U.K. Govt Suspends Minister Mark Field Over Protester Incident

The Mansion House event, at which chancellor Philip Hammond addressed bankers and other City grandees, was interrupted by what Greenpeace said were 40 of its activists. Some of the women, including the one manhandled by Mr Field, wore red evening dresses with sashes that read “climate emergency”.

Areeba Hamid, speaking on behalf of Greenpeace UK, said: “We were shocked at the footage of an elected MP and government minister assaulting one of our peaceful protesters at the Mansion House.”

“The protester in question was hoping to discuss climate change and the economic reforms we need with the financiers and bankers at the dinner.”

When the female protesters entered the room, male guests other than Mr Field sought to block them from the table where Mr Hammond and Bank of England governor Mark Carney were sitting by physically apprehending them.

Some held on to the women to stop them while other male guests pulled them. Photos taken at the event show male guests other than Mr Field with their arms around female protesters’ shoulders, or escorting them out of the dinner with a strong grip on their arm.

A spokesman for the City of London Corporation, which oversees Mansion House as it is the Lord Mayor’s residence, said: “We are investigating last night’s breach of security and will be reviewing arrangements for future events.”

The spokesman declined to comment when asked if any Mansion House security staff had intervened to protect any female protesters who may have been at risk of harm.

Peter Bottomley, a Conservative MP, “congratulated” Mr Field for intervening. “She may have been harmless, others won’t be,” he told the BBC. “Not intervening often has a cost and if it becomes a fashion there will be casualties.”

However, some opposition MPs expressed outrage. Chuka Umunna, the former Labour and Change UK MP who recently joined the Liberal Democrats, described Mr Field’s conduct as “totally unacceptable”, while independent MP Sarah Wollaston said it was “absolutely shameful, a male MP marching a woman out of a room by her neck”.

Labour MP Jess Phillips said in a tweet: “She posed no credible threat from what I can see. There is very little else that could justify this and anyone can see that this could have been done without physical contact. Every MP has to deal with protest and conflict; it is done with words.”

Ms Phillips added that, while she herself had felt under physical threat from protesters at times, she had never resorted to violence. “I have had people scream in my face, lash out and rage. Never once have I retaliated with violence. It’s not my go-to to get control.”

Mr Field, 54, has held several front bench roles since he became MP for Cities of London and Westminster in 2001, including opposition whip, shadow minister for London and shadow financial secretary to the Treasury. In 2017, with his party in government, he became minister of state for Asia and the Pacific at the Foreign Office.