Ex-Tory leader tells of fears for wife ‘as yob rammed traffic cone on to his head’
SIR Iain Duncan Smith feared for his wife and her friend when a traffic cone was “slammed” onto his head as “threatening” protesters abused him, he told a court yesterday.
The former Tory leader was allegedly set upon by a group of angry protesters during the Conservative Party conference in Manchester on October 4, 2021.
He told a district judge at Manchester magistrates court he was attacked as he, his wife
Betsy and her friend Primrose Yorke walked to the Mercure Hotel in the city centre.
The MP for Chingford and Woodford Green, in north-east London, explained how he was subjected to a “cacophony of sound”, a banging drum, abuse and insults.
The 68-year-old said he turned round after the cone was “smacked down” on his head and told the group “you are pathetic”, before his party got to the hotel, where he was to speak at a fringe meeting.
He said he felt the protesters were “peculiarly threatening” and described how he was particularly concerned for the safety of the two women with him – stressing the protesters “frightened those with me, and myself”.
Elliot Bovill, 32, of no fixed address, denies common assault. Radical Haslam, 29, from Manchester, and
Ruth Wood, 52, from Cambridge, both deny using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour with intent to cause harassment, alarm or distress.
The experienced politician told the court: “I have seen a lot of protests in the course of my time as a politician.
“I’m normally not overly concerned. This, I felt, was threatening, it’s as simple as that. I think they set out to be threatening…it was abusive and my wife and her friend felt that particularly.”
The court watched CCTV footage of the moment the cone was put on Sir Iain’s head as he crossed a road.
The former cabinet minister told the court: “It had been smacked down on my head quite hard. They are proper traffic cones and have to weigh a certain amount.”
Tom Wainwright, defending Wood, asked Sir Iain about his resilience to bad language, citing his time in Northern Ireland with the Scots Guards and being a Spurs season ticketholder.
The MP said this was “not in any way relevant”, saying the term “Tory scum” was an “appallingly abusive piece of language”.
His wife Betsy said the group “used the c-word, the f-word, they called us scum, Tory scum”.
Lady Duncan Smith said: “I remember they said, ‘Manchester hates you – go back to Chingford’. It was consistent and very loud.”
She said she told Mrs Yorke: “If that isn’t a hate crime, I don’t know what is.”
She added: “The whole thing was very unnerving.”
Mrs Yorke told the court the protesters were shouting loudly and she remembered comments including “f ****** Tory c***” and “f*** off out of Manchester”.
She told the court she witnessed the cone incident, saying: “The language and the aggression was worrying.
“We were relentlessly pursued for damn nearly half a mile.”
The case continues.