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Hampshire Police have opened an investigation after the Portsmouth North MP received a sinister letter vowing to kill her unless she dropped her bid to become Prime Minister.<\/p>\n
The note threatened to “shoot her in the head” and “kill her family”.<\/p>\n
Ms Mordaunt received the letter in the final days of her campaign to take on the top job.<\/p>\n
She was axed from the leadership contest last Wednesday, finishing behind Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss in a vote of Conservative MPs despite having beaten the Foreign Secretary in every previous round of voting.<\/p>\n
The letter was sent to Ms Mordaunt’s constituency office, with police visiting the premises last Friday to interview the trade minister about the threats and to carry out security checks.<\/p>\n
A police spokesman said: “At 11.50am on July 22, we received a report of a letter containing threats to kill a Portsmouth woman and her family which was sent to her office in Lakeside, North Harbour.<\/p>\n
“We attended and safeguarding measures were put in place to minimise the risk to the woman and her family, employees and the wider community.<\/p>\n
“Our inquiries into this incident are ongoing and it has been referred to the Parliamentary Liaison Team.<\/p>\n
“We take the safeguarding of our MPs incredibly seriously and there are robust systems in place to ensure they can carry out their job safely.”<\/p>\n
Ms Mordaunt was subjected to a series of attacks from the supporters of rival candidates during her leadership bid.<\/p>\n
The heated debate on the future of the Conservative Party has become increasingly personal since it began just two weeks ago.<\/p>\n
The current minister faced criticism over her competence and her views on transgender rights.<\/p>\n
Sources close to Ms Mordaunt believe the negative stories played a role in the death threat she received.<\/p>\n
Speaking to her local paper today, the MP said she was “very grateful to the police for their swift action” in dealing with her case.<\/p>\n
Last October the terror threat facing MPs was raised from “moderate” to “substantial”.<\/p>\n
Home Sceretary Priti Patel hightened the alert in the aftermath of the death of Sir David Amess.<\/p>\n
It also came jsut five years after the death of the former Labour MP, Jo Cox.<\/p>\n