MP accuses Reform and hard right figures of exploiting Huntingdon attack

Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Max Wilkinson claimed members of the Reform Party were among those who tried to ‘whip up fear and sew division’ after Saturday’s attack on an LNER train

Reform Party politicians were dramatically accused of trying to “whip up fear and sew division” in the aftermath of the Huntingdon train attack.

Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Max Wilkinson used a speech in the Commons to allege hard right figures – who he did not name – had tried to “exploit the incident for political gain”. He made the remark after Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood vowed any lessons from the harrowing attack would be implemented.

Ms Mahmood told MPs suspect Anthony Williams, 32, who has been charged with 11 counts of attempted murder, “was not known to the security services, counter-terror policing, or Prevent”. MPs were told that in the aftermath of the attack on an LNER train, social media was awash with vile racism.

It was later confirmed that Williams was born in the UK. Mr Wilkinson – who did not name individuals – said: “In the immediate aftermath of these sort of attacks, within hours, social media is flooded with speculation over the ethnicity and race of the perpetrator, inciting racist and Islamophobic comments.

“And when communities were still reeling from the horror of this attack, certain political figures on the hard right, including members of the Reform Party, were already seeking to exploit the incident for political gain. Desperate to involve themselves in the tragedy, they reached for their dog whistles…. they were shamelessly trying to turn tragedy into yet another excuse to whip up fear and sew division.”

In response Ms Mahmood said: “I deplore the ease with which so many, armchair warriors feel the need to speculate and spread, misinformation on, on social media.“

She continued: “In terms of how other people may or may not have reacted, I tend to think at moments of such crisis people normally reveal their true colours, and I will leave my remarks about other individuals there.”

Ms Mahmood paid tribute to emergency services workers, train staff and passengers whose swift response to Saturday’s attack saved lives. She told MPs: “Once the facts are known, we must examine what more might have been done to stop this horrific attack from ever occurring and whether there are measures that we must now take to better protect the public on our streets and on our trains. However, that must be done when all of the facts are available to us.”

Ms Mahmood told the Commons: “My deepest thanks go to the emergency services. The British Transport Police. Cambridgeshire Police, Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue and the East of England Ambulance Service.

“The speed of their response as well as their skill and professionalism, were exemplary. I would also like to pay tribute to the breathtaking bravery of those on the train itself, including the heroic acts of the passengers and train crew who intercepted the attacker.

“I would like to draw particular attention to one member of the onboard crew who ran toward danger, confronting the attacker for a sustained period of time, and stopped his advance through the train.

“He put himself in harm’s way, suffered grievous injuries as a result, and remains in hospital today in a critical but stable condition. On Saturday, he went to work to do his job. Today he is a hero.”

Earlier Williams appeared at Peterborough Magistrates’ Court charged with 10 counts of attempted murder. He is also charged with one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and one count of possession of a bladed article.

A LNER staff member is in a critical but stable condition in hospital following the stabbings on the high-speed service, while four other people remain in hospital. Separately, Williams is also charged with one count of attempted murder and possession of a bladed article over an incident at Pontoon Dock DLR station in London in the early hours of Saturday.

District judge Ken Sheraton remanded Williams into custody to appear at Cambridge Crown Court on December 1. The attack happened shortly after the London-bound train left Peterborough station. Passengers pulled the emergency alarms on the LNER service and it was diverted to Huntingdon.