A man has been arrested for threatening to shoot Nigel Farage, The Independent understands.
The Telegraph reports that a suspect wrote a message on X to the Reform UK leader in May, which read: “I am going to shoot you in the head if you win”
The post was made on 8 May, the day after the local elections, the newspaper states, and the man was arrested in London on 14 July.
Regarding the incident, Mr Farage told The Telegraph: “This is the first time the police have ever proactively acted on a social media post, and I hope they are looking at the other three or four hundred similar posts from this year alone.
“This has been going on for years – not just words but videos of people firing guns and so on, and in the past we have put multiple reports in to the police, always to be told that these social media posts don’t meet the threshold, which is extraordinary.”
The Independent has approached the Metropolitan Police for comment.
It comes as Reform UK has called for MPs to have their security improved following the killing of Ann Widdecombe.
Counter-terrorism police have said Miss Widdecombe was killed in a “targeted attack”, and her death has sparked a wider conversation about the safety of MPs.
At Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, Sir Keir Starmer said “we must do more to defend our democracy”, adding that it was “chilling” that three sitting or former MPs had been murdered during his 11 years in Parliament.
The prime minister added: “I have tasked officials across government to identify the best mechanisms for taking this work forward, so it can move as quickly as possible.
“And I hope the whole House can unite behind that in the months ahead.”
