How do we keep MPs safe?
That is a question that might not be on the lips of many voters or commentators as we currently hurtle towards the Election.
However it is a really important question and the subject of a new political drama starring James Corden and Anna Maxwell Martin, The Constituent. The play asks if MPs are no longer safe.
With breaking news cycles and constant demand for fresh takes on the election, I don’t know how many reporters, commentators, or communications professionals are considering how their reporting impacts MPs.
Why would they? It is about reporting the facts to voters from manifestos and seeing how political parties would be fixing the current issues affecting the country.
About pinning our hopes on a better Britain emerging from the chaos that seems to have reigned in the last few years.
Not about considering whether an MP holding, or advertising an open surgery, may be attacked or assaulted as they meet constituents who they are hoping to help. Or whether a narrative or story is contributing to a toxic environment for MPs in their local communities.
Working for the Police and Crime Commissioner in West Yorkshire when Jo Cox was fatally attacked as she headed to her surgery, I remember vividly the abject horror that something so awful could happen in broad daylight to an elected representative trying to help people.
Then the tragic case of Sir David Amess, killed as he held face to face surgeries in a local church, trying to help his constituents.
The play explores the impact of abuse of MPs and the assertion that it will mean there will ‘be no decent people left, only the narcissists and thrill-seekers who don’t mind the risk’.
In a world of fake news and misinformation, there is a real need to ensure communications in this area is straightforward and fair as language really matters.
The Jo Cox Civility Commission has listed practical recommendations that include
-Impartial political and media literacy made a mandatory part of the school curriculum, including addressing how to deal with information sources and misinformation
-Government should run awareness campaigns for the general public to increase understanding of the role of elected representatives and promote civility
The Jo Cox Foundation, who commissioned the report, believe that ‘abuse and intimidation of elected representatives is one of the biggest threats to our democracy in the UK’. If we want people to be motivated to join politics who represent us then they need to feel safe.
My friend, recently elected as a politician, advertised her surgery location and times she would be available. I was horrified and messaged her. She said she had taken police advice but on balance wanted to be available for constituents.
It might sound far fetched me worrying, but actually set against the context of what I have seen professionally, it actually isn’t. I felt advertising location, date, times made her vulnerable which is really sad considering she was elected by local people who wanted her to represent them.
As communications professionals, journalists, commentators, editors, are we sense checking around the language we use and the way we frame stories. We can’t mitigate everything, we can’t. No number of risk assessments can do that.
However, we can create an environment where MPs aren’t demonised by our language and decent people aren’t put off standing. Our democracy doesn’t just need a free press, it needs elected representatives who are a true reflection of society, who aren’t put off standing because they don’t feel safe.
Otherwise what does that mean for the future of democracy in the UK?
