Piers Corbyn arrested after urging public to ‘burn MPs’ offices’

The brother of former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has denounced politicians who have voted for Covid restrictions.
Piers Corbyn speaks while arriving at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, London (Victoria Jones/PA)
PA Archive
Sami Quadri20 December 2021

Piers Corbyn has been arrested after a video emerged appearing to show him calling for MPs’ offices to be burned down.

The video shared on social media shows the brother of former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn criticising politicians who voted for Covid restrictions.

After decrying “those scum who have decided to go ahead with introducing new fascism”, the 73-year-old Mr Corbyn tells a crowd in the video: “You’ve got to get a list of them … and if your MP is one of them, go to their offices and, well, I would recommend burning them down, OK. But I can’t say that on air. I hope we’re not on air.”

The Met Police confirmed that a man had been arrested on suspicion of encouragement to commit arson.

Mr Corbyn was arrested in Southwark at around 1.45am on Sunday and remains in custody at a central London police station.

Home Secretary Priti Patel called the video “sickening”.

“I back police to take the strongest possible action against him,” she said.

Labour MP Yvette Cooper added to the chorus of condemnation.

She said: “Appalling Piers Corbyn video.

“We have lost two MPs to terrible violence in recent years - we know how incredibly serious this is.

“Police will have all our support pursuing this.”

Sir David Amess, former Conservative MP for Southend West, was stabbed to death at a constituency surgery on October 15.

Labour MP Jo Cox was murdered in 2016 by far-right extremist Thomas Mair in the run-up to the Brexit referendum.

Piers Corbyn is no stranger to controversy.

In September he accused staff at a conference of assault as they tried to eject him while his associates heckled speakers.

Reports suggest he intervened after the chair of The World Transformed event in Brighton had asked for questions from women and people of colour only.

Piers Corbyn was seen handing out leaflets containing the conspiracy theory that man-made climate change does not exist.

After the event, he turned up at a rally where his brother was due to speak and gave his account of what happened earlier.

Piers Corbyn said of the incident: “I attempted to ask a question, they grabbed me and they assaulted me and I shoved back at the person, the security guard, who assaulted me and sat down and refused to leave and stayed in the meeting.

“They tried to remove me and they gave up.”

Mr Corbyn was arrested in February this year by police investigating leaflets that likened coronavirus vaccine efforts to the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz.

The pamphlet, hand-delivered to homes in several areas in London, carried a cartoon of the extermination camp where at least 1.1 million people were murdered between 2940 and 2945.

A sketch of the entrance to Auschwitz in which the gates’ infamous slogan “Arbeit macht frei” (Work sets you free) was changed to “Vaccines are safe path to freedom”.

The pamphlet credited the idea of the cartoon to Piers Corbyn.

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