There Have Been ‘Disgusting’ and ‘Very Real’ Threats Against Meghan Markle and Prince Harry Says Senior Law Enforcement Officer
Neil Basu, the former head of counterterrorism in the United Kingdom, sat down for an interview with Britain’s Channel 4 News. He discussed keeping the royal family safe and confirmed there were many threats against Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s lives while they were living in Britain. Here’s what Basu had to say about the “disgusting” and “very real” threats made against the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
Neil Basu says there were ‘disgusting’ and ‘very real threats’ against Meghan and Harry
Channel 4 News described Basu as holding “one of the most challenging jobs in the country.” According to the station, 600 terrorists were convicted during his tenure. Basu was also in charge of protecting the royals. When asked how he would describe the threats made against Meghan and Harry, Basu says they were “disgusting and very real.”
“I talked publicly for many years about the threat of extreme right-wing terrorism in this country,” says Basu during his Channel 4 interview. “I’ve often been misquoted as taking my eye off the ball as though I think that was the biggest threat. I’ve never called it the biggest threat, but it was the fastest growing.”
Basu says the threats against Meghan and Harry grew from roughly 6% of the department’s total workload in 2015 to more than 20% by the time he stepped down a little over one year ago.
The threats against Meghan and Harry were investigated and, in some cases, prosecuted
Basu says there were “serious, credible threats” made against Meghan that came from the far right. “If you had seen the stuff that was written and you were receiving it, the kind of rhetoric that’s online, if you don’t know what I know, you would feel under threat all of the time,” says Basu.
Basu went on to say there were people on his team who were investigating threats made against Meghan’s life. “We had people investigating it, people have been prosecuted for those things.”
In addition to protecting the royals, Basu focused on protecting the country from terrorism. When asked about his time in the department and whether he ever felt “guilty” about the criminals who got away, Basu says he did. “Do I feel an overwhelming sense of guilt? Yes,” says Basu. “My job comes with an enormous job description.”
Basu says he can sum up his job in one sentence: “Your job is to work with MI5 and stop terrorist attacks in this country.” Basu admits some people lost their lives on his watch and he thinks about this daily.
Meghan Markle has more ‘power’ in the United States, says expert
Meghan had a tough time in Britain, but now that she is in the United States, she can relax a little. Body language expert Judi James says Meghan has more “power” in the United States than in the United Kingdom.
“The sky is the limit for Meghan in the US, a country where a celebrity from a reality show was recently in the White House,” James tells Express. This is most likely a reference to The Apprentice star Omarosa Manigault Newman, who served in the Trump administration. “It’s a less cynical country in terms of the pecking order of power, where she and Harry can be admired and even adored without any of the restrictions that celebrity status would have on someone’s career in the UK,” James adds.
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