UK orders urgent review of security for high-profile figures after Ann Widdecombe murder

The announcement

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood told the Commons on Monday, 12 October, that security arrangements for high-profile public figures, including politicians and members of the royal family, will be urgently reviewed. The review follows the killing of Ann Widdecombe, a former Conservative minister who was more recently a prominent figure in Nigel Farage's Reform UK party. Prosecutors allege the killing was ideologically motivated. Mahmood said the review would cover royals, government ministers, MPs, locally elected representatives and other prominent figures in British politics. It will not include an assessment of individual cases.

Police support for non-MPs

Police support will be expanded, with immediate effect, to political figures who are not currently MPs. This covers former MPs, peers, leaders of political parties who are not MPs, former members of the devolved parliaments and party spokespeople. Recipients will be given access to a named police officer, along with help with wider security measures. Mahmood told MPs that there is insufficient protection for those in public life.

It is clear there is insufficient protection for those who serve.

Mahmood also said the review would examine threats that come from both abroad and within the country, including terrorism, extremism, state threats, harassment and intimidation.

The independent review

Sir Stephen Lovegrove, a former UK national security adviser, will lead the independent review. It will look at how existing security is provided and whether funding and measures are being used effectively. Mahmood said the review builds on the work of Sir Robert Buckland, who is conducting a separate review into the murder of Sir David Amess in 2021. Two serving British MPs were killed in 2016 and 2021, the years of the murders of Jo Cox and Sir David Amess. Mahmood framed the review as a response to those losses.

An attack on any individual in public life is an attack on every one of us, and it is an attack on democracy itself.

The Widdecombe killing and charge

Widdecombe, 78, a former Conservative minister and Reform UK spokeswoman, was found dead at her home in Haytor on Dartmoor, Devon, in July. LBC reports that she was struck over the head with a hammer 21 times. Joshua Kerry, 28, of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, was charged with her murder on 20 July. He is also accused of a terrorism offence targeting Farage and other public figures, and prosecutors allege he tried to gain entry to Farage's home in south London in April 2025. The police watchdog, the IOPC, is investigating the police response to that attempt.

Protection for Prince Harry

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley told LBC that Prince Harry's police protection will be kept under review. Rowley said decisions on personal police protection are made through a national process involving the police, the security services and government. A close protection specialist, Richard Aitch, questioned the handling of Harry's security and warned that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are 'rolling the dice' with the limits of private bodyguards in Britain. Aitch said leaving royal duties did not mean the threats against Harry had disappeared.