Knife MP looks at surgery security

Mr Godsiff said it was a "terrifying experience"

A Birmingham MP, who was threatened with a five-inch knife in his constituency surgery, is considering stepping up security there.

Roger Godsiff, 56, who represents Sparkbrook and Small Heath in Birmingham, said the man who threatened him "looked like Mike Tyson".

The Labour MP said he and his staff managed to calm down the 49-year-old before police arrived and detained him under the Mental Health Act, but he described his ordeal as a "terrifying experience".

The incident comes two months after Robert Ashman was convicted of the attempted murder of Cheltenham MP Nigel Jones at his constituency office.

I am tall and one of my assistants is no shrinking violet either but I doubt very much whether we could have handled him

Roger Godsiff MP

Mr Jones's assistant, local councillor Andrew Pennington, died in the attack after he was stabbed six times with a samurai sword.

Mr Godsiff said he invited the man into his office on Friday night.

The man told him about how he had "written to the government over the death of a woman in Cyprus" and said that the MP "knew all about it".

Mr Godsiff said that when he got up to alert his two assistants, the man drew a five-inch lock knife from a knapsack and held it out in front of him.

Authorities blamed

"He was not a tall guy but he had exactly the kind of build as Mike Tyson - he even looked like Mike Tyson," Mr Godsiff said.

"I am tall and one of my assistants is no shrinking violet either, but I doubt very much whether we could have handled him."

The knifeman is described as looking like boxer Mike Tyson

Mr Godsiff said he felt no anger towards the knifeman, but blamed the authorities for allowing people with severe psychiatric problems to walk the streets.

"It is those idiots - and they are idiots - who decided to close down mental health institutions and adopt the so-called care in the community policies.

"I am all in favour of people who have minor psychiatric or schizophrenic problems being helped back into the society.

"But I have to say that in my experience there are severely disturbed people out there who cannot cope with life and need the security of an institution."

He added: "I have thought about some kind of security arrangements, but it is something I am loath to do.

"I have always had a fairly relaxed system at my surgeries."

Mr Godsiff said he would be meeting with police to discuss his security arrangements.

A West Midlands Police spokeswoman said the man was being cared for in a secure hospital.