A Labour MP has been attacked and mugged by a group of masked youths on bikes.
Police are investigating after Chris Webb, MP for Blackpool South, had his phone stolen during the terrifying ordeal. He said he was set upon by the balaclava-clad group while picking up a parcel on his way back to his flat in South London.
It happened shortly before 10pm on Monday night. Mr Webb, who was Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner for Lancashire before becoming an MP in May, said he was caught-off guard.
The 6ft2in politiician, who described himself as "not an easy target" had been on the phone to his wife when it happened. He said: "I was on the phone to my wife. I then got off the phone with my wife after I literally said - I think I jinxed myself - that, 'oh, I better get off my phone.
"'I don't know this area, and it's a bit dark.' Got to the shop and as I'm walking away, went to reach into my pocket to get my phone to phone my wife back, and that's when they grab me.
"I say, they grab my arm to stop me ... and then off they went," he said. He suspects the group must have seen him using his new iPhone, noticed he was on his own and managed to catch him off-guard.
"I'm a big guy. I'm six foot two ... I'm not an easy target, but obviously these were confident enough to kind of grab me and stop me so they could get away," he said. Mr Webb was not injured.
"I wasn't on the phone at the time, and I didn't hear them, which is remarkable in itself, of how stealthy these are, because these are on bikes," he added.
"So the fact that, you know, and I'm normally pretty aware of my surroundings, I've got pretty decent reflexes and things like that from training and boxing training.
"And I'm just surprised, because if I grabbed hold of one of them, they would have gone flying on the bike, because I wouldn't have let go. So I'm kind of surprised how they managed to get so close to me without me realising."
His first instinct was to chase the group but he quickly realised he should instead get the phone tracked and locked and call the police.
"My instant reaction was to kind of chase. And that might be - I put that to the stupid male testosterone a part of my brain as us males have - and then quickly realised that is not a smart thing to do in the surroundings I don't know, in a place I'm unfamiliar and outnumbered six to one."
He does not think he was targeted for being an MP, but rather that it was a case of "wrong place, wrong time".
"I don't think I was targeted as an MP ... whilst I was in a suit and shirt and tie, they would not have known I was a member of Parliament."
He said the police went "above and beyond" to help him.
Mr Webb says he used the tracking on his phone via his smart watch to lead police to an area where they caught someone with stolen phones - but his phone was not among them.
After he posted about the mugging on Twitter/X, several MPs, including Labour frontbencher Sir Chris Bryant and former Lib Dem leader Tim Farron responded to wish him well.