Government expands police support to political figures who are not MPs
The most telling detail here is that Shabana Mahmood frames this as "insufficient protection" for people who aren't even MPs. That means the threat assessment has shifted well beyond elected officials. We're now talking about advisors, strategists, maybe even local party figures who suddenly need the kind of security we used to reserve for cabinet ministers.
I'd want to know exactly who qualifies for this expanded protection and how the government decides. Because once you start drawing that line, you're making a judgment about whose life is worth guarding, and that's a slippery slope. I get the practical need, but I also wonder if this is a symptom of something deeper. We've built a political culture where harassment and intimidation are so normalized that the state has to respond with bodyguards.
The weird part for me is the quietness of it all. Armed officers will now trail people who might never hold office, and we're barely discussing it. That feels like a threshold we've crossed without really talking about it. I'm not saying it's wrong, but I'd want more transparency about the criteria before we accept this as the new normal.