UK announces urgent high-profile security review

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood told MPs on 12 October 2026 that Britain will urgently review security for high-profile public figures, including politicians and royals, after the July killing of Ann Widdecombe. Widdecombe, 78, a former Conservative minister, Brexit Party MEP and Reform UK spokeswoman, died on 8 July after being hit 21 times with a hammer at her Haytor home on Dartmoor. Joshua Kerry, 28, of Rotherham has been charged with her murder and with terrorism-related offences linked to alleged threats against Nigel Farage. Prosecutors alleged he researched public figures and tried to access Farage's home; those claims are unproven and proceedings continue. Former national security adviser Sir Stephen Lovegrove will lead the independent review of how protections are delivered and whether funding and measures are used effectively. Police support will extend to non-MP party leaders, peers, former MPs, former devolved parliament members and party spokespeople, building on Sir Robert Buckland's separate review into Sir David Amess's murder. Mahmood said an attack on anyone in public life "is an attack on every one of us, and it is an attack on democracy itself." No core factual dispute is identified across the coverage; Kerry's case remains unresolved.