The Labour frontbencher Jess Phillips has opened up about taking anti-anxiety medication amid the experiences and attacks she has faced as an MP, but said: “I’m a tough old bird.”
The Westminster Bridge terrorist attack and the murder of two parliamentarians – Jo Cox and David Amess – had caused “extreme trauma”, Phillips said, but MPs were “just expected to deal with it as part of your job”.
Although all politicians are subject to scrutiny, the shadow domestic violence minister said she sometimes felt under “a huge amount of pressure” and was subject to unacceptable attacks. “I have suffered trauma being a member of parliament, without doubt,” Phillips told Sky News.
She had talked about taking anti-anxiety medication “because of the level of threat that is against me” on a podcast hosted by Tony Robinson, Cunningcast, released earlier this week.
In the episode, Phillips said: “That’s probably a standard procedure these days in the House of Commons. I’m not saying they’re pumping it into the water or anything, although maybe they should. That’s a good idea. But yeah, it’s hard to deal with when you’re at a low ebb with other things in your life; it can really attack you.”
She recalled the 2017 terrorist attack in which five people died, and the murder of two MPs – Cox, who was killed in 2016 by an extreme rightwing terrorist, and Amess, who was killed in 2021 in an Islamic State-inspired attack.
Phillips said: “The idea that you’re not going to get PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder] from that, those sorts of occurrences. I mean … I was with all the families … who either survived terrorist incidences or where families were killed in them, the other day. And they kept saying to me, of course you understand that.
“And I had just completely forgotten that I was in a terrorist incident. It’s just one of those things that we’ve just learned to deal with.”
Parliament went into lockdown when Khalid Masood drove into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before crashing and running into the grounds of parliament with a knife.
Phillips said: “We were locked in for hours and we were pushed to the ground by people with guns. These are incidences of extreme trauma and you are just expected to deal with it as part of your job.
“And Jo was my friend and she was murdered in the street and I literally entered into a state of denial. Actually, I just couldn’t believe it when it happened … But when you start saying that sort of thing, people are like, it’s a wonder you’re not madder.”
Discussing her experiences further on Sky News, Phillips said: “Who knows whether my anxieties are a pattern of my age and other things, but I have suffered trauma being a member of parliament without doubt.
“My dad used to basically say: ‘Just because you’re paranoid, doesn’t mean the rotters aren’t trying to get you’ – but he said it more sweary.
“But the truth is it feels like a huge amount of pressure sometimes and you are under attack as a member of parliament, and there’s a difference between scrutiny and attack. But don’t worry about me. I’m a tough old bird.”
