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BBC and ITV journalists apologise over reports that Tory advisor was punched by Labour activist

A claim that a Tory advisor was punched turned out not to be the case.

THERE WAS FURTHER controversy on the UK general election campaign trail this evening, after a claim on social media reported by a number of political journalists that a Labour activist had punched an advisor to a Conservative minister.

Subsequent footage of the incident posted after the initial claims shows the advisor to Health Secretary Matt Hancock walking into the outstretched hand of the man in question, rather than being punched by him.

The furore came after Hancock had travelled to Leeds General Hospital, where a photo of a four-year-old who had to sleep on a floor in the hospital had been taken and shared widely. 

Earlier today, Prime Minister Boris Johnson took a reporter’s phone and put it in his pocket after refusing to look at the photo of Jack Willement-Barr. 

Journalists who tweeted about the incident outside the Leeds hospital included BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg and ITV’s Robert Peston. 

In a tweet sent just after 4.30pm, Kuenssberg wrote: “So Matt Hancock was despatched to Leeds General (sorry not just Leeds Hospital), to try to sort out mess, hearing Labour activists scrambled to go + protest, and it turned nasty when they arrived – one of them punched Hancock’s adviser.”

laura k 1 Twitter Twitter

A few minutes later, she added: “Not entirely clear what happened, but Tories suggesting Labour campaigners offered to pay cabs for activists to go and heckle Hancock – fair to say today not panning out as anyone had expected in what has been a relatively flat campaign.”

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Peston tagged Hancock’s advisor in a tweet and said he’d been “whacked in the face”. 

peston Twitter Twitter

West Yorkshire Police posted a tweet at 5.31pm to say they were aware of information circulating on social media regarding an alleged incident but they were “unaware of any reports of this nature”. 

In a video then shared by Kuenssberg just after 5.33pm it is clear that no punch is thrown and the advisor walks into a man’s outstretched arm. The man in question had angrily accused the Tories of underfunding the NHS and said they’d “absolutely devastated the country”. 

In her tweet with the video, Kuenssberg said: “Have video from Hancock leaving Leeds General just come through so you can see for yourself – doesn’t look like punch thrown, rather, one of Tory team walks into protestor’s arm, pretty grim encounter.”

Peston later tweeted that it was “completely clear” from the footage that Hancock’s advisor was “not whacked by a protester, as I was told by senior Tories”. He added an apology for “getting this wrong”. 

Kuenssberg later added that Labour have accused the Tories of “resorting to bare faced lying” over the “punch that turned out not to be a punch”. 

She then said she was “happy to apologise for earlier confusion about the punch that wasn’t a punch”, and added that two sources had suggested it had happened.

“It is shocking that the Tories are so desperate to distract from a four-year-old boy sleeping on a hospital floor because of their cuts to our NHS that once again they have resorted to bare-faced lying,” a Labour spokeswoman said.

“This is a new low and the Conservative Party has serious questions to answer.”

The UK general election takes place this Thursday. 

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    Mute D
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    Dec 9th 2019, 7:07 PM

    Crazy how all off these “accidents” that occur paint labour in a bad light….

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    Mute ObsidianShine
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    Dec 9th 2019, 8:11 PM

    @D: They’re throwing mud because they know some of it will stick… They know that there will be a multitude of people out there who’ve only heard that Labour activists attacked a poor tory adviser.

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    Mute Fintan O'flaois
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    Dec 9th 2019, 8:35 PM

    @D: Sorry have you read a completely different article; the media report that a Tory advisor punches a Labour activist. Surely this suggests that the media are the purveyors of fake news? I’m not sure how this is designed to portray Labour in bad light; surely the opposite was the intention.

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    Mute D
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    Dec 9th 2019, 8:53 PM

    @Fintan O’flaois: “tory advisor was PUNCHED by a Labour activist”

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    Mute Fintan O'flaois
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    Dec 9th 2019, 9:08 PM

    @D: Ah, you’re right – mea culpa. At least its a change from the usual anti Tory bias. It seems that the only party immune from criticism are the media darlings in the Lim Dems!

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    Mute EillieEs
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    Dec 9th 2019, 11:38 PM

    @Fintan O’flaois: what usual anti-Tory bias? As for the Lib Dems? They’re irrelevant and losing support daily even from Remain voters.

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    Mute herp
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    Dec 9th 2019, 7:07 PM

    Media twisting what’s new same in this country.

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    Mute Ferdia McManamon
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    Dec 9th 2019, 8:07 PM

    @herp: the uk or Ireland?

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    Mute TamuMassif2019
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    Dec 10th 2019, 2:03 AM
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    Mute ianglen
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    Dec 9th 2019, 7:28 PM

    Laura Kuenssberg is the one that made this claim that a punch occurred here and has some justifying to do.

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    Mute ObsidianShine
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    Dec 9th 2019, 8:12 PM

    @ianglen: How she ever became the Political Editor of the BBC I don’t know!

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    Mute EillieEs
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    Dec 9th 2019, 8:21 PM

    @ObsidianShine: she’s anti-Labour which seems to be all that’s currently needed at the BBC.

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    Mute EillieEs
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    Dec 9th 2019, 7:28 PM

    Yet more propaganda demonising Labour.

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    Mute WillKeepTheW
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    Dec 10th 2019, 6:51 AM

    @EillieEs: it’s absolutely maddening and makes you wonder how on earth they’re supposed to win a bloody election

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    Mute EillieEs
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    Dec 10th 2019, 8:36 AM

    @WillKeepTheW: oh the media is making sure they won’t:(

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    Mute Felicity Hensen
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    Dec 9th 2019, 7:11 PM

    The advisor clearly wasn’t looking where he was going and walked into the man’s arm. It was an accident.

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    Mute Liam Ó hAodha
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    Dec 9th 2019, 10:00 PM

    @Felicity Hensen: seriously, you don’t need to explain what happened, it’s clearly seen on the video clip

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    Mute Felicity Hensen
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    Dec 9th 2019, 10:19 PM

    @Liam Ó hAodha: Sadly it has become necessary to explain everything. Even that which appears most basic. And not everyone may be able to view the embedded link – they don’t always work for me.

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    Mute Anne Marie Devlin
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    Dec 9th 2019, 8:52 PM

    So far the BBC has had to apologise for posting an old photo of Boris laying a poppy wreath as Boris looked a shambles in the current photo. Then they apologised over editing out the boos during a Boris walkabout. Now this. It makes you wonder what they’ve not got caught doing

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    Mute Ben Dunne
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    Dec 9th 2019, 7:31 PM

    But meanwhile they’ve barely covered the story of BJ stealing a reporters phone as he tried to show him pictures of a 4 year old lying on a Leeds hospital floor on a pile of coats, waiting to be treated for pnuemonia.

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    Mute Decko Kelly
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    Dec 9th 2019, 7:45 PM

    @Ben Dunne: he did look at the phone and he did comment on it. That’s another spoof.

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    Mute ObsidianShine
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    Dec 9th 2019, 8:13 PM

    @Decko Kelly: He only looked at the picture because the reporter called him out on camera for pocketing his phone.

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    Mute EillieEs
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    Dec 9th 2019, 8:22 PM

    @Decko Kelly: did you see the video? How can you call that a spoof?

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    Mute Decko Kelly
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    Dec 9th 2019, 9:07 PM

    @ObsidianShine: sorry. Extremely badly put on my part…. I meant another spoof is that he did look at it and did comment on it.

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    Mute Decko Kelly
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    Dec 9th 2019, 9:40 PM

    @EillieEs: actually I just seen the video. It did take 1.25 min but he did actually look at it and comment.
    https://twitter.com/joepike/status/1204018593656180736

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    Mute EillieEs
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    Dec 10th 2019, 2:42 AM

    @Decko Kelly: AFTER the journalist called him out for taking his phone and putting it in his pocket and he only referred to the child in general terms as he sprouted on as if he wasn’t a member of the government that underfunded the NHS.

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    Mute mark d
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    Dec 9th 2019, 7:32 PM

    They are desperate to make sure labour don’t win. They will happily put Johnson in office over Corbyn.

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    Mute Chin Feeyin
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    Dec 9th 2019, 8:55 PM

    @mark d: Corbyn is unelectable. Doesn’t need any help.

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    Mute EillieEs
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    Dec 10th 2019, 2:43 AM

    @Chin Feeyin: why? Because he’s more concerned about people and public infrastructure than the profits of the few?

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    Mute Carlin Ite
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    Dec 9th 2019, 9:14 PM

    The press really have shown their true colours in this election. Even on question time over the past four years the tone towards any Corbyn MPs has been so negative and derisory.

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    Mute EillieEs
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    Dec 10th 2019, 2:44 AM

    @Carlin Ite: the days of BBC impartiality are long, long gone.

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    Mute Decko Kelly
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    Dec 9th 2019, 7:16 PM

    I really hope that wasn’t a grown up who started this child’s play. Embarrassing.

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    Mute Orpuk Jones
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    Dec 9th 2019, 8:07 PM

    Robert Preston is an abomination – a Tory shill hook line and sinker.

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    Mute AliasSmith&Jones
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    Dec 10th 2019, 3:14 AM

    Kuennsberg and Peston are an absolute joke. If their Tory sources – who they never name – told them the earth is flat, they’d immediately tweet it without question. Both of them have now done this sort of thing numerous times – they’re not bona fide political correspondents, they’re simply spin merchants for the Conservative party

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