Arrest made over alleged arson attacks on properties linked to Sir Keir Starmer
A 21-year-old man has been arrested over suspected arson attacks on two properties linked to Sir Keir Starmer.
The Metropolitan Police said the suspect was arrested in the early hours of Tuesday on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life.
Emergency services were called to blazes at the doors of two homes in north London within 24 hours of each other – one just after 1.30am on Monday and the other on Sunday.
Police are investigating whether the fires were linked and counter-terrorism officers are leading the inquiry because the properties have connections to a high-profile public figure.
Scotland Yard is also looking into a vehicle fire on May 8 as part of the probe.
Loud bang
On Monday, a police cordon and officers, as well as investigators from London Fire Brigade (LFB), could be seen outside a Kentish Town property, where the Prime Minister used to live.
Neighbours described hearing a loud bang and said police officers were looking for a projectile.
Charles Grant, 66, told reporters: “Police searched my garden and said they were looking for something somebody had thrown but they didn’t find anything. They said they were looking for a projectile.
“From what other people have told me today, I gather someone threw a firebomb at Keir Starmer’s house.”
Sir Keir is understood to still own the home but lives at the Prime Minister’s official residence in Downing Street.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “I can only say that the Prime Minister thanks the emergency services for their work and it is subject to a live investigation. So I can’t comment any further.”
Police were alerted by the LFB to reports of a fire at the residential address at 1.35am.
Damage was caused to the property’s entrance but nobody was hurt.
Civility
In the early hours of Sunday, firefighters dealt with a small fire at the front door of a house converted into flats in nearby Islington, which is also linked to Sir Keir.
One person was assisted to safety via an internal staircase by crews wearing breathing apparatus, LFB said.
The car fire broke out in the early hours of Thursday May 8, in the same street as the Kentish Town property.
Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick told Sky News on Tuesday: “It’s important that the Prime Minister and anyone in public life has their family, their homes, protected.
“We have robust disagreements in politics but I want to ensure anyone who chooses to go in to public life feels that they’ll be properly protected and that we have civility in our debate.
“It is absolutely wrong, disgraceful, for any individual to take the kind of action that we saw against the Prime Minister’s home.”
Support our Nation today
For the price of a cup of coffee a month you can help us create an independent, not-for-profit, national news service for the people of Wales, by the people of Wales.
Don’t be surprised if the Prime Minister orders a fleet of Water-Cannons to patrol MP’s property portfolios in future…
This idea of having MPs living in ordinary second homes while in Westminster surely isn’t smart. It must be time to modernise central government by building a new government campus with representatives residing in purpose built blocks that can be properly secured.
Not keen on that – if implemented it’d make parliamentary politicians yet more remote from the constituents whom they’re supposed to represent.
They’d still have their constituency homes. This is only for when they’re attending central government.
Think of the taxpayer value for money that comes with not funding those second homes in the most expensive city on the planet, and their duck houses.
I see your point more clearly in the light of your latest post, and it’s a point that I take. I didn’t get that point initially because of the reality that Starmer’s a London MP and in the light of that I’d expect him to have a home in his constituency.
Though I see that the news item doesn’t specify whether these properties are indeed in his constituency, and as I’m not familiar with London’s detailed geography I don’t know if they are.
Indeed it seems this was his constituency home so wouldn’t have helped here plus of course unlike other cabinet members he is already benefiting from purpose built accomodation. The point about being remote from constituents is an interesting one and I’d argue the current system encourages this. How many MPs essentially move into their second home and embrace the London lifestyle – the fancy restaurants, galleries and imperial architecture -almost never returning home and learning to distain their own “unsophisticated” community? Now imagine that central government was in Coventry and their accommodation was fancy student blocks. MPs would spend far… Read more »
‘Now imagine that central government was in Coventry and their accommodation was fancy student blocks. MPs would spend far more time in their real home …’
Now on that I’d agree!
Although in fairness the only MPs whom I knew tolerably well, just a couple of them up in England’s north-west and both Lib Dems, did, from my certain knowledge, spend a fair amount of their time living in their homes on the patch.
So credit where it’s due.
A new tube station…Dystopia Avenue…with a shout out for Eddy Grant…
I read all the newspapers online everyday although i do not like Starmer the comments in the rag called daily mail about Starmer where disgusting considering there where 2 M P,s murdered in the last couple of years they would be from the right wing i would think you dont have to see hatred on the likes of Facebook its in the bloody newspapers