Jess Phillips: Man charged after disturbance outside Labour MP's Birmingham office

Labour MP Jess Phillips
PA
Katy Clifton27 September 2019
WEST END FINAL

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A 36-year-old man has been charged after a disturbance outside MP Jess Phillips' constituency office in Birmingham.

West Midlands Police said Michael Roby, of Birmingham, was charged on Friday with a Section 5 public order offence.

He has been released on conditional bail, police said. Roby is due to appear at Birmingham Magistrates court on October 10.

A West Midlands Police spokeswoman yesterday told the Standard: "Police were called to reports of a disturbance in Acocks Green, Birmingham just before 2.25pm on Thursday.

"A 36-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of a public order offence and possession of cannabis."

The disturbance came one day after the Labour MP said she has received death threats in the past.

She wrote on Twitter: "I get death threats and still I stand up, I don't surrender to fear & aggression. I don't surrender to lowest common denominator of fear to votes.

"I don't surrender to bullies who call me names. It is not I who have surrendered it is Boris Johnson he has surrendered his dignity."

Ms Phillips added: "I'm not scared of an election, I am scared I might be hurt or killed."

Ms Phillips was among MPs who told the Prime Minister to apologise for his language in the Commons on Wednesday, saying his choice of words had been designed to "inflame hatred and division".

However, Ms Phillips told Sky News that she would not "leap to blame Boris Johnson" for the disturbance.

She added: "We need to all be better and he is the Prime Minister. I wish he would just instead of trying to divide, to try to lead. I think that's what the country wants to see."

She said everyone in Parliament had a "case to answer" regarding their conduct, but that the only one with a "specific strategy" to provoke hate and aggression in the country was Mr Johnson.

"What he is doing is not human. It is manipulative, it is purposeful, it is his strategy. He wants people like me to be under threat," she said.

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