Police investigating after Chris Whitty accosted in park
Chris Whitty #ChrisWhitty
By Katie WrightBBC News
image captionThe video footage from the incident on Sunday evening was shared online
Police are investigating video footage which appears to show England’s chief medical officer, Prof Chris Whitty, being accosted by two men in a park.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was “shocked at seeing the despicable harassment” of Prof Whitty.
The video shows two men laughing and jeering as they grab hold of Prof Whitty, who struggles to free himself.
The Met Police said it happened in St James’s Park in London on Sunday and all those involved had been spoken to.
The PM tweeted: “I condemn the behaviour of these thugs. Our hard-working public servants should not have to face this kind of intimidation on our streets and we will not tolerate it.”
Other MPs to criticise the incident included new Health Secretary Sajid Javid, who said it was “appalling and totally unacceptable”.
He added: “The CMO (chief medical officer) works tirelessly on behalf of the country… the men behaving in this disgraceful way should be ashamed.”
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer described it as “disgusting behaviour”, adding that the police were right to investigate “this harassment”.
Jess Philips, a Labour MP, tweeted: “Even if you perceive it as non-violent, it is clear that he felt awful and uncomfortable and resisted.
“Public figures are not dolls, they are human beings, it is stunning how easily this is forgotten.”
It is not the first time Prof Whitty has been filmed being confronted by a member of the public.
Earlier this month, a man in Oxford accused him of lying to the public about coronavirus, while in February a man accosted the chief medical officer outside Westminster.
Is the answer to Prof Whitty’s ordeal police protection?
Certainly, if a senior cabinet minister was walking through St James’s Park, they would have security watching their back.
The word “harassment” doesn’t convey how shocking the confrontation looks and how vulnerable Prof Whitty must have felt.
Nor is it the first time he has been confronted by phone-wielding blokes.
His colleague, deputy chief medical officer Prof Jonathan Van-Tam, was also accosted by an anti-vaccine activist in Whitehall last week.
They are not politicians – they are officials leading efforts to fight a pandemic who have become public figures.
So yes, perhaps protection is part of the answer. Westminster is sprinkled with police officers and they guard the gates of Parliament and No 10, but it rarely feels heavily policed unless there is a demonstration under way.
Asked whether Prof Whitty and his colleagues would be offered police protection, the prime minister’s official spokesman said: “We keep security under constant review but I’m not going to be commenting on specific arrangements for individuals.”
The Met said in a statement on the latest incident: “We are aware of a video being shared online showing an incident in St James’s Park. Officers spoke to all those involved at the time and their details were taken.
“We are in contact with the victim and the circumstances continue to be investigated.”
Who is Prof Chris Whitty?
image copyrightReuters image captionProf Chris Whitty (left) has regularly appeared alongside the PM at televised Covid briefings
Since the start of the coronavirus crisis, he has been front and centre of the UK’s decision-making and communication of messages to the public.
He took on the chief medical officer role in October 2019, and until the coronavirus threat emerged, had never done broadcast interviews or held press briefings or conferences.
One of the country’s foremost experts in infectious diseases, he has worked as a doctor in Africa and Asia, as well as the UK.
He continues to practise medicine at University College London Hospitals, where he was spotted doing a shift over Christmas.
His father was a diplomat, who was murdered by terrorists in Greece after they flagged him down in his car in 1984.
