Police were called to the Midland Hotel bar on Sunday night, after Clementine Cowton, the director of external affairs at Octopus Energy Group, was assaulted by a party member who was “very intoxicated”
Image: Getty Images)
A man has been ejected from Tory conference following a “violent assault” on a woman in the hotel bar.
Police were called to the Midland Hotel bar on Sunday night, after Clementine Cowton, the director of external affairs at Octopus Energy Group, said she was “violently assaulted in the conference zone by a man” who was “very intoxicated”.
She said the man had “invaded” her space. “I was sitting down and he plonked himself down on the chair that had been vacated by a friend of mine and I asked him to leave and he refused to,” she said.
“He was very intoxicated and I felt a bit unsafe around him, so I asked him several times politely to leave.”
When he refused, Ms Cowton said she had taken his phone and dropped it on the floor to create space between them.
After he picked it up, she said the man had “tried to punch her” but “only managed to get as far as smashing a glass out of my hand.”
She said he had been “immediately set upon by lots of people who stopped him from doing anything.”
Around 20 minutes after the incident, she said, police came over and she reported it to them.
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Image:
Getty Images)
On Monday morning, a source told the Mirror: “There was a bunch of young Tories in the Midlands bar last night and things got a bit heated.”
They added: “It was really shocking. The police were called.”
But Greater Manchester Police initially said they were not aware of police being called to an incident at the hotel.
They later issued a statement, which read: “Police responded to an incident at the Midland hotel at around 12:30am this morning (Monday 4 October) to reports of an assault on a 33-year-old woman.
“Officers arrived quickly, there were no reports of any injures, and no arrests were made, however a man has been identified, had his accreditation removed for the remainder of the Conservative Party Conference.
“Our investigation into what happened is ongoing.
“GMP is here to protect. Women’s safety is a top priority, and something we continue to take incredibly seriously.
“If you see or hear anything that doesn’t seem quite right, don’t hesitate to get in touch with police, which you can do via LiveChat on our website www.gmp.police.uk, or call 101, or 999 in an emergency.”
Speaking at a fringe event at the conference, according to the Times, Ms Cowton said: “Women are often unsafe in places where other people feel safe, and it’s really important that we start to take that much more seriously as a society and, starting with the police”.
A Tory spokesperson confirmed the man involved was a party member and has now been suspended.
They said: “This behaviour is completely unacceptable and the Party has revoked the pass of the individual concerned and is working with the police.”
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