The Metropolitan police are investigating a suspected arson attack at the constituency office of the Conservative MP Mike Freer.
Officers and firefighters were called to a fire at his north London office at about 7pm on Christmas Eve. The MP for Finchley and Golders Green, who is also a justice minister, was not there at the time, and no one was hurt.
Freer said the suspected arson – which took place in a shed at his office in Finchley, damaging the back of the building – was one of many worrying incidents he has faced. In 2021, the man who went on to murder the MP David Amess visited Freer’s constituency office but the MP was unexpectedly absent.
Thanking police for dealing quickly with the Christmas Eve fire, Freer said: “Thankfully I wasn’t doing my normal routine of getting through paperwork. I’m thankful the upstairs tenants weren’t in the house too, otherwise this would be a completely different story.
“Until the police catch the suspect, I won’t know if it was deliberate, but it’s one of many threats I’ve faced.”
In a statement, the Met said: “The cause of the fire is under investigation as it is believed it may have been started deliberately. Further inquiries will take place.”
Freer has previously told of his decision to wear a stab vest, along with his staff, and carry panic alarms after the murder of Amess in a terrorist attack in 2021.
Ali Harbi Ali, 26, stabbed Amess, the Conservative MP for Southend West, more than 20 times during a constituency surgery at a church in Essex after spending two years researching which MP to murder, his trial heard.
Ali had visited Freer’s constituency office where he was spotted peering through a window, and also researched the Tory ministers Michael Gove, Dominic Raab and Ben Wallace and the Labour leader, Keir Starmer.
Police told Freer that Ali had monitored his constituency office for more than an hour on 17 September 2021. Freer was due to hold a surgery that day, but changed his plans at the last minute.
Freer has been an MP since 2010. After Hamas launched its 7 October attack on Israel, he urged the government to launch repatriation flights for Britons stranded in Israel.
He has repeatedly criticised the government’s “heated, toxic debates” over LGBTQ+ issues, and likened its treatment of transgender people to conversations about gay people in the 1970s and 80s.
The suspected arson attack comes after many Labour MPs voiced concerns about their safety as pro-Palestine protesters targeted their offices following criticism of the party’s stance on the Israel-Gaza conflict.
Dozens of activists held protests outside the offices of the Labour MP Vicky Foxcroft on Friday, a day after hundreds gathered outside the east London office of Rushanara Ali. Apsana Begum, who backed a ceasefire, said she had received “Islamophobic abuse and death threats”.
MPs thought to be at the highest risk as the conflict escalated were contacted by officials on how best to protect themselves around Westminster.
Before the murder of the Labour MP Jo Cox in 2016, MPs were in the process of receiving “enhanced” security measures for their homes and constituency offices amid heightened fears of attacks.
Last month Gove, the levelling up secretary, cancelled an open-invite meeting in his constituency over concerns for his security, switching instead to using a booking system for constituents.
William Turner is a seasoned U.K. correspondent with a deep understanding of domestic affairs. With a passion for British politics and culture, he provides insightful analysis and comprehensive coverage of events within the United Kingdom.
