Labour MP 'has home attacked with sledgehammer' after Jess Phillips intimidation during election
7 July 2024, 18:32
A Labour MP says his house has been attacked with a sledgehammer - after Jess Phillips said she was subject to intimidation during her campaign.
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Andrew Western wrote on X that someone had 'taken a sledgehammer to [his] property' on Saturday evening and that Operation Bridger had been activated.
He said that no one was hurt in the incident which he claims is being investigated by Greater Manchester Police.
Operation Bridger was created to protect MPs after the murders of MPs Jo Cox and Sir David Amess on the streets of Britain in recent years.
The MP for Stretford and Urmston wrote: "Last night there was an incident at my home that is being investigated by police as part of Operation Bridger.
"I am absolutely fine and no one was hurt but the toxicity in our politics at present must be drawn out."
The uncowed politician added: "The harassment, intimidation and abuse of politicians is not ok and is not normal. That said it is becoming an ever more regular occurrence.
"I am proud to represent the people of Stretford and Urmston and I will not be cowed as I seek to serve them to the best of my ability."
He concluded: "I want to thank GMP for an excellent response and say that these idiots do not speak for our community and I will do all I can to ensure they never do."
GMP, the Labour Party and Mr Western did not immediately respond to requests for comment from LBC.
Mr Western has been the MP for Stretforf and Urmston in Manchester since 2022 and won re-election on Thursday with a majority of 16,150.
The reported incident comes after Labour big-hitter Jess Phillips says she suffered sectarian abuse and intimidation during her successful campaign for re-election as MP in Birmingham Yardley.
She said the recent election was the worst she had ever stood in, with she and her team having been abused, threatened and intimidated by opposition activists. One of her activists even had the tyres of her car slashed.
Ms Phillips told LBC's Lewis Goodall on Sunday that it was "too simple to say" that the abuse she suffered was sectarian, after she beat Workers Party candidate Jody McIntyre by fewer than 700 votes.
Mr McIntyre was running on a platform that focused on the war in Gaza, which has seen tens of thousands of people die. Ms Phillips herself quit the Labour Shadow Cabinet to vote for a ceasefire.
Lewis Goodall speaks to Jess Phillips: Watch again
Sadiq Khan was abused when he came to campaign in her seat, with Workers Party activists screaming invective about his mother, Ms Phillips said.
She told Lewis that she didn't suffer abuse from local people, with whom she had "lots of really lovely conversations", even when they disagreed on policy.
But she added: "What was brought into my seat - I have to say, most of them weren’t from Yardley, just to be completely clear - was horrible lies, division."
She said that there were "people threatening people on polling stations [and]one of my activists had her tyres slashed…
"These people weren’t ashamed of what they were doing, they were doing it and filming it and putting it on the internet.
Ms Phillips added that "when Sadiq Khan came, men wearing masks, shout[ed]…stuff about Sadiq Khan’s mother. They’re not ashamed, they’re putting it on the internet to incite other people to do the same."
