Britain’s safety companies have been drafted right into a Normal Election job drive to guard MPs and parliamentary candidates from violent assaults, in addition to to fight on-line interference by Russia, China and Iran.
The Mail on Sunday can reveal the key Whitehall Joint Election and Safety Preparedness (JESP) unit – which incorporates MI5, MI6 and GCHQ – will monitor extremist threats candidates might face as they canvass of their constituencies, amid heightened tensions brought on by the Israel-Gaza conflict.
JESP may also act to determine and take away pretend movies and social media posts by hostile states, that are weaponising AI to unfold disinformation to dupe British voters.
Final evening, a Authorities official stated: ‘If there are threats in opposition to candidates from ideological sources, like extremists, then MI5 and counter-terrorism police will turn into concerned.
If hostile states turn into concerned in meddling within the election, then this will probably be flagged by the safety companies.’
JESP is a part of the Authorities’s Defending Democracy Taskforce established by Safety Minister Tom Tugendhat (pictured)
The SIS Constructing, additionally generally often known as the MI6 Constructing, is the headquarters of the British Secret Intelligence Service
The Authorities Communication Headquarters (GCHQ) in Cheltenham
Avenue indicators displaying Downing Avenue and Whitehall
JESP is a part of the Authorities’s Defending Democracy Taskforce established by Safety Minister Tom Tugendhat and which has been given £31 million to guard MPs and electoral processes.
This newspaper can even reveal the MoD has drafted within the Military’s 77th Brigade – which specialises in ‘info operations’ – to fight interference and disinformation from overseas.
