Politicians unite to support Jacob Rees-Mogg over university fracas
2 min read
Politicians from across the political spectrum have united to condemn violence at an event where Jacob-Rees Mogg was speaking.
Masked protesters disrupted the gathering at the University of the West of England in Bristol.
A fracas broke out at one point, and Mr Rees-Mogg stepped in to intervene.
Eyewitnesses said security managed to clear the protesters within a few minutes, and the eurosceptic Tory MP for North East Somerset was able to resume his speech.
When footage of the altercation was published online, MPs from all parties took to Twitter to express their outrage at what they said was an attack on free speech.
Mr Rees-Mogg - chairman of the Tory backnech European Research Group - attempted to shrug off the incident, telling the Daily Telegraph: "They shouted at me but they weren’t going to hit me. They didn’t want to talk about politics, they just wanted to stop the event. I’m of the sticks and stones school of thought.
"I wanted to stop anyone being hit because the whole thing would have degenerated. I didn’t think anyone was going to hit me so I felt quite safe intervening. I spoke afterwards, I was there for ages.
"I've never been in a physical confrontation at all, I am a complete weed."
