THE Lord Mayor of Oxford has been 'threatened with arrest' by a message in the form of a tube of hemp flavoured toothpaste.

The tube of toothpaste arrived through the letter box of Lord Mayor and Green councillor Craig Simmons on Monday.

A message scrawled across the back of the tube in felt tip pen read "You're under arrest!!"

Mr Simmons said the message was a first in his time as a local politician.

He said: "These are strange times - but I never expected this! As a high profile figure, I received various threatening messages over the years - many more serious than this - but this is my first scrawled on a toothpaste tube.

He added: "More seriously, I never know how to take these sorts of low level threats. I have thick skin, but others locked down in my house are rather more sensitive to these sorts of things."

Oxford Mail:

Lord Mayor of Oxford Craig Simmons at the East Oxford farmer's market. Picture: Ed Nix.

The tube of toothpaste was made by cosmetics company XOC, which also makes a hemp flavoured mouthwash, charcoal toothpaste and bamboo toothbrushes.

It can be bought from several online retailers for £1 or less.

The company claims that the addition of hemp oil 'gives fresh breath and oral cleansing qualities'.

Hemp is a kind of cannabis plant grown for its strong fibres which can also be used for making clothes.

In recent years, politicians have faced a heightened level of security risk, with the societal divisions over Brexit creating anger in some and the easy access of the internet allowing people to send death threats and other hate messages easily.

In 2019, a survey of MPs by the BBC showed that many were unwilling to stand for parliament again because of the amount of hate speech directed at them.

Many of the respondents who faced the worst hate messages were women or from ethnic minority backgrounds.

Mr Simmons is due to finish his term of office as Oxford's Lord Mayor later this month.