UK prime minister Theresa May has suspended senior politician and Foreign Office minister Mark Field after video emerged of him grabbing and assaulting a Greenpeace climate change protester at a black-tie City dinner at the Mansion House in London on Thursday evening.
In this longer version of the video, you can see the woman apparently posing no immediate threat as she passes behind Mark Field. He marches her out of the room by her neck. I wasn’t there, so I can’t say she didn’t pose a risk, but it looks heavy handed. pic.twitter.com/zX2BtcPW4t
— Paul Brand (@PaulBrandITV) June 20, 2019
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The Conservative Party lawmaker was filmed physically assaulting Janet Barker, a female activist (part of a group of protesters from Greenpeace UK wearing sashes with the words “climate emergency”), as she walked towards UK chancellor and finance minister Phillip Hammond, pushing her against a column before holding her by the neck and forcibly leading her out of the dining hall.
Hi @RLong_BaileyMP Greenpeace activists just drowned out @PhilipHammondUK’s #MansionHouse address on live TV w/ a speech that tells the truth about how to tackle the #ClimateEmergency. Business as usual is over!
Please share this video pic.twitter.com/VisV7jOJJZ
— Greenpeace UK (@GreenpeaceUK) June 20, 2019
According to CNN affiliate ITV News, Field apologized for grabbing Barker by the neck, saying that he “instinctively reacted” after guests felt threatened by the woman (who was acting peacefully at the time and was not armed), and that since there was no security present and he was for a split-second “genuinely worried she might have been armed”.
“As a result, I grasped the intruder firmly in order to remove her from the room as swiftly as possible. I deeply regret this episode and unreservedly apologize to the lady concerned for grabbing her, but in the current climate I felt the need to act decisively to close down the threat to the safety of those present.”
BREAKING: Mark Field has referred himself to the cabinet office for investigation and apologised for grabbing a protestor by the neck, but tells me that guests felt threatened, he “instinctively reacted” and was worried protestor might have been armed. Full statement here: pic.twitter.com/c3rqj7ylrE
— Paul Brand (@PaulBrandITV) June 21, 2019
While Field apologised for confronting Barker and marching her away as about 40 Greenpeace protesters interrupted Hammond’s speech, May suspended her after public outcry. The Prime Minister’s spokesperson told CNN:
“The Prime Minister has seen the footage and 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 Conservative Party. He will be suspended as minister while the investigation takes place.”
In a statement on Thursday’s protest, Greenpeace UK campaigner Areeba Hamid said that “business as usual is no longer an option”:
“The real bottom line, the priority that needs to come before all others, is not profit, revenue or growth, but survival. That needs to be recognized in every boardroom and on every balance sheet, starting with the Chancellor’s. The people in this room have been funding climate change, and we’re not giving the banks and hedge funds a pass for their unethical investment decisions anymore … The serious, sensible, grey-suited grown-ups in the room ignored the warning signs and crashed the economy in 2008. We can’t afford to let them crash the climate too.”
One last thought on this… if ever there was an image that sums up the Conservative Party’s disconnect with the younger generation right now it’s a man in black tie at an elite dinner grabbing a climate change protestor by her neck.
— Paul Brand (@PaulBrandITV) June 20, 2019
Barker told the BBC the purpose of the protest had been to speak to “men who are in power, the bankers, the investors that are continuing to invest into fossil fuels”:
“We were polite with people and said: ‘We’re here to deliver a message’. He certainly manhandled me in a way in which was very disagreeable. 350 people were there and only one person reacted that way. It’s more the behaviour of that individual. I want him to reflect on what he did and not do it again. Maybe he should go to anger management classes.”
