a “fascist.”

Police see elections, when candidates and activists go door-to-door canvassing support, as a particularly dangerous time. It is difficult to provide effective security while also maintaining the openness and approachability that characterizes U.K. politics, according to the person, who was speaking on condition of anonymity because the plans are private.

Tensions

Former Home Secretary Amber Rudd, who quit Johnson’s cabinet earlier this month in protest at his Brexit strategy, said the prime minister’s rhetoric is stoking tensions.

“The sort of language I’m afraid we’ve seen more and more of coming out from Number 10 does incite violence,” she told the Evening Standard newspaper in an interview published on Friday. “It’s the sort of language people think legitimizes a more aggressive approach and sometimes violence.”

The women who raised their fears with Johnson in Parliament have genuine concerns, Rudd said, and it is “terrible” that the premier had brushed them off. Johnson dismissed the fears about “inflammatory language” raised by Labour MP Paula Sherriff as “humbug.”

“The best way to ensure every parliamentarian is properly safe, and to dial down the current anxiety in this country, is to get Brexit done,” Johnson said.

‘Disgrace’

Former Labour leader Ed Miliband said the prime minister’s comment, which he said suggested the safety of MPs “should depend on the way they vote,” was “a disgrace.”

The threat to British politicians is not theoretical. Jo Cox, a Labour MP and passionate pro-European, was murdered during the 2016 Brexit referendum campaign, and in May, a neo-Nazi was jailed for life for plotting to kill Rosie Cooper, another Labour lawmaker.

Kim Leadbetter, Cox’s sister, told Sky News that Johnson should “think very carefully about the language he uses.”

Even Johnson’s sister, Rachel, called the prime minister’s remarks “tasteless” and “highly reprehensible” in an interview with Sky News.

But Johnson doubled-down on his rhetoric on Thursday, telling Tory MPs that he won’t be bullied into changing his language. He also denied that his choice of words had contributed to threats against MPs.

“It’s important to be able to use a simple English word like ‘surrender’ in a parliamentary context,” Johnson told the BBC. “I was sitting opposite people who were shouting all sorts of things at me all afternoon that were far, I’m afraid, harsher than that.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Stuart Biggs in London at sbiggs3@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Robert Hutton, Thomas Penny

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