Dame Prue Leith says son being Reform MP is ‘scary’ after Ann Widdecombe murder

Dame Prue Leith has shared her worry for her politician son Danny Kruger, following the murder of Ann Widdecombe.

The Reform spokeswoman, 78, was found dead at her home in Haytor on Dartmoor on Thursday morning, after sustaining serious injuries.

A 28-year-old white British man remains under arrest on suspicion of commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism, as well as on suspicion of murder.

Counter-terrorism police are now leading the investigation into her death, which they have said was a ‘targeted attack’.

The Great British Bake Off judge has now admitted her safety concerns for her Reform MP son, in a conversation with Times Radio.

The 86-year-old said: ‘I haven’t even rung him up about it because I don’t want him having to add to the worry the fact that his mother is worrying.’

She continued: ‘Honestly, I think the government will do everything it can to protect MPs and there are dangers in every walk of life and this is one that MPs have to have in the back of their minds. But I think it is scary. 

‘It seems so amazing that this should be happening in the UK, which I’ve always thought of as the most civilised country about politics. It’s always been a proper country. 

‘You don’t reach for the gun when you don’t agree with somebody; you debate it and you vote on it.’

She added of her son, who was formerly a Tory MP but defected to Nigel Farage’s party last year: ‘We do talk a lot about politics and I don’t always agree with Danny on politics but one of the great things is we don’t mind disagreeing, it’s all perfectly civilised.’

Prime Minister-in-waiting Andy Burnham has said a ‘serious review’ is needed into MPs’ security following the death of Widdecombe and that protections may need to be ‘increased further’.

Asked why he thought frontline politics had become so dangerous, the Makerfield MP told reporters in Parliament: ‘Politics has darkened in the last decade; there’s no getting away from that.

‘It’s obviously appalling what happened to Ann. I knew Ann over many years in the House, and you know, we would get along – and everybody would get along.

‘But it feels as though something has changed. It’s easy to blame social media, but it feels like it’s having some impact in just building that kind of toxicity that’s around the political debate.’