IDS cone trial charge axed

A MAN has been cleared of assaulting Sir Iain Duncan Smith with a traffic cone.

The ex-Tory leader had the cone “slammed” on his head during the party’s 2021 conference in Manchester. Judge Paul Goldspring dismissed an assault charge against Elliot Bovill, 32, saying the evidence was “weak”.

Radical Haslam, 29, of Salford, and Ruth Wood, 51, of Cambridge, deny a public order offence. Their trial, before Manchester magistrates, continues.