Gina Miller: Anti-Brexit activist ‘abused by strangers’ while out with young daughter

Businesswoman says she was called ‘traitor’ after prorogation ruling

Gina Miller, the anti-Brexit activist who challenged Boris Johnson‘s prorogation of parliament, has spoken out about being subjected to “disturbing” verbal abuse while out in public with her young daughter.

Ms Miller, a businesswoman who led one of two cases against the government, said she was recognised in the street on the day after the Supreme Court ruled the prime minister’s decision was unlawful.

“People were stopping in their cars and rolling their windows down, calling me ‘traitor’ and saying: ‘There’s a lamppost over there’,” she told The Times.

“And you just think, it’s extraordinary. You know, I’m with my child and that’s disturbing.”

In 2017, Ms Miller successfully argued the government could not begin the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union without a vote in parliament permitting it to do so.

Since then, the businesswoman has become one of the most prominent members of the anti-Brexit movement.

Ms Miller said she was taking her 12-year-old daughter for an eye test when she was verbally abused in the street.

She added that her children are aware of her campaigning and she tells them: “This is why Mummy is fighting.”

“I get sent letters saying my children are mongrels,” she told the newspaper. “I have to make sure that they are not seeing all of this, but I explained to them: ‘We have to just be who we are, and if we reply with anger all we do is stoke those fires.’”

Ms Miller, who also has a 14-year-old son and an adult daughter, has said her teenage children have come across messages disparaging her on social media.

“I much prefer to stay calm and try and explain to people and talk, but it’s a hard thing to do,” she added.

Her comments followed criticism by MPs from all three major parties of the aggressive language in parliament recently over Brexit.

In a letter published in The Times on Monday, Liberal Democrat MP Luciana Berger, Conservative Paul Masterton, Labour’s Rosie Duffield and Stephen Lloyd, an independent MP, said they felt “sickened” by the scenes in parliament last week.

“MPs screaming at each other across the floor; a prime minister dismissing fears of violence; and MPs fighting back tears sharing stories about vitriolic abuse they and their families have faced,” they wrote.

“Our political system foments this frenzy, entrenching and encouraging overly tribal and partisan behaviour, which threatens our ability to work together.”

Last week, Mr Johnson was widely-criticised for dismissing an MP’s fears of abuse and death threats as “humbug”.

The prime minister also sparked anger when he responded to politicians’ concerns about “inflammatory” language by claiming the best way to honour murdered MP Jo Cox was to “get Brexit done”.

Additional reporting by agencies