A Conservative minister has revealed his wife was posted a soiled nappy as part of an apparent instance of abuse against the politician.
Johnny Mercer, the Tory MP for Plymouth Moor View, posted images of the item to social media after his partner, Felicity Cornelius-Mercer, had signed for the package thinking it was a book.
“I publicise this stuff not because I want sympathy – I’m very privileged.” The MP wrote on Twitter.
“But I do think people should be aware of what getting involved in politics is really like in 2020 Britain. This was mailed to my wife (not me) this morning.“
Tracking data revealed through the parcel showed it was posted from Croydon a week before delivery before ultimately being handed on the politician’s wife, to whom it was addressed.
Inside the parcel the nappy bore a sticker, which read “better check and see what your husband has been up to…”
Ms Cornelius-Mercer told local publication the Plymouth Herald the act had felt “sinister” given the couple had recently welcomed their newborn daughter Audrey into the world.
“I took the parcel into the kitchen and said to Johnny, ‘this looks really weird’”, she told the paper.
“I just had a weird feeling about it. And then I dug my finger in to open it, and it was a nappy with excrement in it.”
The 39-year-old defence minister previously revealed he had been forced to move his family away from his Plymouth constituency to the Cornish town of Launceston after receiving death threats.
And last month the MP faced criticism in the aftermath of the Conservative party’s vote on free school meals – which saw the party oppose continuing the provision for hungry children across the October half term.
Posting a picture of himself in the countryside, the former soldier wrote at the time “Really tough old week in politics. No-one said it would be easy. But when you get to come up here for your end-of-week clear-the-head session, it all seems ok.”
