‘I have been used as a marketing tool’ Furious Labour MP Rosie Cooper accuses ITV of ‘despicable behaviour’ over new series ‘The Walk-In’ which dramatises far-right plot to kill her – as she calls on profits to be donated to Jo Cox Foundation

• Labour MP Rosie Cooper launched broadside at ITV over the new dramatisation
• The Walk-In tells story of real life plot to murder her by a far-right extremist
• Jack Renshaw was jailed for life over the plot after whistleblower alerted cops

The real-life Labour MP at the centre of a drama series about a neo-Nazi plot to kill her has slammed ITV for using her as a ‘marketing tool’ for its show.

Rosie Cooper, whose constituency is West Lancashire, was the target of far-right extremist Jack Renshaw.

He bought a 19-inch replica Roman sword and announced his plans to kill Ms Cooper as part of a ‘white jihad’ at a pub in Warrington in July 2017.

But a man called Robbie Mullen was among the group and disgusted with the plot reported it to Hope not Hate who scrambled the police. Renshaw was jailed for life in 2019.

The extraordinary story has been told in a new drama on ITV called The Walk-in, starring Stephen Graham.

Today Ms Cooper condemned it over publicity it had put out to attract viewers.  

She told the Commons: ‘I am appalled at ITV’s recent treatment of the threats to MPs.

Labour MP Rosie Cooper launched broadside at ITV over the new dramatisation over evil plot

Stephen Graham as Matthew Collins in ITV drama The Walk In, based on book of same name

Jack Renshaw, 23, plotted to carry out the murder of Labour MP Rosie Cooper with a blade

‘I have been used as a marketing tool by Hope not hate and ITV. What excuse is there for a press release that says ‘Who is Rosie Cooper, and who wanted to murder her’?

‘There is no defence to that. So, let’s test the public defence, the public interest defence, to their despicable behaviour and I call on Hope not hate and ITV to donate all money and profits generated from this TV series, both here and abroad, every single penny should go to the Jo Cox Foundation.

‘We should not tolerate this kind of behaviour.’

Her comments came after Conservative chair of the Foreign Affairs committee Alicia Kearns raised a point of order in the Commons chamber, detailing her concerns over the television drama

Today she thanked Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle, Conservative former prime minister Theresa May, Tory ex-home secretary Priti Patel and Defence Secretary Ben Wallace for their support.

She also praised ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and the former executive director of his office, Karie Murphy, for allowing her to use a government car to reach the Old Bailey for the sentencing after the second trial.

Neo-Nazi Jack Renshaw, 23, was jailed at the Old Bailey for life with a minimum term of 20 years after plotting to murder Labour MP Rosie Cooper and threatening to kill a police officer

Renshaw bought a 19-inch replica Roman sword, known as a ‘Gladius knife’ to kill Ms Cooper and exact revenge on detective Victoria Henderson who was investigating him for child sex offences

Jack Renshaw (right) had once been a British National Party youth leader. He is pictured here alongside Nick Griffin, who served as chairman and then president of the BNP from 1999 to 2014

Ms Cooper claimed ‘ITV’s despicable cameraman chased me up and down the road at the end of the first trial’.

Sir Lindsay replied: ‘The House will know that the safety of members, our families and our staff in this House is one of my highest priorities.

‘Like all Members of this House, however, I would have thought that any depiction of threats made against parliamentarians is undertaken responsibly, based on the facts, and mindful of the impact of those subject to those such threats.

‘Can I just say, I am also very concerned, and a friend of mine was the person that undertook those threats.

‘Now I have got to say I think we all stand in awe of the bravery that she’s shown and the courage to ensure that she is still a Member of Parliament … even if she might be going to new pastures.’

The ITV drama centred on informant Mullen, his handler at Hnh Collins, and how the organisation infiltrated banned far-right terror group National Action (NA) and prevented the attack on Ms Cooper in 2017.

Mr Mullen, a former member of NA, spent a prolonged time undercover as a mole for Hnh.

His information about the plot and the activities of NA was passed on to the police and resulted in a high-profile trial at the Old Bailey.

Jack Renshaw, now 27, from Skelmersdale, Lancashire, is currently serving a life sentence for preparing acts of terrorism.

The plot to kill Ms Cooper came just a year after the terrorist murder of Ms Cox.

ITV and Hope not hate have been approached for comment.

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