The treatment of Anna Soubry and Diane Abbott is exactly why I've given up on going into politics

I would not receive a fraction of the abuse experienced by female, Muslim or black MPs, but as someone who has suffered anxiety it's enough to put me off entering public life

Anna Soubry breaks off in the middle of a BBC TV interview to highlight the protesters calling her a ‘Nazi’ (BBC)

Two years ago I received an email saying that I had been approved parliamentary candidate for the Liberal Democrats. I could not have been happier.

Wind the clock forward to today and, looking at the abuse MPs receive on a daily basis, I cannot envisage a circumstance under which I would put myself forward to stand.

Yesterday, Anna Soubry, the pro-Remain Conservative MP, was subjected to a football-style chant of “Nazi” as she was being interviewed on the BBC. She was also jostled and harassed as she entered the Commons. This comes on top of the death threats she received after the “mutineers" and "saboteurs” headlines her campaigning provoked back in 2017.

Aside from the woeful lack of intervention from the police in these cases, what has amazed me is the reaction of some other MPs: when the verbal abuse outside Westminster towards Soubry was first reported in December, Kate Hoey, a Leave-supporting Labour MP, played it down and even retweeted a piece describing the outrage as “confected”. If a fellow MP isn’t able to stand up alongside their colleagues against abuse, it shows how far our politics has been broken.

Others have suffered as much, if not even worse, abuse. Diane Abbott, the shadow home secretary, has spoken powerfully about the racist emails which hit her inbox every day.

I joined the Lib Dems after my local MP, Vince Cable, lost his seat back in 2015. I started to write letters to newspapers and articles for the Independent, to knock on doors, go to council meetings and campaign on local and national issues. I loved it. A high point was seeing Sarah Olney win the Richmond Park by-election after knocking on doors for her in the bitter cold. I felt that the effort could reap rewards for the right candidates.

Then things changed. I was subject to unpleasant trolling on Twitter by a local resident who insisted I was a candidate for a local election even though I wasn’t, and nor did I plan to be at that time. I wrote a piece condemning Corbyn’s stance on Venezuela for another publication and received a comment calling me a “quisling traitor”. Even in my local town hall I have witnessed unpleasant treatment of councillors towards each other from the main two parties in Richmond. Not exactly inspiring for those who want to enter public office.

One of the reasons I joined a political party was to campaign for better mental health services. I wouldn’t want to see my children read abuse about me on a daily basis. Compared to female, Muslim or black MPs I would probably not get anywhere near the level of abuse they receive. But for someone who has suffered from anxiety in the past I don’t think I would cope if I were Soubry or Abbott.

Worse still, I fear for the physical safety of some of our MPs. I won’t be standing for office any time soon, but what I will be doing in Mass on Sunday is praying that we don’t see a repeat of what happened to Jo Cox.

I want my country back – back to one where you can go to work as an MP without being called a Nazi or fearing that your job representing the British people has put you in physical danger.