This is the shocking moment a 4×4 burst into flames in Sir Keir Starmer’s street in an explosion now being investigated by Britain’s counter-terrorism police.
Exclusive MailOnline footage shows the dark blue Toyota Rav 4 engulfed in flames as firefighters fought the blaze on VE Day last Thursday.
The owner of the vehicle, a neighbour of the Prime Minister, is understood to have thought that the fire started because of a faulty battery. The car was completely destroyed.
But after two suspected firebomb attacks on properties in North London linked to the Prime Minister on Sunday and Monday, Scotland Yard’s SO15 counter terrorism command have stepped in.
The video emerged hours after a suspect was arrested. The 21-year-old was held in the early hours of this morning on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life. He remains in custody.
The Metropolitan Police have not confirmed where the arson suspect was arrested.
Great grandmother Linda, 80, who lives on Countess Road told MailOnline: ‘At 3am on Thursday morning I woke up to the sound of people – delivery men apparently – screaming “fire, fire” and the sky outside was lit up.
‘And I thought OMG what’s going on. And I looked out and saw the fire.
‘I saw the car on the road was on fire. I’ve never seen anything like it. It was so bright. Blazing.
‘I saw two fire trucks arrive and it took them a long time to control the blaze.
‘The tree and the front wheel of a neighbours’ bike was scorched as well.
‘The car belongs to our next door neighbours but they’re not the people who [live in] Starmer’s house’.
A witness to the car fire told Metro today: ‘There were bangs and the a huge fire. My bike was parked next to the car it’s tyre was split by the heat. It was very shocking.’
Another said: ‘It was crazy there were proper big flames you could feel the heat coming off.’
The 21-year-old was held after the doors of two homes linked to the Prime Minister in north London both suffered fire damage within 24 hours of each other, one in the early hours of yesterday and another in the early hours of Sunday.
There was also a vehicle fire on the same street as the latest door attack, last Thursday, that is being connected to Starmer in a potential arson spree targeting the PM.
Scotland Yard is probing whether the blazes are linked and said today that the arrest relates to the three incidents.
Counter terror cops launched an investigation into the latest blaze at the premier’s £2million townhouse yesterday morning where neighbours had heard a ‘loud bang’.
Officers were searching gardens nearby for a projectile with one neighbour telling MailOnline it may have been a firebomb attack.
Starmer, his wife Victoria and their children moved into an apartment in 10 Downing Street after the election last July.
Investigators believe that the fire at the previous home may have been started deliberately in the middle of the night.
It is currently being ‘treated as suspicious’ as investigations continue into the cause of the blaze.
The PM has thanked the emergency services with his spokesperson saying they were unable to comment further.
A Met Police spokesperson said: ‘The 21-year-old was arrested in the early hours of Tuesday, 13 May on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life.
‘He remains in custody.
‘The arrest relates to three incidents.
‘On Monday, May 12, at 1.35am, police were alerted by the London Fire Brigade to reports of a fire at a residential address in NW5.
‘Officers attended the scene. Damage was caused to the property’s entrance, nobody was hurt.
‘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.
‘The investigation team are also considering two other incidents – a vehicle fire in NW5 on Thursday, May 8 and a fire at the entrance of a property in N7 on Sunday, May 11 – and are investigating whether they may be linked to the fire in NW5 on May 12.
‘All three fires are being treated as suspicious at this time, and enquiries remain ongoing’.
Sources told MailOnline that Scotland Yard’s SO15 counter terrorism command’s investigation is understood to be routine given the high-profile nature of the owner.
The fire is said to have only damaged the porch of the property with the door and brickwork charred and black. The blaze did not spread further indoors.
It is not known if the property was occupied at the time, but no one was hurt.
Forensics officers were combing for evidence outside the property all day after the blaze broke out at 1.11am.
Neighbour Charles Grant, 66, told MailOnline officers had been searching his garden for a projectile that someone may have thrown into the rear of his property, but they did not find anything.
‘From what other people on the road have told me is that someone tried to throw a firebomb into Keir Starmer’s house – but nobody was hurt, and I don’t think the damage was too extensive,’ he said.
‘The front door of Starmer’s house is shut and still standing. The door and the brickwork is charred and black and it smells of burnt stuff.
‘The police said the damage is not extensive – just needs a bit of paintwork.’
London Fire Brigade (LFB) confirmed there has been ‘damage’ caused to the front of the home with the flames being brought under control by 1.33am.
A next door neighbour described the fire as ‘scary’ and told how he had been woken up in the early hours by the attack.
‘It was a loud bang, what sounded like glass shattering. It was scary,’ the male neighbour, who did not wish to be named, told The Sun.
According to the PM’s entry in the register of ministerial financial interests, Sir Keir rents out the family home.
Pictures show the front porch area charred where just five years earlier Starmer and his wife Victoria stood to applaud the NHS during the height of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Metropolitan Police is investigating the blaze, with a spokesman for the force saying officers were alerted at 1.35am.
Sales director Cory Adshead 48, who has lived on the road adjacent to Starmer for three years, told MailOnline: ‘At 1am I heard police sirens.
‘It was a loud bang, what sounded like glass shattering. It was scary,’ the male neighbour, who did not wish to be named, told The Sun.
