Video shows no sign of any physical threat or contact

The Tories have briefed journalists today that an aide to Health Secretary Matt Hancock was ‘punched in the face’ by a Labour protester when Hancock visited Leeds Infirmary – the hospital where a young boy had to sleep on the floor because of a shortage of beds last week.

The journalists have claimed that the punch took place while the aide was helping Hancock into his car as he left the hospital:

But video footage of Hancock leaving shows the aide helping into his car – with no sign of any violence or physical contact:

The aide can easily be made out as he helps Hancock into the vehicle – and then turns away and stands with no sign of a blow or any kind of threat or intimidation.

In spite of Robert Peston’s claim that police were on the scene, West Yorkshire Police told the SKWAWKBOX they had no information about any assault – and pointed to a tweet stating the same:

CCHQ has been asked to comment on why journalists were briefed to put out what appears self-evidently fake news.

SKWAWKBOX view:

The Tories are getting desperate – and must be desperate to divert attention from Boris Johnson’s ‘car crash’ interview today in which he took away and hid a journalist’s phone to avoid having to look at a picture of young Jack Milliment-Barr, a four-year-old with suspected pneumonia who had to sleep on the floor of Leeds Infirmary when there were no beds available.



Hancock was at the hospital as a follow-up – and the rest, as they say, appears to have been complete fiction.

The SKWAWKBOX needs your support. This blog is provided free of charge but depends on the generosity of its readers to be viable. If you can afford to, please click here to arrange a one-off or modest monthly donation via PayPal or here for a monthly donation via GoCardless. Thanks for your solidarity so this blog can keep bringing you information the Establishment would prefer you not to know about.

If you wish to reblog this post for non-commercial use, you are welcome to do so – see here for more.

Like this: Like Loading...