Yorkshire peer at centre of alert over white powder in hate mail

The message, received by Lord Ahmed, contained racist abuse - but because of the suspicious powder, a security operation was launched which led to parts of the parliamentary estate being closed.

Lord Ahmed said that he was concerned about the incident, particularly following the killing of Labour MP Jo Cox in June.

The non-affiliated former Labour peer opened the “hate mail with some frightening stuff inside” in his office at Westminster.

“Hate mail, I have had before, but this had some white powder. At first I didn’t realise how serious it could be, so I threw it in the bin and washed my hands and shook off all the powder,” he said.

But then he realised the potential threat posed by the message and drew it to the attention of the parliamentary security staff. and police were called.

Lord Ahmed then went to the peers’ terrace overlooking the Thames when he was called by security staff who told him not to move while specialist police units investigated to see if the powder was “chemical or biological material”.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: “The contents have been deemed non-suspicious and there are no reports of any injuries.”