Man arrested over arson attacks after fire at Sir Keir Starmer’s house
A 21-year-old man has been arrested over a series of arson attacks, police have said, after a fire at a house owned by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
The suspect was arrested in the early hours of Tuesday on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life, according to the Metropolitan Police.
He remains in custody.
Emergency services were called to fires at the doors of two homes in north London within 24 hours of each other – one just after 1.35am on Monday in Kentish Town and the other on Sunday in Islington. Both properties are linked to Sir Keir.
Police are investigating links to several fires, which they are treating as suspicious. Pic: LNP
Detectives were also checking a vehicle fire last Thursday on the same street as the Kentish Town property to see whether it is connected.
Part of the area was cordoned off as police and London Fire Brigade (LFB) investigators examined the scene.
Neighbours described hearing a loud bang and said police officers were looking for a projectile.
Emergency services were deployed to the scene in Kentish Town, north London, on Monday. Pic: PA
Pic: PA
The prime minister is understood to still own the home, which was damaged by fire on Monday, but nobody was hurt. Pictures showed scorching at the entrance to the property.
Sir Keir used to live there before he and his family moved into 10 Downing Street after Labour won last year’s general election. It is believed the property is being rented out.
In the early hours of Sunday, firefighters dealt with a small fire at the front door of a house converted into flats in nearby Islington, which is also linked to the prime minister.
Counter-terror police are leading the investigation. Pic: LNP
In a statement, police said: “As a precaution and due to the property having previous connections with a high-profile public figure, officers from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command are leading the investigation into this fire.
“Enquiries are ongoing to establish what caused it. All three fires are being treated as suspicious at this time, and enquiries remain ongoing.”
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The prime minister’s official spokesman said: “I can only say that the prime minister thanks the emergency services for their work and it is subject to a live investigation. So I can’t comment any further.”
Kemi Badenoch has condemned the suspected arson attacks.
Writing on X, the Conservative leader said: “This is a shocking incident. My thoughts are with the prime minister and his family. No one should face these sorts of threats, let alone people in public service.
“It’s an attack on our democracy and must never be tolerated.”
Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick told Sky News on Tuesday: “It’s important that the prime minister and anyone in public life has their family, their homes, protected.
“It is absolutely wrong, disgraceful, for any individual to take the kind of action that we saw against the prime minister’s home.”
Sir Ed Davey has written to King Charles to explain why he believes he has to refuse his invite to a state banquet for Donald Trump.
The Lib Dem leader said on Wednesday he will be boycotting the dinner next month during the US president’s second state visit to the UK because of the situation in Gaza.
He told Sky News on Thursday: “I’ve written to him [the King] personally explaining my thinking.
“And it’s with deep regret that I’ve had to take the decision, but I feel with what is going on in Gaza, it’s the best way I can get my voice heard.”
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Sir Ed said the “sad truth” is Mr Trump is the “one man” who has the power to stop the “horrible famine in Gaza, could get the hostages released, could bring an end to this horrendous humanitarian crisis”.
He said the US president could do that by phoning up Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and telling him to stop.
The Lib Dem leader said Mr Trump could also call up the Qatari government and other Gulf states to get them to put pressure on Hamas to release the remaining 50 Israeli hostages (20 living, 30 dead) they took on 7 October 2023.
The King and Donald Trump during his first state visit in 2019. Pic: Reuters
He emphasised that he has “huge respect” for the King and it was a very difficult decision he “really wrestled with” and involved him talking to his wife and praying about it.
Sir Ed denied it was political posturing and instead is one of the only ways he could get Mr Trump to listen.
“I didn’t want him to come to the UK without being reminded, as best I can, that he has that moral responsibility, frankly,” he added.
“And from what I’m picking up from many people, there are people across the political spectrum who agree with me and the Democrats that it is Donald Trump, it is the United States who has this power over Netanyahu, over Hamas, albeit indirectly, to stop this horrendous situation.”
Publicly refusing the King’s invite is “the best way I can get my voice heard,” Sir Ed said.
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King Charles will host a state dinner for Donald Trump. Pic: PA
Tony Blair at White House Gaza meeting
While Sir Ed is choosing to snub Mr Trump to get his voice heard, former Labour prime minister Sir Tony Blair has been asked by the US president for help on Gaza.
Sir Tony joined a White House meeting on Wednesday, chaired by Mr Trump, to discuss the war in Gaza and post-war plans for the Palestinian territory, a senior White House official confirmed.
They were joined by Mr Trump’s former Middle East envoy and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to also discuss the hostage crisis and plans to escalate food aid deliveries.
The official described it as “simply a policy meeting”.
In July, the Financial Times reported the Tony Blair Institute had participated in a project to develop a post-war Gaza plan, with the think tank having “had many calls with different groups on post-war reconstruction of Gaza but none included the idea of forcible relocation of people from Gaza”.
Sir Ed called on Sir Tony to be quizzed in parliament about his discussions with the Trump administration.
“If he has special insight into Trump’s intentions, it’s only right that parliament and the government are made privy to this,” he said.
“We must leverage all the information and resources at our disposal to make Trump do the right thing.”
The change is part of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s “crypto sprint,” an initiative to overhaul regulations in response to proposals from the Trump administration.
The US government announced on Tuesday that it is publishing economic data onchain to boost transparency for government spending.
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