Esther McVey accuses Labour’s John McDonnell of 'putting her life in danger'

Tory MP Esther McVey has accused Labour’s John McDonnell of “putting her life in danger”.

Her comments come amid growing fears over MP safety in the wake of the murders of MPs Sir David Amess and Jo Cox.

Speaking today on GB News, Ms McVey spoke about an incident in 2014 where the former Shadow Chancellor said his rival politician should be “lynched”.

Reacting during a debate today on MP’s security, Ms McVey said: “Going back to 2014. My life was spun on its head and changed - but this wasn't a member of the public.

“This was a member of the Labour Party, the opposition, who said that I should be lynched. John McDonald then went on to be the Shadow Chancellor.. I kept it quiet because I thought I needed to, but, at the time, I had to change my security.

“What he said moved it away from policy to making it personal about me. It was a politician who endangered my life. And when you think of it like that, it's absolutely shocking. We can't have this if we want an open democracy and MPs that you can meet and relate to.”

Sitting next to her husband, the Tory MP Philip Davis, Ms McVey continued: “The person who stood by me was my father and my you Phil because it was a very, very difficult time and there was no security and Parliament didn't know how to deal with it.”

Responding, Mr Davis added: “I think we should also say that the Speaker of the House of Commons Lindsey Hoyle has been excellent. A lot has changed since 2014 when it was all brand new. And we must never get away from open democracy. We must not have politicians hiding away from their constituents.”

Ms McVey’s comments come days after one of her fellow MP’s revealed she now wears a stab jacket when meeting voters.

In an interview which will be broadcast tomorrow on GB News, Virginia Crosbie tells Gloria De Piero said she’d regularly received a threat by breakfast - and called on social media to be more accountable for those behind the abuse.

She said: “I think there's an awful lot more that we can do in terms of social media and abuse. I think there needs to be more accountability.

“The reality is people can turn to social media with impunity.

“I believe Twitter accounts should be verified, and on Facebook there needs to be fines, and there needs to be fines on some of these social media companies for allowing this content.

“There needs to be much more control of the ability for the end user to control what they can actually see. I have been in difficult situations. I have surgeries, I do face to face surgeries where I wear a stab jacket, obviously following the murder of David Amess.

“And also, I have security protection as well. I think it's important I have direct contact with my constituents. And unfortunately, this is one of the things I have to do to ensure that I can actually do the job that I was elected to do.”