The announcement last week by the justice minister, Mike Freer, that he is stepping away from politics because of violent threats made against him, is further and deeply disturbing proof of the harm caused by such behaviour. Elected representatives should not face this treatment. The danger is not only that they and those close to them may suffer psychological harm or physical attack. It is also that they and others who could contribute greatly to public life are deterred from standing for parliament.
Mr Freer has represented Finchley and Golders Green for 14 years. His letter of explanation described multiple threats and cited his narrow escape from Ali Harbi Ali, the Islamist terrorist who murdered one of his Conservative colleagues, David Amess, in Southend. Ali visited Mr Freer’s constituency a month before the murder. More recently, two people have been charged with arson, following a fire in a shed behind Mr Freer’s office.
