UK minister Mark Field suspended after climate change scuffle

Mark Field, Foreign Office minister responsible for Asia, who has been engaged closely with Indian issues, was on Friday suspended by Downing Street after he manhandled a woman climate change campaigner at a high-profile dinner on Thursday.

Field apologised for the incident in Mansion House and the City of London police said it was looking into what it described as an “assault”. Video footage of the incident was circulated widely, prompting demands that Field resign or be sacked.

The incident occurred when many campaign group Greenpeace activists disrupted chancellor Philip Hammond’s speech. As the activist approached the area where Field was seated, he said he reacted ‘instinctively’ since he was worried she may have been armed.

A spokeswoman for Prime Minister Theresa May said: “The prime minister has seen the footage and she found it very concerning.”

“The police have said they are looking into reports over this matter and Mark Field has also referred himself to both the Cabinet Office and the Conservative Party. He will be suspended as a minister while investigations take place.”

He said in a statement that he “grasped the intruder firmly in order to remove her from the room as swiftly as possible”, adding: “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.”

Field, who responds on the behalf of the government in debates on Indian issues such as the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, said he had referred himself to the Cabinet Office to “examine if there has been a breach of the ministerial code”.

The City of London police said: “We have received a small number of third party reports of an assault taking place at the [Mansion House] event. These reports are being looked into by police.”

Field was appointed by May as the minister of state for Asia and the Pacific at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in June 2017.

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