Julia Elizabeth Montague (12 June 1977 – 2018) was a British Conservative politician. She served as a Member of Parliament for the Thames West constituency from 2001 to 2018 and as Home Secretary from 2016 to 2018 (preceding Mike Travis). Montague was widely seen as Prime Minister John Vosler's government's chief spokesperson of national security, and she was the architect of the controversial RIPA-18 bill, which was passed in 2018 in response to an uptick in jihadist terrorist activity in the London area. A leader of the Conservative Party's right wing, Montague was seen as a potential contender for the Conservative Party's leadership and the premiership when she was assassinated in an apparent suicide bombing while giving a speech on security at St. Matthew's College in Central London.
Biography[]
Julia Montague was born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England on 12 June 1977, the daughter of Richard and Frances Montague. She graduated from University College London with a law degree, and she practiced law before entering politics with the Conservative Party. Montague was elected MP for Thames West in 2001, and she was married to the Conservative MP for Surrey West, Roger Penhaligon, from 2007 to 2012. Montague consistently voted for the use of UK military forces in operations overseas, consistently voted in favor of military action in Iraq and Afghanistan, and consistently voted for cuts in spending for healthcare and community aid, marking her as a member of her party's "hard right" wing. In 2016, Montague became Home Secretary under Prime Minister John Vosler, and, in the aftermath of a 1 October 2018 bomb plot on a London-bound passenger train, Montague supported an update of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 to increase the government's surveillance powers. At the same time, she became close to her bodyguard David Budd, despite their political differences. After the Heath Bank Primary School bombing, which targeted Budd's children, Montague controversially decided to hand over the responsibility of hunting down Faraz and Nadia Ali's Islamist terror cell to MI5 from the Metropolitan Police Service, further empowering the government and leading to MPS commander Anne Sampson and Minister of State for Counter-Terrorism Mike Travis warning her of the dangerous precedent it set. Montague later survived an assassination attempt by the crazed anti-government activist Andy Apsted, and, that same night, the shaken Montague and Budd made love for the first time, entering into a secret and illicit affair.
Montague holding a press conference on RIPA-18
Montague fought hard in the House of Commons to have RIPA-18 passed, winning over many MPs by bringing up the human cost of not preventing future terrorist attacks by expanding MI5 and GCHQ's powers; however, her PR specialist Tahir Mahmood warned her that, while the public supported her anti-terrorism stances, they were not nearly as enthusiastic about expanding GCHQ's ability to monitor their online traffic. At the same time, Montague conspired with MI5 chief Stephen Hunter-Dunn to expand MI5's powers and sabotage Prime Minister Vosler, with MI5 agent Richard Longcross providing her with a tablet containing Stephanie Foxfield's testimony alleging that Vosler had raped her. Montague confronted Vosler at Chequers in a surprise, late-night, and closed-door meeting, where she used the information to blackmail him into agreeing to a cabinet reshuffle and to stepping down as Prime Minister in Montague's favor. That same evening, RIPA-18 passed on the third vote in Parliament, and Montague agreed to a public appearance at St. Matthew's College a day later in order to boost public support for the law amid protests against the bill by civil liberties groups, as she wished to win the country as well as the House. At the press conference, she argued that terrorism posed the greatest threat to Britain's national security since the Cold War, and that the British people had to do all in their power to protect their way of life. Her speech was interrupted by hecklers, but she used the opportunity to joke that, in times of national emergency, the first casualty was free speech; she also said that she didn't care what the average person did when they switched their internet broswer to private, and that the government would not come after someone if they typed "B-O-O-B-S" into their search engines. She also spoke out against the impact of unpaid work experience and unpaid internships on young people, who - unless they could afford to feed, house, and clothe themselves, could not likely sacrifice their time to take those opportunities, creating a sense that elite society was intent on keeping them out. She declared one of her main priorities was fighting the sense of alienation among young people, such as the idea "that growing up in Bradford or Birmingham is grimmer than jihad," and that the British people could only change the disaffected youths' minds with "the right leadership".
The explosion at St. Matthew's College
Moments later, Tahir Mahmood appeared on the side of the stage with his briefcase, causing Budd and another bodyguard, Kim Knowles, to rush towards the stage. However, they were too late, as an explosion occurred just as Mahmood walked towards Montague. Montague was knocked unconscious by the blast, and she was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. Mahmood was initially believed to have been the suicide bomber, although the police later discovered that the explosion came from under the stage and not from the briefcase. Montague was hospitalized and underwent emergency surgery, but she died from her wounds within a few days of the attack.
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