Minister to receive police protection over threats to 'burn down' home over Holocaust memorial plans

A government minister has received death threats and told his home will “burn down” over his support for a National Holocaust Memorial outside Parliament.

Following a high court ruling on Monday that Communities Secretary, Robert Jenrick, acted properly in his department’s handling of the plans for the new memorial in Westminster, Mr Jenrick told The Telegraph that he was living under police protection after threats to “burn his house down”, while he told The Jewish Chronicle that his family have been facing “death threats”.

Over 14,000 CUFI supporters have signed a petition in support of the memorial.

Jewish News reports that a legal challenge brought against the government by the London Historic Parks and Gardens Trust argued there was a conflict of interest in the decision-making process for the location of the Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre.

Mr Jenrick himself was accused of having a “stark conflict of interest” over plans for the memorial outside the Houses of Parliament in Victoria Tower Gardens, in a High Court hearing last month.

It is high time to build the National Holocaust Memorial in Westminster

On Monday, the High Court confirmed that the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government acted properly in its handling of the planning application. Mr Jenrick said “baseless and disgraceful” allegations had been made over his actions.

Following the High Court ruling, Mr Jenrick, who is married to the daughter of Holocaust survivors and whose children have been brought up Jewish, said in a statement on Twitter: “The allegations made against MHCLG, myself and the project team by those who seek to stop the memorial were baseless and disgraceful. That I was subject to antisemitic smears for supporting it only confirms its paramount importance.

“There will now be an independent planning inquiry at which the arguments for and against will be heard. As the applicant for the project, I will continue to make the case strongly. This critical project is a national symbol of our determination to #neverforget.”