Incoming PM Burnham Calls for 'Serious Review' of MP Security After Widdecombe Killing

Since counter-terrorism police confirmed on Monday, July 13, that Ann Widdecombe's killing was a targeted attack and took over the investigation from Devon and Cornwall police, the political fallout in Westminster has shifted from the murder itself to the question of who protects British politicians and how well.

Andy Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor who has been widely discussed as a potential future Labour leader and prime minister, said a "serious review" of MP security is now needed. Burnham told reporters outside the Commons he was "quite shocked to see how much security now has to be in place" for politicians, and said it may need to be increased further still.

"Politics has darkened in the last decade, there's no getting away from that," Burnham said, according to the BBC and the Wandsworth Guardian. He said he could not offer "easy, glib answers" but was "prepared" to carry out the review himself, should the opportunity arise.

Burnham, who last sat in Parliament in 2017 and does not currently hold a Commons seat, pointed to social media as a contributing factor without treating it as the whole explanation. "It's easy to blame social media, but it feels like it's having some impact in just building that kind of toxicity that's around the political debate," he said. He said he knew Widdecombe personally over many years in the Commons and that "everybody got along" with her, but that "something has changed."

The Farage security dispute

Separately, Reform UK's Robert Jenrick accused the government of a "dereliction of duty" over the security provided to party leader Nigel Farage, claiming it had been "downgraded." The Home Office called that claim "categorically untrue," with a spokesperson noting that ministers do not make individual decisions on MPs'