Anger as Boris Johnson lets Tory MP Mark Field off the hook for attack on peaceful protester

Ed Sykes


Conservative MP Mark Field attacked a peaceful protester in late June. But just over a month later, new prime minister Boris Johnson has let him off the hook. And for many, Johnson’s inaction shows he “really doesn’t give a hoot about misconduct”.

Letting a thug off the hook

On 20 June, Greenpeace activists interrupted a posh black-tie event in London with a peaceful climate emergency protest. Field grabbed one protester by the neck and shoved her out of the building. For many people, this act represented an elitist disdain for peaceful protesters – particularly from the ruling Conservative Party. And an April letter from Field calling for the police to exercise a “much firmer grip” on climate crisis protests only confirmed this apparent contempt.

As the protester told The Canary:

he grabbed me by the neck and the arm…

When he pushed me against that wall, he would have realised that I wasn’t a threat and that I didn’t have anything on me that was dangerous…

Related articles

He pushed me hard. I didn’t fall but it felt like he wanted me to. There was a sense he thought ‘I’m better than you, who do you think you are?’…

I was shaken…

Field later apologised, but said “I felt I needed to act decisively to close down the threat to the safety of those present”.

Johnson has now dropped the government investigation into Field’s conduct. The MP is no longer a minister at the Foreign Office, and a spokesperson for Johnson said:

Mark Field has now left the government. The current PM considers this issue was a matter for the previous PM concerning his conduct during his time as a minister under her appointment

“Johnson really doesn’t give a hoot about misconduct”

Many people saw Johnson letting Field off the hook as an example of just how little the new PM cares about misconduct – especially when men are the aggressors:

(Police “attended an alleged altercation” back in June, but reportedly found “no cause for police action”.)

Shadow policing minister Louise Haigh, meanwhile, said:

76% of Johnson’s hard-right cabinet are men, while 64% went to “fee-paying schools”. And considering that Johnson has brought several disgraced politicians into his cabinet, one journalist asked:

The aggression of rich and powerful men

Grassroots network Momentum highlighted that Johnson going easy on Field is hardly surprising considering his own past behaviour:

In short, Field getting away with his aggression could well be a sign of things to come under Johnson’s leadership. It should also serve as a stark reminder of just how important it is to get the toxic Tories out of power asap.

Featured image via YouTube – Sky News / Twitter – ITV

We need your help ...

The coronavirus pandemic is changing our world, fast. And we will do all we can to keep bringing you news and analysis throughout. But we are worried about maintaining enough income to pay our staff and minimal overheads.

Now, more than ever, we need a vibrant, independent media that holds the government to account and calls it out when it puts vested economic interests above human lives. We need a media that shows solidarity with the people most affected by the crisis – and one that can help to build a world based on collaboration and compassion.

We have been fighting against an establishment that is trying to shut us down. And like most independent media, we don’t have the deep pockets of investors to call on to bail us out.

Can you help by chipping in a few pounds each month?

The Canary Support us

Related articles