Vulnerable MPs and public figures have been advised to set up safe rooms in their homes in case of attacks amid growing fears over the safety of politicians.
The National Protective Security Authority (NPSA), an arm of MI5, handed updated guidance to individuals at high risk, including MPs, local councillors and foreign dissidents, which included the recommendation that they set up a “safer area” where they can take shelter if their home comes under attack from “hostile actors”.
Their advice has emerged in the wake of the death of Ann Widdecombe, but it was published online before she was killed.
Ms Widdecombe, 78, was found dead at her home in Haytor on Dartmoor, Devon earlier this month with counter-terrorism police saying she was killed in a “targeted attack”.
In advice first reported by the Sunday Times, the NPSA – which has been offering updated advice to high-risk individuals for months – said the room could be a dedicated space or somewhere within a normal room and may need to be equipped with fog machines and bulletproof walls to delay intruders.
They also said timed indoor lights should be installed to provide the illusion that an empty house is occupied, while bushes outside the property should be cut back to remove hiding places.
On Tuesday night it emerged that counter-terrorism police are probing whether the suspect held over Ms Widdecombe’s killing was motivated by left-wing extremism and planning further violence against other high-profile figures.
A 28-year-old white British man arrested in South Yorkshire on Saturday remains in custody. He is being held on suspicion of commission, preparation, or instigation of acts of terrorism, as well as on suspicion of murder.
Her death has sparked a row over the level of protection given to politicians and people in public life, with senior figures in Reform UK, which the former Tory minister joined later in her life, complaining that the level of security their party and its leader Nigel Farage have been offered is inadequate.
Home secretary Shabana Mahmood has offered Mr Farage a meeting with the chairman of the Royal and VIP Executive Committee (Ravec), the body responsible for security of high-profile figures.
The i Paper reported that Mr Farage was offered a security package similar to the level offered to Leader of the Opposition Kemi Badenoch including a bodyguard, car and trained driver last year.
But he turned that down because he considered that to be a downgrade on what he had previously received.
It came as a Cabinet minister warned that politicians face a “horrific” culture of violence which has become worse in recent years.
Treasury chief secretary Lucy Rigby said it was a “sad and troubling” reality that the threats facing MPs and others in public life had increased.
