Mike Freer: Tory minister quitting parliament says ‘enough’ after raft of death threats and abuse

Published

1 year ago

February 1, 2024

admin

A Conservative minister quitting parliament over a raft of death threats and abuse has told Sky News: “There comes a point when you just have to say ‘enough’.”

Mike Freer, who has served as the MP for Finchley and Golders Green since 2010, told the Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge he had reached the moment where “the level of risk becomes too much”.

And he said the impact on his family “when they see you going out to do some part of your job in a stab vest” is “really not fair on them”.

The Tory MP also called for action from social media companies to “get to the root cause” of the problem, saying people are “being given the green light to feel they have got open season on their public servants” through the platforms.

Politics live: Labour MP details almost 50 years of death threats

Mr Freer announced his plan to leave the Commons on Wednesday, saying an arson attack on his north London constituency office on Christmas Eve was “the last straw”.

But it was the latest in a line of incidents – including what he described as a “narrow miss” with the killer of his colleague, Southend MP Sir David Amess.

“The man who went on to kill Sir David came to Finchley first,” said Mr Freer. “And it was purely fluke that I had been reshuffled into a different position by Boris [Johnson] and I ended up being in Westminster and not in Finchley [that day].

“Otherwise I suspect I would have been attacked, because he did say he would come to Finchley armed and with intent to harm.”

Politics

Jingye and Whitehall officials hold talks over British Steel future

Published

36 mins ago

July 9, 2025

admin

Jingye and Whitehall officials hold talks over British Steel future

The Chinese owner of British Steel has held fresh talks with government officials in a bid to break the impasse over ministers’ determination not to compensate it for seizing control of the company.

Sky News has learnt that executives from Jingye Group met senior civil servants from the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) late last week to discuss ways to resolve the standoff.

Whitehall sources said the talks had been cordial, but that no meaningful progress had been made towards a resolution.

Money blog: €1 home goes on sale – but there are T&Cs

Jingye wants the government to agree to pay it hundreds of millions of pounds for taking control of British Steel in April – a move triggered by the Chinese group’s preparations for the permanent closure of its blast furnaces in Scunthorpe.

Such a move would have cost thousands of jobs and ended Britain’s centuries-old ability to produce virgin steel.

Jingye had been in talks for months to seek £1bn in state aid to facilitate the Scunthorpe plant’s transition to greener steelmaking, but was offered just half that sum by ministers.

British Steel has not yet been formally nationalised, although that remains a probable outcome.

Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, has previously dismissed the idea of compensating Jingye, saying British Steel’s equity was essentially worthless.

Last month, he met his Chinese counterpart, where the issue of British Steel was discussed between the two governments in person for the first time.

Jingye has hired the leading City law firm Linklaters to explore the recovery of hundreds of millions of pounds it invested in the Scunthorpe-based company before the government seized control of it.

News of last week’s meeting comes as British steelmakers face an anxious wait to learn whether their exports to the US face swingeing tariffs as part of US President Donald Trump’s trade war.

Sky News’s economics and data editor, Ed Conway, revealed this week that the UK would miss a White House-imposed deadline to agree a trade deal on steel and aluminium this week.

Jingye declined to comment, while a spokesman for the Department for Business and Trade said: “We acted quickly to ensure the continued operations of the blast furnaces but recognise that securing British Steel’s long-term future requires private sector investment.

“We have not nationalised British Steel and are working closely with Jingye on options for the future, and we will continue work on determining the best long-term sustainable future for the site.”