A BOURNEMOUTH MP has welcomed a speech by the Prime Minister hitting out at extremists. 

Tobias Ellwood said Rishi Sunak’s speech on Friday “needed to be said”.

Speaking at a lectern outside the doors of No 10 Downing Street, Mr Sunak warned democracy is being targeted by extremists.

What did Prime Minister Rishi Sunak say in his Downing Street statement?

He said: “Now our democracy itself is a target. Council meetings and local events have been stormed. MPs do not feel safe in their homes. Long-standing parliamentary conventions have been upended because of safety concerns.”

Last month, Pro-Palestine protestors held a demonstration outside the MP’s Bournemouth home.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast on Saturday morning, the Bournemouth East MP said: “We are witnessing, not just what happened to me, MPs are being threatened, but a really turbulent period in British politics, I’ve never seen anything like it at all.

"Intimidation, threats, within our community and one of the most ugliest by-elections that I’ve ever witnessed so this speech that the Prime Minister gave was needed to be said.

“Otherwise, the boundaries of acceptable behaviour as I witnessed, will continue to be tested by ever extreme voices.

“Promoting hate, inciting political discord, taking Britain to a very dangerous place where at democracy itself is being challenged.

“And this is not who we are as a country, this is not in keeping with how we do things here.”

He added: “I really much welcome this statement and I’m actually pleased that the reaction from other political leaders is to support this as well.”

During the interview, Mr Ellwood was asked if Rishi Sunak’s speech came as a result of the Conservatives losing the Rochdale by-election last week with George Galloway winning by a landslide.

He was also asked why the party had not chosen to call out extreme views of those in the Tory party straight away in light of Lee Anderson.

The former deputy Tory chairman was stripped of the party whip last weekend after he accused Sadiq Khan, the Labour mayor of London, of being controlled by Islamists.

Mr Ellwood said he “did not want to go over” what happened with Lee Anderson.

He added: “This is about now moving forward and recognising where we are and where Britain needs to go, who we are as society, we are seen across the world as an exemplar of democracy, people have been horrified by how things have unfolded.”