The Speaker of the House of Commons made an extraordinary intervention to prevent Labour minister Ellie Reeves having to face across a courtroom a trans woman who was harassing her, it has been revealed.
Ms Reeves, the MP for Lewisham West and East Dulwich and current Solicitor General, faced a “barrage” of threats, abuse, and baseless accusations of criminal conduct from one of her constituents, Tracey Smith.
In her emails and voicemails, Ms Smith said she was suing Sir Keir Starmer, claimed to be the victim of abuse, and she accused Ms Reeves of “terrorism”, “extremism”, and aiding and abetting crimes by not intervening.
Smith also claimed Ms Reeves’ sister, Chancellor Rachel Reeves, had “attacked” her over her trans identity at a buffet event, and she repeatedly threatened to force Ms Reeves to appear as a witness in a civil claim she was mounting.
Giving evidence, Ms Reeves said she was left distraught when Smith followed through with the threat, convincing the Central London county court to issue a summons for her to attend a hearing on October 30 last year.
“I didn’t know if it was real or not, it seemed so far-fetched”, she told the court.
“I was really worried I might have to attend court – it was so upsetting.”
She said the summons arrived in an email from Smith, as the culmination of a series of communications which she said turned into “abusive rants”.
“I was worried for my safety, and I ended up spending much of that day trying to work out what security measures could be put in place for attending court.”
She continued: “It was so upsetting – it almost felt like this was being done so Tracey Smith could confront me.”
The court heard her appearance in court was ultimately averted when the Speaker of the House, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, asserted that Ms Reeves had to be in the House of Commons on that same day.
She said she spent the weekend “in a bit of a state” while waiting to find out if the court would accept that she would not be attending.
“I was really worried about what would happen and my safety if I had to attend court.”
She said Smith had mentioned in a voicemail that “groups of victims” would be waiting for her at court, and suggested that if she did not attend she may be brought to court in a secure van.
The Speaker’s office told The Standard it was legal counsel for Sir Lindsay’s office who contacted the court, asking for Ms Reeve’s attendance to be excused due to the House sitting on that day.
The revelation emerged during Smith’s criminal trial, as she faced a charge of harassing the MP between July and October last year.
District Judge Michael Snow, who is overseeing the trial, called it an “extraordinary position” that the county court had issued the witness summons, remarking: “I can’t issue a witness summons unless I’m satisfied there is sufficient evidence.”
Ms Reeves, who told the court repeatedly that Smith was bombarding her with false accusations of crimes, said she had no idea what the civil claim was about.
But she added that the county court told her she could only have the witness summons withdrawn by paying a £300 fee and attending a court hearing, at which Smith was likely to be present.
“The Speaker overrode the witness summons, but it took time on the Monday for the court to accept that argument”, she said.
Smith, from Lewisham, denied the charge of harassment, arguing that her communications to Ms Reeves were part of an attempt to gain the assistance of her MP for longstanding issues she says she has suffered as a trans woman.
Giving evidence, Smith told the court: “I stand by every allegation I have made against Ellie Reeves.”
But Judge Snow found her guilty of harassment, ruling her communication had been “menacing” and “alarming” for Ms Reeves and her staff.
“It’s a danger to our democracy if politicians feel they need to cocoon themselves,” he added.
“She knew her behaviour was harassing Ms Reeves.”
Smith will be sentenced at the same court on November 28.
The court heard Smith contacted Ms Reeves’ office shortly after she was elected to the new seat of Lewisham West and East Dulwich and became her MP in July 2024.
In emails and voicemails, Smith outlined how she had issue court proceedings against Keir Starmer and claimed to be the victim of sexual abuse at the hands of civil servants in Lewisham, as well as police officers and doctors.
Smith alleged she had been targeted “purely because I am trans”.
Ms Reeves said she found it “alarming” after reading that Smith had written: “A person is most dangerous when they have nothing else to lose.”
The MP said she was accused of wanting to “legalise abuse”, as well as sexual assault and “deprivation of civil liberties” for trans women.
“I have been heavily involved with a lot of the Labour Party’s work in ending violence against women and girls, it is something I take very seriously and passionately”, she told the court.
“To get this sort of thing in an email that I want to legalise it and am complicit in whatever happened to her, I found it quite distressing and offensive.”
The MP described Smith’s tone as growing “menacing”, and said ultimately she decided to issue a “cease and desist” letter to try to cut off the “barrage” of communications.
Smith described herself as a “person who has nothing to lose”, and Ms Reeves told the judge: “I didn’t know what Tracey Smith was going to do next.”
She also referenced the murders of fellow MPs Sir David Amess and Jo Cox, and described her growing alarm when her sister Rachel was drawn into the messages, accused by Smith of an “attack” over her trans identity.
“I’ve never had someone accusing my sister of physically assaulting someone”, she said.
“I thought ‘wow, this is going somewhere which is really concerning’.
“Where is she going with this, and when is she going to stop?”
After the cease and desist letter, Smith replied the same day with a renewed threat to issue a witness summons to court.
“Every communication is a barrage of accusations of criminal activity – wrong doing on my part”, said Ms Reeves. “It oversteps a line by quite a long way.
“You deal with a lot as an MP, but this was so outside the realms of what I consider to be acceptable, and it was distressing. It did make me feel quite anxious about where does this end.”
She adds that she now has a protection officer with her for security when attending events in her constituency, attributing that “partly” to the case involving Smith.
Prosecutor Louise Oakley told the court Smith’s communications “went far beyond normal correspondence between an MP and a member of their constituency. It amounted to personal attacks on Ellie Reeves and allegations she herself had committed criminal offences.”
