A lot of MPs, in particular in light of the Syria vote, have been subjected to some pretty terrifying threats and actual physical damage to property. During the general election campaign, cars belonging to my colleague, Charlotte Leslie MP, and her family were vandalised.

With the emergence of direct action, whether by students or Stop the War, some hotheads are encouraged by that, and they think they can take it to a further level and use MPs as punchbags. That certainly never happened when I was first elected, in 1997.

I think part of it is tied up with the contempt in which a lot of people hold MPs. That has been exacerbated by media portrayals that are not helpful. MPs seem to be fair game if there is knocking copy to go round.

I get much more correspondence these days, although not a lot, from constituents who feel they have a divine right to be rude to an MP. It doesn’t just come down to differences of opinion on a subject; they just think they will write some pretty snide letters to MPs and, because we are paid public servants, we should just take it.

I take a pretty robust attitude; if they are appallingly rude, I ignore them. But in many cases I will write back and say: “If you want me to help with something you might want to observe the basic rules of courtesy and think again. You wouldn’t write to your doctor in those terms, so why do it to me?”



I have a few people on a blacklist. They come back and say I have to talk to them, but I don’t. You can complain to whoever you like. There is no Ofsted equivalent for an MP, unless we have committed financial fraud or whatever. In terms of how we do our job, or who we engage with, it is up to the judgment of the MP. I have 90,000 constituents who do need my time, and if you are going to waste my time, you can bugger off.

MPs get no added security. The one time there was a security threat when I was a minister was when the Fathers4Justice mob took issue with something I had done and we had intelligence that they might well install themselves on the roof of my house. [”SEE FOOTNOTE”] I rang the police and they said: “If you see anything, give us a ring.”

When I arrived in the Commons in 1997, you would get your pass and you had a security briefing with a policeman. The briefing is essentially: “Well Mr Loughton, you should earmark all your possessions because crime also happens in the House of Commons. Thank you very much, sir.” That was it. The security protection for MPs is woefully inadequate and just because we have lots of police with guns in Westminster doesn’t mean we are safe wherever we go.

Tim Loughton, MP for East Worthing and Shoreham, was a children’s minister. He is a member of the parliamentary group on stalking and harassment.