Man arrested on suspicion of assaulting Matt Hancock on London Underground

A man has been arrested for allegedly assaulting Matt Hancock on the London Underground.

The former health secretary and reality TV contestant is not thought to have been hurt in the incident, but his spokesperson said it was an “unpleasant encounter”. The alleged assault began on Tuesday morning at Westminster station before continuing on a busy tube train.

British Transport Police said they had received a report of a man being “assaulted and harassed” at the station next to the House of Commons before 9am. “A 61-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of common assault and a public order offence and remains in custody,” the force said. Police inquiries continue.

Hancock’s spokesperson said: “Both Transport for London staff and the British Transport Police were fantastic and the man has since been arrested.”

He added that “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 spokesperson added.

Footage circulating online appears to have been filmed by a man verbally abusing Hancock and making anti-vaccine comments. It shows a transport worker supporting the MP throughout much of his apparent ordeal.

Hancock was health secretary at the start of the coronavirus pandemic and was a key figure in the lockdown restrictions and vaccine rollout that followed. He resigned in June 2021 after a leaked CCTV image showed him kissing an adviser in his office, in breach of his own social distancing guidance.

In November he had the Tory whip suspended after agreeing to appear on I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! Last month he said he would be standing down as an MP at the next election.