London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 02, 2025

Iain Duncan Smith feared for his wife over traffic cone incident, court told

Iain Duncan Smith feared for his wife over traffic cone incident, court told

The MP was giving evidence at the trial of Elliot Bovill, who denies common assault
Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith has told a court how he feared for his wife and her friend when he had a traffic cone “slammed” on to his head as they were followed by a “threatening” group of protesters hurling abuse at him.

Sir Iain told a district judge how he was subjected to a “cacophony of sound”, a banging drum, abuse and insults, as he walked from the Midland Hotel to the Mercure Hotel, in Manchester city centre, on October 4, 2021, during the Conservative Party conference, with his wife Betsy and one of her friends.

The MP, 68, said he turned round after the cone was “smacked down” on his head and told the group “you are pathetic”, before his party went to the Mercure, where he was due to speak at a fringe meeting about Brexit and other matters.

He said he felt the protesters were “peculiarly threatening” and described how he was particularly concerned for the safety of his wife and her friend, Primrose Yorke.

The politician said the protesters “frightened those with me, and myself”.

"It was threatening, it was abusive and my wife and her friend felt that particularly"


He told Manchester Magistrates’ Court on Monday: “I have seen a lot of protests in the course of my time as a politician.

“I’m normally not overly concerned.

“People normally make their points, but not in a threatening way.

“This, I felt, was threatening, it’s as simple as that. I think they set out to be threatening.”

Sir Iain told the court: “It was threatening, it was abusive and my wife and her friend felt that particularly.”

The MP was giving evidence at the trial of Elliot Bovill, 32, of no fixed address, who denies common assault.

Bovill is on trial with Radical Haslam, 29, from Manchester, and Ruth Wood, 52, from Cambridge, who both deny using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour with intent to cause harassment, alarm or distress.

Sir Iain gave his evidence in the small, modern courtroom wearing a dark suit over a white shirt with a Brigade of Guards tie. He was sporting a poppy on his lapel alongside a ribbon in support of Ukraine.

The court was shown CCTV footage of the moment the cone was put on Sir Iain’s head as his party crossed a small side road.

The former cabinet minister described the moment “I got a traffic cone slammed on to my head”.

He said: “I got three-quarters of the way across and I felt this blow on the back of my head and neck.

“I could feel something going on to it which knocked my head forward.”

Sir Iain said he took the cone off his head and turned round.

He told the court: “I didn’t know who had done it. ‘You are pathetic’, I said, and I dropped the cone.”

Sir Iain said: “It had been smacked down on my head quite hard.

“They are proper traffic cones and have to weigh a certain amount.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
×