Home Secretary Priti Patel apologises to Labour’s Yvette Cooper for threats from Tory activist

Priti Patel has apologised to a Labour MP who was subjected to threats by a Tory activist who was later jailed.

Speaking in the Commons, the home secretary offered her support to Yvette Cooper and said such abuse and threats would not be tolerated.

Former Conservative council candidate Joshua Spencer was sentenced to nine weeks in prison and given a 10-year restraining order at Leeds Magistrates’ Court last week.

The 25-year-old wrote in April that he was working to get Ms Cooper “hurt” over her opposition to a no-deal Brexit, according to The Guardian.

He has since been expelled by the party, with a spokesman saying last week: “This kind of conduct has no place in our public life and we extend our sympathies to Yvette Cooper for the distress and harm this incident must have caused.”

But Ms Cooper, MP for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford, has criticised the Conservatives’ national response to the case.

Raising the matter in the Commons, she said: “On Friday, the deputy chair of the local Conservative Association was jailed for nine weeks for menacing communications, including threats against me – ‘I’m already organising her to be hurt’, ‘Amazing what crackheads will do for £100. I’m going to get her beat up’.

“The chair of the local association has today written to me expressing regrets and apologies for what he describes as the grave and unacceptable actions of their member, who has since been expelled, and I welcome that letter and that support.

“But it is a concern to me that there has been thus far no similar condemnation or sense of regret expressed by the national party.”

Ms Cooper also expressed her disappointment that Andrea Jenkyns, MP for the neighbouring constituency of Morley and Outwood, had given a “very positive character reference” for Spencer without getting in touch with her first.

In addition, she expressed concerns that Spencer was able to attend her general election count in December as a Tory representative, despite the fact that he had received a summons over the case.

Ms Cooper called on the home secretary to condemn the threats, look at the Tory response to the case and urged all political parties to come together and develop a new “joint code of conduct against intimidation”.

She told MPs: “Violent threats must have no place in politics for all parties.”

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Ms Patel said what Ms Cooper had to experience was “categorically unacceptable and wrong”, adding: “There is no place for intimidation at all in public life.

“In terms of the national party response, she can take it from me right now that I am hugely apologetic for what she has had to put up with.

“That’s simply unacceptable and that is something we should all be mindful of and look into as representatives of major political parties. None of this should be tolerated.”

With regards to the character reference from Ms Jenkyns, Ms Patel said she understood the Tory MP’s comments were “in support very much of getting the individual some help and support” in terms of accessing mental health services.

Reacting to Ms Patel’s comments, Ms Cooper wrote on Twitter: I very much welcome this reply and apology from the Home Secretary. All political parties should be able to come together to stand up against violent threats wherever they come from.”

Ms Jenkyns has said she stands by her decision to give Spencer a character reference.

“Josh has bipolar and had mental health issues since his father’s suicide in 2015 and I was, and remain, concerned about his emotional and mental well-being and wanted to make absolutely sure it was taken into consideration as part of the judicial process,” she said in a statement after the court case concluded.

“I will be seeking assurances that he will get the support he clearly needs as part of his rehabilitation.”

(c) Sky News 2020: Home Secretary Priti Patel apologises to Labour’s Yvette Cooper for threats from Tory activist