Mahmood offers Farage security meeting after Ann Widdecombe’s death

Shabana Mahmood addressing MPs after the death of the Reform spokesperson and former Tory minister Ann Widdecombe. Photograph: © House of Commons View image in fullscreen Shabana Mahmood addressing MPs after the death of the Reform spokesperson and former Tory minister Ann Widdecombe. Photograph: © House of Commons Mahmood offers Farage security meeting after Ann Widdecombe’s death Home secretary insists all MPs treated equally but that security of former MPs and non-Westminster politicians is a concern Shabana Mahmood has offered Nigel Farage a personal meeting with the Home Office unit that works on security for high-profile politicians, insisting all MPs are treated equally in how they are offered protection. Addressing the Commons after the death of Ann Widdecombe, the Reform spokesperson whose body was found with serious injuries by the ambulance service at her home in Devon, the home secretary said the incident raised questions about the security of former MPs and politicians from smaller parties, including those not in parliament. After Reform claimed that Farage and its other MPs were being neglected when it came to security, both Mahmood and Lindsay Hoyle, the Commons speaker , insisted this was not the case, and that people were considered in similar ways for protection, regardless of party. The speaker’s office reacted angrily to comments over the weekend by Zia Yusuf, the Reform home affairs spokesperson, who suggested the government, parliament and police did not “care at all” about the security of the party’s MPs. Parliamentary sources suggested Reform UK was trying to “weaponise” a previous complaint about its MPs getting harassed outside Westminster to get more attention before the Clacton byelection. “It’s disappointing because security is a massive priority for the speaker,” one source said. “We’re always reviewing security, and this sort of thing just causes general anxiety,” Lee Anderson, the Reform chief whip, is understood to have been called in for a meeting with Hoyle after Yusuf’s comments. Counter-terrorism police are leading the investigation into the death of Widdecombe, whose body was found on Thursday morning. On Saturday, a 28-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of the murder of the former Tory minister. The suspect was re-arrested on suspicion of commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism. Addressing wider concerns about the scale of threats to MPs, Mahmood said she could offer Farage a meeting with the Home Office’s royal and VIP executive committee (Ravec), which decides on the scale of official protection offered to politicians, among others. The Reform leader replied on X by thanking the home secretary, adding: “I will meet with the chair of Ravec and discuss the security of all Reform politicians, including those who are not MPs.” Farage has previously said he had been refused sufficient protection from the state, and that this is why he accepted £5m from the crypto billionaire Christopher