Arrest over suspected arson on properties linked to PM

Police have arrested a man over suspected arson attacks on two properties and a car linked to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.

The 21-year-old was arrested in the Sydenham, south-east London, on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life and remains in custody, the Metropolitan Police said.

Emergency services responded to a fire at the prime minister’s private home in Kentish Town, north London, early on Monday.

On Sunday, crews were called to a small fire at the front door of a house converted into flats in nearby Islington – a property Sir Keir is understood to have lived in during the 1990s.

Police are also looking at a small car fire which took place on Thursday on the same street as the Kentish Town property. It is understood that the car used to belong to Sir Keir.

The prime minister is understood to still own the home in Kentish Town but lives in Downing Street. He lived there before the 2024 general election and it has been rented out since then.

Counter-terrorism police are leading the inquiry and are treating the fires as suspicious.

“A key line of enquiry is whether the fires are linked due to the two premises and the vehicle all having previous links to the same high-profile public figure,” the head of the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command, Cdr Dominic Murphy, said.

The car fire occurred just before 03:00 BST on Thursday.

Linda Perry, 80, who lives on the same street, described being woken up, saying “you could see the flames without looking outside the window”.

She told the BBC: “I could hear two people shouting ‘fire, fire’ – they looked like food delivery men. As I looked out you could see it [the fire] lighting up the street.”

Another resident on the street told the BBC that the smell of the fire being put out was “unpleasant” and described five firefighters tackling the blaze.

“This area is usually super quiet – so this really is unusual.”

The first fire at a property was reported in Islington on Sunday just after 03:00. One person was helped to safety by firefighters wearing breathing apparatus, London Fire Brigade said.

“It’s very concerning,” said one neighbour who woke up during the blaze and saw three fire engines parked outside.

Another neighbour said she was not woken up by the fire engines, but instead by police knocking on her neighbour’s door at 05:00.

Police officers were in the area until the early evening and then back again on Monday, making house-to-house inquiries asking for footage “even of someone walking by,” she added.

She said she and other residents had not been aware of the link to Sir Keir, but now they worry about what they can do “to protect themselves from further unwelcome visitation”.

The second property fire took place in Kentish Town on Monday at 01:11 and was under control about 20 minutes later.

There was damage to the property’s entrance but nobody was hurt, police said.

Charles Grant, 66, who lives on the same street, told reporters that police officers searched his garden to look for a “projectile”.

“They didn’t find anything,” he said.

On Monday, Sir Keir thanked the emergency services for their work, his official spokesman said.

He added the matter was “subject to a live investigation so I can’t comment further,” and declined to provide any further details on who was in the property when the fire started.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told the BBC she had been briefed on the incidents but could not comment further.

“Police are investigating these incidents and they have my full support in doing so,” she said.

“With any incident, there are always the important concerns that all of us will have, but we also have confidence in our police and the work that they are doing to investigate this incident.”

Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch described the incident as “shocking”.

“My thoughts are with the prime minister and his family. No one should face these sorts of threats, let alone people in public service,” she wrote on X.

“It’s an attack on our democracy and must never be tolerated.”

The Met’s Cdr Murphy added: “We recognise that this investigation may cause concern to other public figures – particularly MPs. The protection of MPs is something we take extremely seriously across the whole of policing.”

Additional reporting by Billy Kenber