A tiny handbag full of leaflets
Mark Field has been suspended as a Foreign Office minister after a video showed him pushing a female Greenpeace activist against a pillar and grabbing her neck while she protested at the chancellor’s Mansion House speech.
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 had felt threatened when the protester walked past him and was worried she might have been armed.
I watched the video several times yesterday afternoon. It’s pretty shocking.
Correct me if I'm wrong:
Mansion House is the home of the Lord Mayor of London & regularly hosts the PM. Security would have checked people on entry.
So I don't buy the "The Greenpeace lady might have a machine gun tucked in her dress" defence, Mark Field.pic.twitter.com/f62KI6UBSk— Femi (@Femi_Sorry) June 21, 2019
The activist, Janet Barker, said on Friday that she was incredulous at his reaction and welcomed the suspension but would not press criminal charges. “I think it is something best dealt with in the court of opinion,” she said.
Barker said Field had pushed her so hard as they reached the door that she had almost fallen. She said he should take anger management classes. “I want him to think about what he did, why he did it and address his behaviour.”
She said she had made no sudden movements or behaved in any way that could have been construed as physically threatening. “I had a phone and a tiny handbag, which was open and full of leaflets,” she said. “The only thing I was armed with was peer-reviewed science.”
…
Philip Hammond was preparing to deliver his set-piece address in the City of London when dozens of Greenpeace activists interrupted him to give an alternative speech about the climate crisis, video footage shows.
In a statement released in the early hours of Friday before his suspension, Field said he had reacted “instinctively”. He said he “grasped the intruder firmly in order to remove her from the room as swiftly as possible.
“I deeply regret this episode and unreservedly apologise to the lady concerned for grabbing her but in the current climate I felt I needed to act decisively to close down the threat to the safety of those present.”
Yeah. She could have had a missile in that tiny purse.
Well, that does seem to be one thing that politicians are deathly afraid of.
His apology doesn’t acknowledge what he actually did. He didn’t merely “grasp the intruder firmly,” and he wasn’t merely “grabbing her.” He shoved her very hard, twisted her arm, and steered her holding the twisted arm and the back of her neck.
Disappointed to see she is not pressing criminal charges. Thugs like that need to be dealt with to the full extent of the law.
This clip doesn’t show the later part, where Field swaggers back to his seat like he’s Trump himself.