Mike Freer warns attacks on MPs are a "constant worry"

Transcript

00:00 Your offices reopened after four and a half months. How much work was required to repair the damage here?

00:06 Well the total cost is about £120,000 worth of work.

00:10 That includes things like new windows, bits of the building had to be rewired,

00:15 obviously new computers, new phone systems.

00:18 So one office was completely destroyed, completely melted.

00:22 Four of our windows at the back of the building just melted,

00:24 including a lot of the heat damage, smoke damage.

00:28 Even computers have melted, so all of that had to be replaced.

00:32 And the building had to be, decontaminated is not quite the right word,

00:36 but all the tops and then the smoke gets into the plasters,

00:39 that all had to be taken off the walls and plastered and so on.

00:42 How worried are you about the attack happening here or at another MPs?

00:47 Well it's always a constant worry.

00:49 I mean obviously our offices are fairly secure, it's very difficult to get in the building these days.

00:54 The last attack of course was done at the back of the building, so that's always a worry.

00:59 We've made our offices and our homes very safe,

01:02 but of course we're very vulnerable to one of the great parts of our democracy, the accessibility.

01:07 We can take precautions, but like everybody else we walk the streets to the tube,

01:11 we go shopping like everyone else.

01:12 So there remain vulnerabilities that MPs will have to be aware of.

01:16 Have you done anything to increase your security here or the security of this building?

01:21 So basically the building was already quite secure inside.

01:24 We've had another review, there'll be some additional cameras going in,

01:27 some additional security lights going in.

01:29 I've changed the way I operate, so I'm much more conscious of,

01:33 I tend to drive to the corners now where I can get the tube,

01:36 but also when I park up, I'm much more, it's called situational awareness training.

01:41 So we're taught now to look around us and we've got a car park at the back of the office.

01:46 So we're taught how to check our surroundings in case we're feeling worried.

01:51 And MPs have access, I have one on my key ring where I can press an SOS, it's GPS linked,

01:56 so even if I'm running away from something, they can track where I am.

02:00 Or I can press a button, I have an open phone line to the control centre saying who I am,

02:06 I think I'm being followed or whatever worry is, and they handle it very quickly.

02:11 The person who has admitted to doing this has denied that it was politically motivated.

02:16 I don't know if that's something you'd feel like you should talk about.

02:18 Well obviously the court case is still ongoing.

02:21 We haven't yet had the sentencing hearing, so I haven't seen what he's said.

02:27 And so until the trial concludes I can't really say much.

02:31 But I can say that, actually as I discussed it with my family,

02:35 the motive for the attack is irrelevant.

02:37 As my husband said, if you're dead, you're dead.

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