A FORMER Northern Ireland Office (NIO) minister has cited the IRA murder of Ulster Unionist MP Robert Bradford in his defence of a Tory MP who grabbed a female Greenpeace activist.
Sir Peter Bottomley, who served in the NIO for several years under Margaret Thatcher, congratulated his colleague Mark Field for forcibly removing the woman from a black-tie event in London's Mansion House on Thursday night.
Mr Field has been suspended as a minister after a spokesman for Prime Minister Theresa May said she found footage of the event "very concerning".
Sir Peter argued that Mr Field's behaviour was justified and insisted he was attempting to "defuse what could have been a tragic situation".
The 74-year-old told BBC Radio 4: "Robert Bradford didn't know that when he was murdered in his constituency. The Liberal MP's caseworker (Andrew Pennington who was stabbed to death in a sword attack at the party’s office in Gloucestershire in 2000) didn't know it when he got murdered.
"A person could be carrying a collapsible truncheon."
Ulster Unionist MP Robert Bradford was shot dead with a sub-machine gun in an IRA attack in November 1981 while he was hosting a political surgery at a community centre in Finaghy in Belfast.
A caretaker at the centre, 29-year-old Kenneth Campbell, was also killed.
Sir Peter claimed that Mr Field's grab was "not an assault".
"It is not an assault - you can't use the word assault, that is completely wrong and an exaggeration," he said.
Shadow women and equalities secretary Dawn Butler described the incident as "horrific" and said "so much violence does not seem justified".
She added: "I'm sure I'm not the only one who is wondering why no-one intervened. So much violence does not seem justified. An investigation needs to take place as soon as possible."
