A man has been arrested on suspicion of assaulting former health secretary Matt Hancock on the London Underground.
The incident took place at Westminster Underground station on Tuesday morning, British Transport Police said.
A 61-year-old man remains in custody, on suspicion of common assault and a public order offence.
The former minister prompted anger when he appeared on ‘I’m a Celebrity’
(James Gourley/ITV/Shutterstock)
British Transport Police said: “We received a report of a man being assaulted and harassed at Westminster Underground station at 8.47am yesterday morning (January 24).
“A 61-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of common assault and a public order offence and remains in custody. Enquiries into the incident are ongoing.”
The MP for West Suffolk is understood to have been unhurt the incident at Westminster station, before he continued his journey on a Tube train.
A spokesman for him said it was an “unpleasant encounter”.
Mr Hancock’s spokesman said: “Both Transport for London (TfL) staff and the British Transport Police were fantastic and the man has since been arrested.”
He added: “This sort of behaviour is a rare occurrence,” and stressed the “importance of shutting down baseless misinformation which causes so much harm”.
“Matt wants to put on record his thanks to TfL and the British Transport Police for their extraordinary work,” the spokesman added.
Mr Hancock quit as health secretary after being caught breaching Covid lockdown rules by having an affair with aide Gina Coladangelo.
He left his wife when photographs of the pair embracing were published in The Sun.
The former minister also prompted outrage when he decided to be absent from his constituency to appear on reality show I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! last year.
He said last month he would not stand as an MP at the next election and would instead find “new ways to reach people” who were disengaged with politics.
But after making it to the final three contestants, he said he would give up his seat at the next election, saying he realised there were different ways to “reach people” other than representing them in parliament.
The programme was one of the most complained-about of last year, when viewers objected to the inclusion of Mr Hancock in the series.
He lost the whip over his decision to appear on the show without seeing his party’s permission, and Parliament’s anti-corruption watchdog ruled that he broke government rules by not consulting it beforehand.
His local Tory association chairman wrote to the party’s chief whip Simon Hart to say the group had decided he was “not fit to represent this constituency”.
More follows on this breaking news story….
Kaynak: briturkish.com
