The incident took place on Wednesday morning
A man has been charged with assault after he confronted Matt Hancock on the London Underground.
Geza Tarjanyi, from Leyland, Lancashire, was charged with common assault and two public order offences, British Transport Police said.
The 61-year-old was arrested on Wednesday.
Footage shared on Twitter on Wednesday showed a man shouting and following the Tory MP through Westminster station and onto a train.
Police said they received a report of a man being “assaulted and harassed” at the station next to the House of Commons before 9am.
Hancock is not thought to have been hurt in the incident, which has been described by his spokesman as an “unpleasant encounter”.
🚨 | BREAKING: A 61-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly ASSAULTING Matt Hancock on the Tube pic.twitter.com/Skg11Yjpiz
— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) January 25, 2023
The spokesman 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.
A member of Tube staff walked with Hancock along the platform and joined him on the train, pleading with the man to stop following the politician.
At one point the MP for West Suffolk tells the employee that he appreciates her walking with him.
Hancock became one of the most recognisable politicians in the country due to his role as health secretary when the Covid-19 pandemic began.
He was a key figure in in the lockdown restrictions and vaccine rollout that followed, but resigned from his role after leaked CCTV footage showed him kissing an adviser in his office, in breach of his own social distancing guidance.
Last year, he appeared on I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here! which resulted in him losing the Tory party whip.
He has since announced he will not contest his seat at the next general election.
Related links:
- Emily Atack says she feels like she is sexually assaulted ‘100 times a day’
- Woman claims Conor McGregor ‘kicked her in the stomach’ on his yacht
- Woman dies from hypothermia after telling her doctor she ‘couldn’t afford heating’
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