Tory MP Anna Soubry reports Twitter threats to police after Telegraph 'mutineers' splash
3 min read
Tory MP Anna Soubry has reported five threats against her to the police following the Daily Telegraph’s front page branding Conservative Brexit rebels “mutineers”.
The Daily Telegraph's front page has pictures of Tory MPs who have said they intend to vote against the plan to enshrine the date the UK leaves the EU into law, under the headline: ‘The Brexit mutineers’.
Last night Ms Soubry was among those to speak out against Theresa May’s plan to put a precise date on withdrawal, as the Commons began line-by-line scrutiny of the Government's EU Withdrawal Bill.
Today the outspoken Tory backbencher described the Daily Telegraph's headline as “a blatant piece of bullying” and told MPs her office had reported five or more threats to the police following the splash.
“My office has just reported five, if not more, tweets to the police issuing threats against myself following the front page article on today’s Daily Telegraph.”
She asked the Speaker John Bercow to make clear people have an “absolute duty to report responsibly and make sure they use language which brings our country together”.
Mr Bercow said he was “extremely concerned” at the report of threats and described any attempt to intimidate colleagues as “repugnant”.
“Members of this house are free and duty bound to do what they think is right. Not only is any attempt to intimidate any colleague repugnant, it is also doomed to fail.
“I know her and and I know my colleagues well enough to say that even if there are people who think they can intimidate or even if they think, hypothetically, there were someone in the media who thought he or she could intimidate, that person would be grossly mistaken, members will not be intimidated and they never should be.”
‘IDEOLOGICAL WITCH HUNT’
Labour MP Chuka Umunna later took to Twitter to condemn the threats Ms Soubry had received.
MPs from all over the House have spoken out since the Telegraph’s publication to denounce the splash.
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