Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Gallows outside Parliament was ‘warning to MPS’
AN MP says a gallows put up outside Parliament in the wake of Sir David Amess’s killing was a “scandalous” threat directed at parliamentarians.
Police are believed to have made an arrest relating to the execution equipment.
Labour’s Hilary Benn told the Commons he saw the gallows as he went in to work.
He told colleagues: I think it’s not acceptable. Because it is a threat. And we should be able to carry out our job without being threatened by people out in Parliament Square.”
Referring to the fatal stabbing of Tory MP Sir David last Friday, he went on: “If they have put those gallows there and that noose directed at us, especially in the events of the last week, it is not only crass – crass is a very gentle description of what they’ve done – I think it is scandalous.”
Conservative Michael Fabricant said putting up the gallows amounted to a breach of public order.
Labour’s Peter Kyle tweeted a picture of the gallows and wrote: “As I walked into parliament earlier this little charmer shouted ‘This is what we do with traitors’ at me, pointing at his gallows and noose. Out of the two of us I’m the one who’s life and routine must adapt, not his.
“Our politics really is broken.”
Home Secretary Priti Patel has already announced a review of security for MPS following the killing of Sir David in his Southend West constituency. A man was arrested.
Deputy Speaker Dame Rosie Winterton said she recognised members’ concerns.
She added later: “I understand the gallows have been taken down and an arrest has been made under the Public Order Act.”