VOICE OF THE JEWISH NEWS: Mike’s impact merits peerage

There haven’t been this many Jewish MPs in the House of Commons for decades.

But the chamber is now also missing many of our community’s greatest allies from the past two decades – those who lost their seats like Theresa Villiers and those who announced their departures before polling day, such as Mike Freer.

The former MP for Finchley and Golders Green chose not to contest the seat he’d held since 2010 after an arson attack targeted his office, the latest in a list of abuse and threats he received for his efforts to loyally serve the people of Barnet.

Mike was undoubtedly a popular constituency MP but he was so much more too: from his role in fighting for equal marriage to the important part he played in the expansion of security funding for Jewish schools that is now a staple of our armoury against intolerance and violence.

The country is poorer without Mike’s voice in frontline politics.

There’s plenty of deserving individuals but, as our political leaders finalise their lists of new peers this summer, few could be as deserving of elevation. Such a move would not only be welcomed across the political divide but would send a clear and crucial message to those who would threaten our precious political institutions and traditions.