A man has been arrested after MP Mike Freer reported receiving a threatening phone call.
Mr Freer, currently a minister and the MP for Finchley and Golders Green, last week said he would not be standing for election after a raft of death threats and abuse.
The Metropolitan Police said in a statement today officers had arrested someone following a report of an “abusive and threatening” phone call made on Wednesday last week – the day Mr Freer spoke about his decision to stand down.
A Met spokesperson said: “An investigation was launched and a 46-year-old man was arrested on Tuesday, 6 February on suspicion of malicious communication.
“He remains in custody at a north London police station.”
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The police said this was a separate investigation to the arson attack.
The spokesperson added: “A man and a woman have been remanded in custody after being charged with arson with intent to endanger life.
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“Our investigation established the offence was not a hate crime and the two incidents are not believed to be linked.”
Detective Superintendent Will Lexton-Jones said: “It is vitally important for elected officials and their staff they can be confident in their safety and security, and we are committed to ensuring this.
“Today’s arrest sends a clear message we will not tolerate threats or aggression of any kind towards elected officials. We will deal quickly and robustly with such offences.
“We are in regular contact with MPs and other elected officials and fully recognise the growing concerns they are telling us about their safety, and as you would expect, we have kept Mr Freer updated throughout this investigation including today’s arrest.”
Google Cloud recently launched a Web3 portal with testnet tools, blockchain datasets, and learning resources for developers, receiving mixed reactions from the crypto industry.
Rishi Sunak has failed to rule out holding a general election in July, as speculation remains rife over the timing of the national vote.
The prime minister has repeatedly said his “working assumption” is the election would take place in the second half of this year – with the law stating January 2025 is the latest he could call it.
But while many commentators have predicted an autumn vote, Sky News’ Trevor Phillips put to Mr Sunak that it could mean as early as July.
In his interview – which will air in full on Sunday at 8.30am – Trevor Phillips pushed Mr Sunak five times over whether he would rule out a July general election, but the Conservative leader refused to confirm or deny if it could take place then.
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“You’re going to try and draw whatever conclusion you want from what I say,” he said. “I’m going to always try and say the same thing. You should just listen to what I said, [the] same thing I’ve said all year.
“But the point is… there’s a choice when it comes to the general election. And look, over the past week or so… the country can have a very clear sense of what that difference is going to look like.”
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“And when the election comes, there’ll be a clear choice, because the Labour Party has tried to frustrate our Rwanda bill, because they don’t believe in stopping the boats, their economic plan will put people’s taxes up.
“They haven’t said that they will invest more in our defence and they certainly don’t agree with reforming our welfare system to support people into work.”
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Labour has said it wants to match the hike in defence spending when the financial circumstances allow, and has promised to scrap the Rwanda bill if it gets into power.
This week, its pre-election focus has been on railways, promising to renationalise train operators and “sweep away” the current “broken” model if the party wins the next election.