Respecting MPs

UNLIKE many languishing in prison, Roshana Choudhry is an erudite individual. And, like many well-educated people, she still has strong views on the Iraq war seven years after Saddam Hussein's overthrow. It did not preclude her from attempting to murder her local MP, Stephen Timms, because she disagreed with the then Minister's decision to support the conflict.

This is reflected in her life sentence that she has deservedly received. Yet this shocking case – Mr Timms was fortunate to survive – has two far-reaching consequences. First, one of the great strengths of Britain's political system is the accessibility of MPs and other

elected representatives; they are expected to meet constituents regularly. By taking the law into her own hands, Choudhry's pre-meditated violence threatened to undermine this important principle; a principle that certainly does not exist in the Middle East.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Second, what does it say about society today when a young woman – Choudhry was 14 at the time of the Iraq invasion – can be so radicalised by preachers of hate using the internet to spread revulsion against the West? While many contend that freedom of speech should be sacrosanct, an exception must be made here and such online sermons shut down before they cause even more harm. An MP is democratically accountable at the ballot box. That remains the place for grievances to be registered. Politicians should not have to fear for their lives whenever they hold a constituency surgery.