Police told me to accept abuse as part of job - MP

An MP has said that police told her to accept street harassment as part of her job.

Stella Creasy, the Labour MP for Walthamstow, told The Times that she had experienced abuse and intimidation after she was harassed by an anti-abortion campaigner.

When she reported the crime to the police, she was told "the problem was my response, in that I told him it wasn’t appropriate, and that I have a problem with people disagreeing with me".

Commander Simon Messinger of the Met said the allegation Ms Creasy had made "was taken seriously but a careful assessment found that it would not meet the criminal threshold".

Days before the general election was called, Ms Creasy was approached by a man as she was walking from from a park with her child.

He repeatedly shouted at her about her "moral crimes" and called her a "child killer" for her stance on abortion.

Ms Creasy said she had asked the man to stop harassing her as he was upsetting her child, but he had continued, replying: "You’re OK with killing children" and "I’m going to carry on until you’re defeated".

The activist had previously sent her abusive messages on social media, calling her "evil".

The 47-year-old east London MP passed a recording of the incident to police who allegedly said the man had the right to engage with her as she was a public figure and her daughter's distress had been caused by her behaviour in telling the man to leave them alone.

Commander Messinger is the national lead for Operation Bridger, the policing strategy to keep election candidates safe.

He said he understood the incident had been "very unpleasant for Ms Creasy" and that "details were recorded in order to better inform our understanding of any further incidents that might form a pattern of behaviour and therefore prompt a different response".

He added that MPs "have a right to a private life and should be able to go about their day to day activities free from harassment or intimidation".

Ms Creasy has criticised the operation and said it was "non-existent".

It comes after the government’s adviser on political violence wrote to the home secretary asking to investigate the intimidation of candidates during the general election.

Lord Walney has suggested there could have been a "concerted campaign by extremists".

He is urging Yvette Cooper and Security Minister Dan Jarvis to commission a short inquiry to find out if groups in different constituencies were working together and to document what he calls the "dark underbelly" of abuse.

The Home Office has said it takes reports of intimidation, harassment and abuse "extremely seriously", adding that officials are contacting affected individuals.

On election night, two re-elected female MPs relayed in sober victory speeches the intimidation and harassment they faced during the general election campaign.

Jess Phillips spoke of party workers being filmed in the street and making regular calls to police, while Shabana Mahmood said masked men had disrupted a community meeting, "terrifying" people in attendance.