The reason that Mark Field attacked the lady who had just passed by him was that she wore a sash clearly identifying her as a climate change protestor. She had entered with the other guests, already wearing her sash, and making no effort at concealment. Field knew exactly that she was a climate change protestor when he attacked her: it is why he attacked her. Had she just passed by him without that sash, he would not have attacked her.
There is zero history in the UK of personal violence or terrorist attack by climate change protestors and nobody could claim they had a reasonable fear that a climate change protestor was carrying a weapon – something which has simply never happened. I could equally rationally grab Mark Field by the throat any time I saw him, and claim he might have been carrying a concealed weapon because he is a Tory MP. His excuse is a complete and utter nonsense, a post hoc effort at justification.
He only had a genuine fear of her carrying a weapon if he is suffering from a serious psychological derangement, and one dangerous to the public.
Unlike Mark Field, I happen to have led a life involving real danger, and had guns pointed at my head in both Uzbekistan and Liberia, whilst in the service of the UK. But in my sixty years I have never once raised my hand in anger to a woman. Field’s unprovoked attack was cowardly and ungentlemanly in the extreme (and I really do not care if you find my attitude outdated or not).
It is worth observing that there was not a gentleman at this gathering of Britain’s bankers and upper classes. Nobody stood up to try to assist the peaceful woman who had been grabbed by the neck. Sickeningly, they applauded Field on his return. I find the extraordinary tirade of Tory defence on twitter this morning says a great deal about the kind of party it has become.
One point that appears to have been missed in media comment, is that it seems to me extremely likely that the woman had an invitation or ticket for the event. She was dressed in evening wear as the other guests, but was not attempting to infiltrate or gatecrash or she would not have worn the sash. The most probable reason for someone to follow the dress code but identify themselves with a protest sash is that they were a legitimate guest wishing to make a point.
It is essential to our society that Mark Field is immediately arrested and charged with assault. If Tories are allowed simply to assault people lest they make a speech that Tories disagree with, society has turned a corner to somewhere very dark indeed.
His attack on this woman reflects the pervasive misogyny prevalent in the Tory party these days.
You say “neck”. To me, it looks like he first grabbed her arm right by her left breast and then slid up the fabric to reach her neck. Regardless of exactly where his hands landed, this would be considered assault in the United States and I’m sure many other jurisdictions. You simply cannot lay your hands on someone without justification.
Interestingly, had it been a security person (even private security aka “a bouncer”) who had done this instead of Field, it might’ve been within the bounds of acceptable behavior, assuming that the woman in the red dress was crashing the event. But why would a tuxedo-wearing guest step in to enforce “security” on this event? That’s why this is a personal assault by Field against this woman.
As for everyone else in attendance, unless you saw the first two seconds, it just looked like Field was escorting someone out of the room, possibly with that person’s cooperation. Hard to make a case for intervention on the part of bystanders, regardless of gender or adherence to old-fashioned values.
My question is – who filmed this? Because they were pre-positioned, followed the protest lady as she approached and then swiveled to film her as she attempted to pass by the end of the table where Field was sitting. She or he clearly knew the woman in red was of interest. I’m just curious if they knew what she (or, possibly, Field) had planned.
I assume it was a fellow protestor there to film the protest.
Am updating this just to add I disagree about the other guests. They clearly saw him holding her by the neck.
I understood it was an ITV journalist that filmed it
Yes it was ITV. They were filming Hammond (making another of his dreary speeches) who was interrupted by the Master of Ceremonies when the incident happened.
Afterwards, Hammond, thinking himself such a wag, said that the ‘government’ had promised to achieve net carbon emissions by 2050. I will be dead by then as will most of the assembled company at the Mansion House last night will be by the looks of them!
SE,
This reminds me of a conversation I had with a senior civil service colleague many, many years ago. I can’t remember the topic but the usual clichéd statement had been issued about “Lessons will be learnt, to prevent this happening again”. I said at the time ‘It’s all well and good coming out with this ubiquitous declaration but how exactly are we supposed to ensure that it’s true? When we have moved on or are long gone, what is the procedure for ensuring that lessons have been learnt for time immemorial?’ I was just met with a blank stare as if to say ‘Don’t ask awkward questions’. Rather like WMD. It’s all rhetoric and usually b*ll*cks!
The protesters were handing out leaflets, which is what you can see in her hands. He clearly had hold of her by the back of her neck.
“He only had a genuine fear of her carrying a weapon if he is suffering from a serious psychological derangement, and one dangerous to the public.”
He’s a Tory, they’re all seriously deranged !!
“Your vid shows a bouncer”
The vid actually shows a government minister – Minister of State at the Foreign Office. He was sitting down at a table, with other diners, then suddenly jumped up and attacked her. It is not customary for bouncers to dine with other guests – bouncers are doormen.
He didn’t try to talk to her;he just jumped up and assaulted her without any warning.
Did you actually watch the video?
Well said. Couldn’t be a clearer case of unmitigated assault. Sacked > by election > prosecution.
The other guests ignored what happened just as they have ignored what has happened to many people in the country due to the ideology of austerity. However, as you say, “Field’s unprovoked attack was cowardly and ungentlemanly in the extreme”, and your views are very much in tune with mine. I note that even Tory MP Antoinette Sandbach was called a ‘disgrace’ by male colleague, presumably because she does not support the no-deal Brexit fantasy – supporting Brexit is not enough.
So where’s the attack I’ve been hearing about? Your vid shows a bouncer chucking someone out of a restaurant. Daily site for people who go to clubs and pubs on Friday/Saturday nights around the UK. Where does this precious patronising view of women come from anyway?
We obviously go to a different type of pubs and clubs. And any bouncer who handled a woman by the neck – or indeed a non-violent man – at any of the music festivals I help run would be off-site immediately and lose his SIA license.
Unless someone is in the act of violence, which this woman is not, you start, always, by talking to them. As any real bouncer knows. Your comment is just utter rubbish.
If you can eject a trespasser without touching them fine … but I’ve seen people ejected from many venues (pubs, clubs, music festivals, the theatre once) and in the majority of cases the people were man handled: I accept that if people had acceded to the request without causing a fuss, I wouldn’t have seen this happening.. The trespassers in most cases were drunk or had some grievance that gave them an unreasonable determination to ignore polite and determined requests. I can only report my experience and calibrate what I saw in your video against that experience.
What we all saw was a minister behaving in an appalling way. It was an extremely violent incident on his part and he should be dealt with accordingly.
That they all just sat there is even worse! Personally, I could not have sat by and tolerated what Field did. I actually felt sick seeing the video.
I am very glad it was captured on film as, otherwise, there would, no doubt, have been plenty of people willing to give false accounts of Field’s behaviour. Fortunately he can’t argue. The footage says it all.
a trespassor? you’re defending this ape with this crap? she was not drunk, she was apparently not trespassing, it wasn’t his freaking job, and he is guilty of assault and battery–and your’e defending the ape.
For a chap who got a “Box 1”, I assume that’s a variant-“Lincolnshire Poacher“?
Like yourself, I usually frequent the better types of pubs and clubs¹ of a Friday/Saturday night; but, like gyges, I often find myself in any type of establishment² by Sunday morning.
[note the conventional usage there: ¹plural+plural or ²singular+singular. No “Cherry Ripe” nonsense from me!]
I’ve been assaulted by a bouncer in the same manner, police were happy to prosecute, venue happy to terminate employment, what’s your point?
You wouldn’t be spouting that shit if it was your wife or girlfriend he had by the neck. Or maybe you would.
We don’t have bouncers anymore, with have security officers who carry an SIA licence which they will lose if they commit common assault, which that was, it’s true that one can use MINIMAL. force to eject someone from your property, but that is a defence against common or aggravated assault and is for a court to decide should the protestor press charges. In this case it’s quite clear that a gross overuse of power was used, marching by the scruff of the neck is a last line of defence not first. I hope they do press charges and it comes to trial, no jury would let the greasy faced oik off.
When I was at school, this treatment if handed out by a teacher, would have been considered, mild.
Gee, you’re a toughie.
Tell someone who will be impressed by you – a hard man that is capable and willing to assault a woman (or a girl at your school).
You obviously have credentials to be a Tory politician.
Or were you a fag at Harrow, Rugby or Oxbridge – at the receiving end of such conduct by your betters ?
In fairness to Michael, he was only highlighting how brutal schools were back in the day, and the casual thuggery and sadism that teachers enjoyed inflicting.
All teachers are guilty of this, whether they engaged in it themselves, or saw no problem and gave such violence tacit approval.
Michael, “When I was at school”, You must be a very senior citizen, you mean in olden times [the Victorian era]./S
@Harry: I’m not exactly ancient, and violent behaviour is precisely what one could expect from teachers when I was in school. They took positive delight in terrorising children, and I’m not talking about some hideous private boarding school either.
As Craig mentioned up thread, we all went to different types of school, I attended the same type of school as Stan Boardman, it was ‘approved’.
Unlike the professional comedian Stan Boardman, my attempted joke lacked the essential punchline, it should have been, “I went to a good school, it was approved”.
“When I was at school”
Assaulting pupils has been a criminal offence for decades. What school was this, exactly? When was this the custom at your school? Parents should be told – they may want to avoid sending their children there.
When I trained to be a teacher in the 1970s we were advised to make sure we got student membership of the NUT (National Union of Teachers) so that we had insurance before we started teaching practice, as the law was quite clear about what teachers could and couldn’t do regarding touching or punishing school kids, but it wasn’t unknown for parents to try to prosecute teachers for touching kids (regardless of whether the accusations were true or not). Even when I was at school in the 60s I never saw anything amounting to real physical violence against pupils (unless you count the really bad kids being sent to the headmaster for the cane which seemed to be illegal by the 70s).
I went to school during the 1960s and I experienced corporal punishment throughout my school days. In primary school I got whacked over my knuckles with a ruler for spelling a word wrong and in senior school myself and another lad had our heads cracked together by the teacher for playing noughts and crosses.
Violence in schools perpetrated by teachers was rampant in those days and a disgrace to society. Thankfully this type of behaviour has since been quite rightly outlawed.
As for Mark Field, in my opinion he should be sacked from his position in the Government and prosecuted for assault.
Well glad things have changed in schools then. Anyone lifted a hand to any of my children and they wouldnt know what had hit them!
Women do not have the same muscle mass as men do, including in the neck and some can be very slight indeed. There is a very real risk of serious and debilitating injury when you grab anyone by the neck, which is why doing so is banned in every contact sport. In rugby that would be a red card offence most likely.
Propelling anyone via a neck hold is a further risk and slamming them against a hard object while you are restricting neck movement is another risk. Field is very lucky he is not up on a grievous injury charge. He is lucky the young women in question is fit and healthy and able to withstand the assault against her.
I’m not saying women are delicate dolls who cannot be touched only that there are people in jail right now who have badly hurt or killed someone while exerting what they thought was reasonable force. The worry is he reacted violently as his first reaction. He could have barred her way and interrogated her before asking her to leave.
People whose first reaction is violence are very dangerous to be around.
It seems that, considering the amount of genuine hardship and deaths caused by austerity and invasions, there not be many Tories left who are not dangerous to be around snd thats before the fact that they refuse to believe in climate change and pollution!
It wasn’t a restaurant gyges. FYI the venue was the Mansion House, the HQ for the Mayor of the City of London who is elected annually by the Aldermen.
‘Peter Estlin has today been elected as the 691st Lord Mayor of the City of London. As the elected head of the City of London Corporation, he will serve as a global ambassador for the UK-based financial and professional services industry from 9 November 2018 for a one-year term.’
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Estlin He is a FCA, an advisor to Barclays plc and their acting Chief Financial Officer. So that’s OK then!
Field is the MP for the Cities of London and Westminster and one of Mr Unt’s minions. He was the Minister of State for the Middle East (handy having the CFoI connection) and is now responsible for Asian and Pacific affairs. Now suspended since the assault.
Except he wasn’t a bouncer and this wasn’t a restaurant – and any bouncer who slammed a non-violent person against a pillar and grabbed their neck should be fired anyway. And what patronising view of women? I am a woman and I don’t feel patronised. If he had acted like this towards a man, especially one clearly smaller than him, I would feel just the same about what he did.
The term ‘bouncer’ is outdated, and for a very simple reason. The correct terminology is “Door Steward” as these individuals have to be trained, qualified and licenced. For this reason, venues can no longer simply grab a couple of ‘heavies’ off the street and put them in charge of security. I’m assuming that Mark Field has not undergone the requisite training, and is therefore not a qualified Door Steward, and thus cannot be licenced by any Local Authority to act in that role. Ergo, he acted illegally in manhandling the lady. Even bona fide Door Stewards are not permitted to use pre-emptive physical contact to deal with with a security issue on the premises at which they are employed, and are trained to diffuse a situation rather than exacerbate it.
I agree completely with this. I would only add that it would have been just as atrocious had it been a man he assaulted. I does look worse when it is a woman but violence is violence and should never be condoned.
Ingrid
Valid point but I wonder whether he would have been more careful if it was a man!
Let’s put it this way for the preposterous Sir Peter Bottomley.
Had 10 bearded big men walked into the room then the chinless wonder ( Field ) would not have made a move.
He assaulted the woman because she was a woman and no doubt he is so used to picking on weaker members of society he
saw it as his duty.
He assaulted her simply because she was a woman.
He knew he was in no danger.
This will dog Hunt from here on in.
Therefore he will resign or be removed.
If he seriously thought she was dangerous and could be hiding a weapon I can assure you that Mark Field would not have assaulted her. The reason he assaulted her was for the opposite reason, he knew he could easily overpower her. Mark Field is a coward.
Where’s Javid and his “no one is above the law” bollocks?
Field is lucky this assault did not occur under his next leader, someone who holds violent bullies in utter contempt.
https://images.app.goo.gl/usPG1EoJpqb6TUqr5
?????
More and more the entitled behaviour of tories is reminiscent of the increasing disregard for common law shown by nazis in 1930s Germany
Agreed, any student of modern history would be able to draw many parallels between Britain today and 1930’s Germany.
The corruption of offices and functions of state, wholescale tax evasion by favoured individuals and corporations, disregard for the law with it’s officers complicit and how the media turns on anyone who challenges the government narrative.
I’ve always been cynical with regard to what we imagine to be the security and integrity of the ballot box, I know expect it to be routinely rigged. There are no depths to which this current administration won’t stoop and they’ve been intimate bedfellows of the secret intelligence services for over a century.
The question I ask myself is: why wouldn’t they?
I saw them discussing this incident on the late night Paper Review last night. I hadn’t seen the video of it and nor do I know whether the reviewers had. From what was said I presumed that the circumstances must have been ambiguous, as they often are in situations where we can’t see the context or hear any verbal exchanges.
But, having now seen the video, I can safely say there is no way this is how it played out. There was no ambiguity whatsoever. It is quite evident that he was the one making the unprovoked assault. He watched her for the last few seconds of her approach down the ‘aisle’ behind the long table, clearly ‘clocked’ her sash and lunged at her. Completely inexcusable. I fully endorse Craig’s interpretation of events.
If that wasn’t common assault, the term has no meaning.
He didn’t block her path, tell her she must leave, nothing like that. He seemed positively delighted to be able to man-handle a lady who was clearly no threat whatsoever, in as rough a manner as possible. He gave her a shove which might well have sent her sprawling.
What an absolute thug – and there are people eager to defend him too.
We wouldn’t know about it if it hadn’t been filmed.
We would not have known about many hidden attrocities if they weren’t filmed, such as the collateral damage video JA published, an inconsequential point to make, imho.
It was an assault on a peaceful protester and those who were clapping in support are now so endangered and worried, and obviously prepared to get violent, are acting like scared hedgehogs.
Are the Tories prepared for a backlash to their increasingly right wing excesses. This should be a lesson to protesters.
This was the last step, I have joined XR and shall do my best to bring this dangerous cabal to their knees.
I very hope that their own children will turn against their blind addiction to power.
I shalll now expect that any identifiable Tory is carrying a gun and act accordingly, they are an obvious danger to lawabiding public, as Peter Bottomly rightly says, we all have the power to make a civil arrest.
Another small point I picked up from the video is that his grip around her neck was close to a pressure point, if pressed could have caused her left side to become lifeless, dropping her to the ground and causing injury.
If this coward is not resigning, he should be sacked.
A point that might need making is that Field studied jurisprudence at Oxford, so presumably knows what British law has to say around the subject of ‘reasonable’ when it comes to use of force. He’s apologised unreservedly and submitted himself for an inquiry. I’d like to believe that isn’t just damage limitation (but he is a Tory, so I can’t), but shows a better knowledge of the law and the reason for the law than most of the people defending him on social media have. ‘I grabbed her by the throat because she might have been going to….’ isn’t too far away from; ‘I hit him causing him to fall, strike his head and die because I thought he might have been going to …..’ and too close for comfort to; ‘Yes I did know that he slept with my girlfriend last night, but I hit him with the old lady’s walking stick because I thought he might be carrying a concealed weapon that he was about to use on me. I’m genuinely sorry that he’s now dead and regret my actions.’
I watched the clip, the woman was clearly manhandled and that constitutes an assault in my book. She did not threaten Mark Field in any way, I assume he thought he was being some kind of hero.
I don’t know why I was surprised as it was a group of bankers, but about the applause at the end – approval or disapproval?
Another Tory thug. Perhaps he’s had training in ‘personhandling’ from the IDF. He has visited Israel with the CFoI.
He also has an extremely large income, additional to his MP’s screw. £70,000 extra in 2017 for instance plus £70,000 in ‘severance payments’ from the two sources.
https://www.theyworkforyou.com/regmem/?p=10884
Also honorary membership of the RAC Club and the Carlton Club.
A true trougher.
https://www.theyworkforyou.com/regmem/?p=10884
A room full of self serving degenerates watches a total wanker assault an unarmed woman. A woman, whose only crime is caring about climate change affecting the planet and our childrens future.
I sincerely hope Mr Field receives a big dollop of karma in the near future.
The most disturbing thing is that his defence for assaulting a woman is that it was “instinctive”.
A slow handicap does not necessarily signify approbation: q.v. Tony Blair’s humiliation by the ladies who make jam and knit
Maybe he assaulted her because he believed she was Scottish without reasonable cause?
You took the words [more eloquently ] right out of my mouth.Thank you.
The City of London Police will find a way not to prosecute. The odious Corporation of London protects its financial wealth and corrupt practices with considerable vigour. The godfathers of the Mansion House appoint the City police commissioner, a member of Guildhall Lodge 3116, and ensure all manner of threats to their rotten borough are dealt with under their own rules.
I’ll pony up a tenner towards a private prosecution, anyone else?
Im in☺
it’s just a further stage in the Trumpisation of UK politics, as encouraged by rightwing blowhards like Johnson and Farage. Johnson in particular is a mini-me Trump. it is significant that he has been kept under wraps by his handlers, fearful of him blowing his big chance. That alone tells you about how a johnson administration is going to be conducted – he is the carnival barker, the soft shoe salesman, deployed by his associates the ERG, Bannon, Mercer, Trump and the rest of the crazed right. He has never had any deep ideas about policy or principle, rather the opposite, which makes him the perfect front for them, the joker and clown who will gladly adopt their ruthless drive for a post brexit ground zero of uk politics.
Here, here.
I don’t think this guy is insane, but I support the Tory party in suspending him. Why was there an alarm goin off in the building? Did the security people believe they were under some kind of attack?
For once I disagree. Anyone could wear a sash, say they are from Greenpeace, and be female, bit still carry a weapon. Terrorists are not only black men!
Great – better grab everyone by the throat then, eh Margaret? I mean, that waiter might only be _pretending_ to be a waiter. Same with the guest sat next to you.
I agree that “terrorists are not only black men” – but note that it was only you who ever mentioned that point.
I will suspect any identifiable Tory to be violent in the face of loosing power influence and trust. They are willingly selling arms and raining bombs on places such as Mosul or Raqqa, they agreed with New Labour to rain down hellfire and damnation on civilians in Baghdad, so they are capable of ordering atrocities from great height and down below.
I will not hesitate using a civil arrest on any Tory that looks shifty or is fidgetting/looking for something in his pockets, he could be armed with a shotgun or pistol, you never know these days.
indeed mark field could be a terrorist pretending to be a politician! i’ve never seen a politician act like that–better grab him by the throat, good point, and send his ass to guantanamo. i’m sure the uk will have no problem rendering him to the u.s.
Greg Gianforte – a Republican, as it happens – body-slammed a Guardian journalist a couple of years ago. Broke his glasses, he needed medical treatment. Trump praised him. Other Republicans thought the media should apologise.
Funny thing, this seems fairly typical for right-wingers. You don’t find lefties punching and slapping those they perceive as opponents, and feeling entitled to do so with impunity.
yeah, i think gianforte got a wrist slap, “He was fined and sentenced to community service and anger management therapy”.
and re-elected according to wiki. i hope this thug gets something more appropriate.
Omg, did you seriously just say that and do you really think he would have been attacking her if he actually thought she was carrying a weapon cause we all know nothing stops a flying bullet like an arrogant, boorish Tory????
I wish most of them would stop a bullet, if I’m brutally honest, Caroline.
They’re an existential threat to all that’s good, decent and humane.
If Field wanted to he could have blocked her path without touching or manhandling (assaulting?) her. That he chose otherwise should be for him to explain in court. He has apparently now apoligised and referred himself to the Cabinet Office to examine whether there has been a breach of the ministerial code. Horse and stables doors, eh?
He should be charged with assault as he is obviously a danger to the public