Labour’s Rosie Duffield reveals she spent £2,000 on bodyguards in a week while campaigning for the general election after receiving death threats
- Ms Duffield said her risk level was considered ‘one of the highest’
Outspoken Work candidate Rosie Duffield has been forced to spend £2,000 on bodyguards while campaigning for the general election due to a lack of security for politicians.
Ms Duffield, who has represented Canterbury since 2017, said her risk level was considered “one of the highest” among lawmakers.
She also admitted to biting her tongue during some debates in parliament due to online threats.
Last week a man had been given a suspended sentence for sending her and her JK Rowling – both of whom share gender-critical views – a death threat.
The candidate spent the money in the first week of the campaign and claimed some colleagues also had to hire bodyguards from their own pockets.
Outspoken Labor candidate Rosie Duffield has been forced to spend £2,000 on bodyguards while campaigning for the general election (pictured in Canterbury in 2019)
Ms Duffield, who has represented Canterbury since 2017, said her risk level was considered “one of the highest” among lawmakers.
Mrs. Duffield told it The times: ‘Here we are, at the general election, and there is no email or clear advice to female MPs about ‘this is what you should do with your security budget’.
‘So I’ve just paid a few thousand pounds for my security and I’ve had to get a security guard.
‘Normally, parliament pays separately for our security, but because we are in an election period, no one had prepared for that. We didn’t really know what we were doing.
“We also need to tell all the locations where demonstrations are taking place that we do in fact have security concerns – and I feel like a diva even doing that. It’s humiliating.’
In February, three female MPs were given bodyguards and chauffeured cars after concerns about their safety.
This election marks the first time that all general election candidates were offered basic security during the campaign.
But the offering only goes so far as to include guidance, briefings and cybersecurity services.
Glenn Mullen was given a suspended sentence of eight weeks this month Sending JK Rowling an audio message saying he would kill the Harry Potter author ‘with a big hammer’. He also threatened to point a “big gun” at Ms Duffield.
Glenn Mullen was given an eight-week suspended sentence this month for threatening to point a ‘large weapon’ at Ms Duffield
He also sent JK Rowling an audio message in which he said he was going to kill the Harry Potter author ‘with a big hammer’.
“If you’ve just convicted someone with a death threat and you have to think about your safety everywhere you go, I’m not going to pretend that this doesn’t impact democracy, because it does,” she says. added.
‘You really have to think twice about saying something. To my great annoyance, I noticed that I have limited my say in parliament.
‘There are certain debates that I am not participating in now, because I am aware of those reactions. It does affect democracy.’
Ms Duffield is at odds with the Labor leadership over its views on gender. Last month, Sir Keir Starmer complained that she offered ‘no apology’ when the two finally spoke after two and a half years of being given the cold shoulder.
