Robert Jenrick has 'no sympathy' for female protester clubbed on the head at Reform conference - as police call for victim to come forward

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Several protesters disrupted Nigel Farage's speech at the Reform UK party conference in Birmingham on Friday, with security working quickly to bundle them out of the room, amid boos and heckles from the crowd.

In video footage, one woman who stood up to disrupt the speech can be seen being grabbed by members of the audience who reach for her face and hair, and hit at her with a walking stick while several security guards remove her.

When asked by Lewis whether he thought the treatment of the woman was appropriate, Jenrick was dismissive of the online criticism.

"What do you expect them to do?" he responded.

When highlighted that audience intervention was unnecessary, Reform's Treasury spokesman stressed he was "not at all sympathetic" to her upset, claiming she was a "far-left activist".

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"Let me think how sympathetic I am are towards that person. Not at all.

"[This individual] infiltrates a party conference, stands on a chair, screams abuse at the leader of a party, tries to disrupt a party conference - and then she's moaning that a pensioner knocked her on the head with a crutch.

"I mean, come on, get a life. Like, you take your chances, don't you?

"I have zero sympathy."

The woman, who spoke to LBC about her treatment at the Reform party conference, has since called out the party for allowing such "dangerous" behaviour.

"Yesterday I was hit and grabbed by the hair and by my jaw by attendees at the Reform UK conference after calling out Nigel Farage for being a conman during his keynote speech.

"All of this was just 2 hours after Sarah Pochin announced Women for Reform, cynically claiming that migrants are the ones women like me should be afraid of, as opposed to members of their own political party.

"I think it's dangerous that Reform cannot be trusted to hold their members accountable.

"Nigel Farage himself, as well as members of the audience, are inciting this violence by celebrating assaults like the one I experienced.

"In fact, this morning Lee Anderson joked, joked about it by offering to buy a new cane for the man who assaulted me, which I think is simply pathetic."

"They say they work to protect women and girls, yet they assault us when we try to criticise them."

Reform UK’s home affairs spokesperson Zia Yusuf condemned members who pulled the hair of a heckler during Mr Farage’s speech.

Asked whether he condemned the actions of some members who appeared in footage pulling the woman’s hair and grabbing her head, the party’s home affairs spokesman told a conference fringe event: “On the question of whether I condemn people punching people, yes, I condemn people punching people.”

Reform UK member and former Conservative Cabinet Minister Nadine Dorries responded to footage of the incident saying: "Of course no-one should be violent, no-one should throw punches, but no-one should come into this conference and try and disrupt it.”

Mr Farage told broadcasters on Saturday: “It’s all one way, isn’t it? I can have milkshakes chucked in my face, be bashed over the head with placards and that’s all fine. That’s absolutely fine.

“Yet, well, we have a big event that people have paid a lot of money to come to and we get people there trying to disrupt it and we remove them. Suddenly we’re in the wrong. Utter nonsense.”

“This is just also one-sided. It is ridiculous," he added.

The heavy-handed approach to the removal of the protester, and the involvement of members of the crowd, has drawn criticism online.

West Midlands Police has said in a statement that they are aware of the video circulating online, but have not received a complaint from the woman involved.

They said: "We’re aware of a video circulating from the Reform UK Conference showing an incident with a protester.

"We haven’t received a complaint but would ask the woman involved to come forward and contact us so we can carry out enquiries.

"Anyone with any information should contact us on 101 quoting log number 924 of 5 September."

Activist group Climate Resistance claimed responsibility for the protest.

In a comment they said they were “horrified at the violence” from Reform conference audience members.

The group also said the protester is considering whether to come forward to police.