Jess Phillips has revealed police visit her home weekly to take statements about the horrific online death threats she receives on a regular basis.
Shadow Minister for Domestic Violence and Safeguarding has spoken out to describe the graphic abuse she gets from her parents, who often ‘blame’ her for taking their children from them.
Trolls taunt the mother-of-two by saying they want her to feel ‘the pain of having a child removed’ and the Labour MP says she is often ‘triggered’ by the abuse and is ‘taken back’ to the murder of Jo Cox.
Jess, 40-year-old Birmingham Yardley MP doesn’t believe there should be a presence of police at surgeries after Sir David Amess was killed. He insists that many constituents are ‘vulnerable’ and need privacy.
Pictured in 2019: Labour MP Jess Phillips says that police regularly visit her house to get statements on the horrendous online threats of death she is receiving.
Lorraine was interviewed today by ITV. She stated that a lot of threats she receives, as well as some people being criminalised for attacking my family and me, come from men. They perceive that I, as a woman who stands up for girls and women, is threatening them.
‘I get threats from people who perceive that I have had their children removed from them because they were violent towards their partners, the idea I hate men is used in some of the aggressive and violent threats I get.
People talking about horrible and graphic abuses they might perpetrate against my family: They want me to have my children removed. It is clear that people think I will be able convince them I can understand what it means to lose my kids.
However, Birmingham Yardley’s MP doesn’t think she and other MPs need constant protection from the police. But, it is important to make sure they do their job safely.
Lorraine was interviewed today on ITV. She spoke about the abuse that she has suffered from abusive parents and how they ‘blame her’ for taking their children out of their homes.
It is complex and we don’t have an answer, so I am afraid. “I’m not willing to do my job if that means I’m not with the public.
“Today, I’ll spend my time with my constituents, and there won’t be a police presence everywhere. There’s too little police to do that, but that’s what I want.
“I want people feel comfortable with me. There are many vulnerable individuals who require privacy and MPs have to balance that. I cannot do my job well if I don’t feel secure.
It can be challenging to deal with abuse.
Jess (40) doesn’t believe there should be a presence of police for members of parliament in the aftermath of David Amesses’ murder. In March, she was pictured with Andrew Marr.
She said, “I approach it differently.” It depends on whether I’m feeling down. Sometimes it’s difficult for me to deal with and sometimes I feel terrified. Jo Cox’s murder triggers me to go back to that exact moment.
She says she was able to express her emotions publicly to Parliament, and that she received support.
Jess claims that as her children got older, she had to prepare them for the abuse they mother is receiving online.
She stated that she tried to conceal it from the kids when they were small, but the police regularly visit the house to get statements.
Jess indicated that she wouldn’t quit politics just yet because it’s a scary world in which people feel too scared to take part in public life.