UPDATED: Foreign office minister suspended after assaulting protester
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Mark Field, a foreign office minister and Conservative Party frontbencher, was suspended from office after he was filmed forcefully grabbing a climate change protester, who was in a group of around 40, that gatecrashed an event at London’s Mansion House.
Police are investigating third-party reports of assault made against Field, who has since apologised to the protester. The MP for the Cities of London and Westminster said he felt threatened when the protester went past him and was worried she might have been armed.
Downing Street said Theresa May had viewed the footage and decided to suspend Field. He had referred himself to the Cabinet Office and the Conservative party, who are both investigating.
Bankers and politicians had gathered at the event last night to hear speeches by Chancellor Philip Hammond and the Bank of England’s governor Mark Carney.
As one of the women walked past Field, he stood, pushed her against a nearby pillar and grabbed her by the back of the neck before frogmarching her out of the room.
Climate Change protesters disrupt Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond’s speech at the Mansion House during the annual Bankers and Merchants dinner in London, Britain, 20 June 2019. Hammond warned against the impact of a ‘no deal’ Brexit and the threat it might cause to the four nations of the UK. Photo: EPA-EFE/ANDY RAIN
A City of London Police spokesman said: “We have received a small number of third-party reports of an assault taking place at the event and are being looked into by police.
