Home Secretary orders urgent review of security for politicians and royals

Centre · 2Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced in the Commons on Monday 12 October an urgent review of security arrangements for high-profile public figures, including politicians and royals. 1 2 Centre · 2The review will be independent and led by former national security adviser Sir Stephen Lovegrove, and will look at how existing security is provided and whether funding and measures are being used effectively. 1 2 Left · 1The Guardian said Lovegrove's review will not assess individual cases, and will cover royals, ministers, MPs, locally elected representatives and other prominent people in British politics. It will also look at how decision-making can be more consistent in response to threat and risk, as the system is re-examined against terrorism, extremism, state threats, harassment and intimidation. 3

Mixed · 2Police support will also be expanded to leaders of political parties who are not MPs, peers, former MPs, former members of the devolved parliaments and party spokespeople. Reuters reported this would give them access to a named police officer and help with wider security measures. 1 4 Mixed · 2Mahmood told MPs: "It is clear there is insufficient protection for those who serve." She said robust debate and criticism are part of public life but "threats, abuse and violence are not", and that an attack on any individual in public life is "an attack on democracy itself". 4 1 Left · 1The announcement follows the July killing of Ann Widdecombe, a former Conservative minister and MP who had become a Reform UK spokeswoman. The Evening Standard reported that she died on July 8, aged 78, after being hit over the head with a hammer 21 times at her home in Haytor on Dartmoor, Devon; the Guardian said she was found dead there on 9 July. 3

Mixed · 2Joshua Kerry, 28, has been charged with her murder. Reuters said prosecutors allege the killing was ideologically motivated and that Kerry was later accused of a terrorism offence targeting Nigel Farage and other unnamed public figures, including an alleged attempt to enter Farage's house in April 2025; the police watchdog IOPC is investigating the police response. 2 4 Left · 1The Guardian reported that Kerry is also accused of "online reconnaissance" of prominent people and institutions and of travelling to Farage's home in south London on 19 April 2025 and trying to break in. It said Mahmood told MPs the protection gap was clear regardless of the outcome of the investigation into that attempted break-in. 3 Centre · 2The new review will build on work by Sir Robert Buckland, who is conducting a separate review into the murder of Sir David Amess. Coverage placed the Widdecombe case alongside the killings of Amess in 2021 and Jo Cox in 2016. 1 2

Left · 1The Guardian, which said Buckland's review will consider the security of MPs in their constituencies, also cited the Electoral Commission's finding that 55% of candidates in May's local elections experienced harassment and intimidation, the same share as at the 2024 general election. 3