A 21-year-old man was arrested on Tuesday in connection with three fires, including one at a north London house that is owned by Britain’s prime minister, Keir Starmer.
London’s Metropolitan Police said in a statement that a 21-year-old man had been arrested in the early hours of Tuesday on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life. The man remains in custody.
On Monday, counterterrorism police officers took over investigations into the fire. It broke out earlier that day outside the four-bedroom home where Mr. Starmer lived until he won last year’s general election and moved into the prime minister’s official residence, 10 Downing Street.
The police were also looking into a car fire on May 8 in the same street and a small fire on Sunday at the front door of a house converted into apartments in Islington, north London, at a property that is also linked to Mr. Starmer.
The fires are being treated as suspicious and the police are investigating whether they are linked, the statement said.
Nobody was hurt in any of the fires but there was damage to the entrance of Mr. Starmer’s family home, which is rented out to tenants. British news outlets published photos of a blackened and charred doorway.
In the statement on Monday, the Metropolitan Police said: “As a precaution and due to the property having previous connections with a high-profile public figure, officers from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command are leading the investigation into this fire. Enquiries are ongoing to establish what caused it.”
Stephen Castle is a London correspondent of The Times, writing widely about Britain, its politics and the country’s relationship with Europe.
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