Helen Grant MP

When I started thinking about standing for parliament, an MP and friend told me ‘it’s the roughest toughest career in the world and you will need your bullet proof vest’.

I suffered bullying as a child and learned how to handle myself at an early age; as it turned out most of the antagonists I dealt with weren’t curmudgeonly at all when faced with a comeuppance, merely loud- mouthed cowards. So I went in to politics with my eyes wide open. That was in 2005. Twitter had yet to be invented and Facebook was only a year old. Times have changed.

Today’s bullies are able to broadcast their lies and hatred worldwide, free of charge and with a shocking level of immunity. Most are still the cowards of old, hiding behind a cloak of anonymity created by internet providers and social networking giants. MPs are among those who suffer more than others from cyber bullies and recently things have come to a head.

Last week Labour MP Diane Abbott revealed she has been subjected to abuse of one kind or another since being elected as the first black female MP in 1987, and there had been an intolerable escalation following the recent vote to trigger Article 50 in parliament. The nature of this abuse is racist, sexist and violent. It affects MPs and their staff and is now perhaps the greatest factor in repelling talented individuals from entering politics, particularly women and those from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds.

A parliament must be as diverse as the nation it represents and we must combat this toxic torrent every which way. I fully back Diane’s call for a parliamentary inquiry and I will press for the removal of anonymity in social networking sites, exposing the bullies to rightful accountability.