A MAN has been arrested for allegedly trying to break into the office of Labour MP Jess Phillips while screaming “fascist”.
Ms Phillips said terrified staff were forced to lock themselves into constituency base in Birmingham this afternoon.
3
Ms Phillips, who represents Birmingham Yardley, said the culprit was also “slapping the windows” as he tried to force his way into the building.
The MP said she was “not going to leap to blame Boris Johnson” but added “we all need to be better” and the PM needed to “choose instead of trying to divide… to lead”.
She later told LBC: “Ms Phillips said: “I’m not entirely sure how this has particularly got out at the moment.
“But I’ve only just heard about it myself, but my staff had to be locked into my office while a man tried to smash the windows and kick the door, I believe.
“I don’t know. I don’t know what I can say because the man has been arrested, but he was shouting that I was a fascist, apparently.”
A 36-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of a public order offence and possession of cannabis in connection with the incident in Yardley Green, Birmingham, West Midlands Police confirmed.
COMMONS CLASH
The alleged break in comes after Ms Phillips called on Boris Johnson to apologise for comments he made about murdered MP Jo Cox during angry clashes in the House of Commons last night.
Ms Philips also told the chamber how she received regular death threats from members of the public.
The PM was repeatedly challenged over his use of the word “surrender” to describe the bill passed by MPs to block Brexit earlier this month.
Paula Sheriff, MP for Dewsbury, fumed that Mr Johnson “continually used pejorative language to describe an Act of Parliament passed by this House”.
They often quote his words ‘Surrender Act’, ‘betrayal’, ‘traitor’ and I for one am sick of it. We must moderate our language, and it has to come from the Prime Minister first.”
Paula Sheriff
Pointing to a plaque in the chamber, commemorating Mrs Cox, she said: “We should not resort to using offensive, dangerous or inflammatory language for legislation that we do not like, and we stand here under the shield of our departed friend with many of us in this place subject to death threats and abuse every single day.”
“They often quote his words ‘Surrender Act’, ‘betrayal’, ‘traitor’ and I for one am sick of it.
“We must moderate our language, and it has to come from the Prime Minister first.”
But firing back, the PM said: “I have to say, Mr Speaker, I’ve never heard such humbug in all my life.”
JESS ASKS PM TO APOLOGISE
Ms Phillips called on the PM to meet with her and Mrs Cox’s loved ones to see the hurt his words had caused.
Addressing the house she said: “I want to ask the PM to tell him that the bravest, strongest thing to say is ‘sorry’ it will make him look good, it will not upset the people want Brexit in this country if he acts for once like a statesmen.
“Calling me names and putting names in my mouth and in the mouth of my dead friend makes me cross and angry.
“Calling me names and putting names in my mouth and in the mouth of my dead friend makes me cross and angry.
Jess Phillips
“It makes me scared even, but I will not react the Prime Minister wants me to react so I join in the chaos that keeps this hatred and fear on our streets.
“I simply ask the minister to ask the Prime Minister, who is notable by his bravery today, to meet with me in private with his advisors and some of my colleagues and my friends from Jo’s family so we can explain our grief.
“And try to make him understand why it is so abhorrent why he has chosen a strategy to divide rather than lead.”
However, Mr Johnson was not present during today’s session and sent junior minister Kevin Foster in place.
Mr Foster said the murder of Jo Cox was a “dreadful crime”, adding that the government must now resolve Brexit to solve the division in the House and the country.
He said: “The passions that this issue has inflamed will only carry on if there is not a resolution.”
But the PM told reporters today he would continue to use the phrase “surrender bill”.
He said: “Well, I think it’s fair enough to call the surrender act what it is. I think it is absolutely reasonable. But we do need to bring people together, and get this thing done.
“And so, if I may say so, I think actually tempers need to come down, and people need to come together because it’s only by getting Brexit done that you’ll lance the boil as it were of the current anxiety and we will be able to get on with the domestic agenda.”
3
3
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368 . You can WhatsApp us on 07810 791 502. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.
