Shortly after 1pm on Friday, detectives left the ground-floor offices of the Labour MP for Dewsbury. After talking to Paula Sherriff for more than an hour, West Yorkshire police launched three separate investigations into death threats made against her. All are linked to the fallout from Sherriff’s exchange with Boris Johnson in the Commons on Wednesday night.
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Amid the hate, one theme emerged: many of the abusers were mimicking the language of the prime minister. “People are parroting his words in the emails we are getting: ‘you voted for the Surrender Act’, ‘capitulation’. People are so angry, and the fact that we have a prime minister who is deliberately stoking up this toxic atmosphere is beyond irresponsible.”
Another theme that swiftly became apparent in the abusive messages was an undisguised hatred for women. Sherriff estimates that 70% of the callers are misogynistic, many inquiring about her menstrual cycle or accusing her of being “hysterical”.
Such experiences are shared five miles up the Spen valley in the village of Gomersal, in the constituency offices of Labour MP Tracy Brabin. She joined the fray last week, reminding Johnson that “words have consequences”.
Few MPs are more qualified to make that point: Brabin took over as MP for Batley and Spen after the death of Cox, who was murdered by a local resident a few days before the EU referendum.
Cox’s murder remains raw for many in this post-industrial corner of West Yorkshire and some believe Johnson’s approach is agitating uncomfortable emotions. Since the Commons exchanges on Wednesday, Brabin’s office has received four times the amount of abuse it would normally expect, the MP says. Cox was murdered outside a nearby library, where she was about to hold a constituency surgery, and already police have advised Brabin that she requires police protection. “We’ve had a number of malicious phone calls and we are going to have to have a police presence in our surgery. We’ve had a load of shite that we don’t normally get,” said the 58-year-old.
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Of broader concern is what Brabin and Sherriff describe as an emboldening of the far right in their community. On 12 October the far-right anti-Islam group the Yorkshire Patriots are due to march through Dewsbury in one of the first far-right demonstrations in the area since Cox was murdered. It is an upsetting development for both MPs, whose constituencies include significant Muslim populations. “There really is a growing far-right problem around here,” said Sherriff.
Other sources of concern shared by both MPs include what they describe as the prime minister’s questionable attitude towards women. “We have to get it across to people that he is not a champion for women,” said Brabin.
Yet both know that another bruising week in Westminster may have dissuaded future female parliamentary candidates from stepping forward. Sherriff said one female MP had already told her she would not be standing at the next election because of the level of abuse.
“How can I go to high schools around here and say: ‘Become an MP, it’s amazing’? I want to encourage girls to follow suit, but what if they ask: ‘I am worried about being safe?’”
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