A Labour MP has thanked London Underground passengers for rushing to her defence as she was hassled by a man.
Stella Creasy was on the Victoria Line when she began to be harassed by the male passenger in an incident she is planning to report to the police.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the Walthamstow MP said: “If you were one of the passengers on the victoria line just now who intervened to stop a man hassling me thank you from the bottom of my heart.
“Please get in touch with my office if you are prepared to be a witness as maybe the police might listen to you about him now!”
The Independent contacted Ms Creasy to ask for more details. TFL was contacted for comment.
Ms Creasy has been repeatedly targeted with abuse, lashing out last year at the crusade of harassment launched against her by anti-abortion activists, an issue on which she has campaigned.
In a moving interview with The Independent, Ms Creasy said she was facing “a bonfire of abuse” from anti-abortion ideologues on social media in punishment for campaigning on abortion rights.
And in 2013, a man was arrested after launching a torrent of violent abuse on social media at Ms Creasy.
Peter Nunn, a blogger from Bristol, was sentenced to 18 weeks imprisonment in September 2014 for sending messages to Ms Creasy calling her a witch and retweeting rape threats.
She and other feminist campaigners were harassed after expressing support for the image of author Jane Austen to be placed on a banknote.
After the incident, Ms Creasy was forced to have a panic button installed in her home.
Ms Creasy’s latest incident comes months after a cross-party inquiry warned that democracy is being undermined by the scale of abuse, threats and intimidation facing MPs.
A survey by the Speaker’s Conference revealed about half of MPs said threatening behaviour had caused anxiety or depression (49 per cent), with a similar share feeling unsafe as a result (52 per cent).
The inquiry concluded that electoral law is “not fit for purpose” in relation to tackling abuse of political candidates in elections and called for a Government review to assess security and electoral integrity.
This phase of the Conference was established in 2024 to help ensure that elections to Parliament are conducted freely and fairly, without threats or violence.
It also seeks to enable candidates to campaign safely and support elected representatives to do their job securely.
Commenting on the findings, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, Commons Speaker and chairman of the Speaker’s Conference, said: “Participating in free and fair democratic processes – as a candidate or a Member of Parliament – is a privilege, and we expect that to come with robust political discourse and debate.
“But abuse, threats and intimidation should never be part of this job. It threatens the health of our democracy, and forces people to choose between the public good and their own safety and wellbeing.
“I am grateful to members, their staff and the witnesses we have heard from to date for sharing their experiences with us and look forward to working with colleagues on the next phase of the Conference’s work.”
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