Daughter of Don Valley Labour candidate Caroline Flint reveals nine-month 'malicious mailings' campaign against her mother

Writing in magazine Grazia Hanna Flint, daughter of Don Valley candidate and former MP Caroline Flint, revealed her mother had been the victim of death threats and long-running attacks.

Hanna, 31, wrote in the context of calling her mother in panic when Jo Cox was murdered in Batley and Spen in 2016 and again a year later when Khalid Masood launched the Westminster terrorist attack in which PC Keith Palmer and others were killed.

She added: “And, we’ve never spoken publicly about this but, in 2010, Mum had to work with the police to find the man subjecting her to malicious mailings for nine months. Last year she revealed one death threat had warned her: ‘You’ll be hanging from a rope’.”

It comes as concerns have risen over the abuse faced by MPs and candidates, with many on the campaign trail advised to either not campaign after dark or to ensure they are not alone.

The daughter of another Yorkshire Labour candidate, Ellie Cooper, whose mother is Yvette Cooper, posted a moving thread on Twitter in September where she admitted she was “scared when our house gets fitted with panic buttons, industrial-locking doors and explosive bags to catch the mail".

In a scathing attack on Boris Johnson for his language in Parliament Ellie said: "I am scared. I am scared when I scroll through the replies to [her mother’s] tweets calling her a liar and a traitor. I am scared when our house gets fitted with panic buttons, industrial-locking doors and explosive bags to catch the mail.

"I am scared because on the 16th of June 2016, two children said goodbye to their mother before she left for her constituency to sit in surgeries and help people all day, and never saw her again. I am scared every single day that the same will happen to mine.

"Because she is trying her best to help people. To make their lives better. Even if we disagree with our politicians, when was this something we actively wanted to hurt them for?"