Labour MP Dawn Butler has been forced to close her constituency office today after an escalation of racist threats and attacks. Posting an open letter on her website, she explained that the primary reason for the closure was that it was not Covid-secure however the increase in racist threats to her staff were also a security risk.
‘My staff have been attacked in the office, verbally assaulted coming and going from work, bricks have been thrown through the windows and the frontage has been smashed,’ Butler wrote on her website. ‘Sadly in recent months, the threat to myself and my staff has drastically escalated.’
Butler explained that she has worked ‘extensively with police and security staff’ to try and create a safer environment for her employees, with police making one arrest and pursuing others in the last month. ‘I continue to receive on an almost daily basis threats of violence and death threats,’ she explained. ‘Many of these incidents were not made public in order to not encourage copycat attacks.’
The escalation comes, she says, as she continues to speak out on ‘the impact of Covid-19 on the BAME community, the death of George Floyd and Black Lives Matter.’ Kier Starmer, Labour leader, has since spoken out in support of Butler and the abuse she and her staff have suffered is ‘appalling’ and she has the Labour Party’s full support and solidarity. Boris Johnson is yet to show solidarity with Butler, however conservative MP Tom Tugendhat has tweeted support, saying ‘whoever is trying to silence Dawn Butler is threatening us all.’
I will never be threatened into silence.
While Butler said the racist attacks are one reason for the closure, she stated the primary concern was that her office was too small to be Covid secure and was becoming ‘increasingly unaffordable’. Based in Willesden, London, the MP said her office lease was up for renewal and so she ‘decided with a heavy heart that I had little option but to bring an end to this ultimately unsustainable situation.’
She will now be holding virtual surgeries and promised constituents that she will resume ‘normal weekly in-person surgeries’ when Covid-19 safe appointments were possible. On the increase of racist attacks since speaking out, she also promised the closure of her office would never stop her speaking out for her constituents.
‘I will never be threatened into silence,’ she concluded.
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