Security bosses ‘ignored warnings’

SECURITY chiefs were last night accused of ignoring warnings that MPs needed more protection, after deeming them “busy people” who shouldn’t be “bothered” with extra advice or training.

Parliament’s security services were said to have been “complacent” in responding to a report earlier this year, which found four out of five MPs had suffered intrusive or aggressive behaviour.

Home Office psychiatrists were told that current provisions were sufficient, despite complaints of attackers wielding knives and hammers. MPs were left to “learn the hard way”, a source close to the report said. The source told

“There has been very real progress, but you get the impression that this has led to a touch of complacency and that we’ve been somewhat slow in teaching MPs how to recognise dangers from constituents. The line has been that MPs are busy people: we’ve got great risk assessment services that they can access if they want to, so we shouldn’t bother them with more advice or training.

“The fact is that MPs don’t always know what to report and they are being forced to learn the hard way.”

The Home Office is considering introducing a new stalking protection order after a consultation found social media had fuelled a rise in “stranger stalking”.

A Commons spokesman said MPs’ security was taken extremely seriously. “We pro-actively provide general security advice to all members and deal with individual queries on a case-by-case basis.” The Parliamentary Security Department works with the Met police, he said.