Mansfield MP Ben Bradley: ‘Somebody threatened to kidnap my wife’

Coun Bradley was talking to former Ashfield Labour MP Gloria De Piero, who is now a presenter on GB News.

After talking about his schooling, and his time at university, the presenter asked him whether he had ‘ever felt threatened by anyone’?

Coun Bradley, also Nottinghamshire Council leader and member for Mansfield North, said: “On occasion. First surgery I ever had, in 2017, we had a guy come and wave his Mace around. He got arrested pretty quickly.”

And the Conservative added: “Somebody threatened to kidnap my wife once, which was nice. Someone on social media, which is ridiculous, but you never know how seriously to take these things; because on the one hand, it's probably some kid playing about, some keyboard warrior who will never do it.

“But then if you ignore it, and then something does happen – you’d never forgive yourself. So the police ended up bashing his door in, and turns out it was some spotty teenager who burst into tears as soon as they walked through the door.

“People don't understand the impact of their words, when it comes to Twitter in particular.”

Mr Bradley had earlier talked about how he had attended Bath and Salford universities, before moving to Nottingham University, after meeting his wife-to-be and finding their long-distance relationship difficult.

He said: “In between physically going to university I met my now wife, who lived in Grantham. So, I did a year up there and then it was a long-distance relationship, which was difficult, so I had to either come back or break up, I suppose. So I moved all my studies and did my second third year in Nottingham so we could live together.”

He and his wife have been together for 12 years, married for seven, and have two children.

Ms De Piero, Labour MP for Ashfield from 2010-19, before standing down, said: “To me it’s always surprising when someone is threatened with violence. I had the occasional threatening email, but on one in particular where the police intervened, the man in question sent me an apology. It all comes with the job, but it shouldn’t.”