Michael Fabricant confirms that he wasn't 'pushed or shoved' at Tory conference

If you've logged onto Twitter.com recently (for your sins), you may have seen reports that Tory MP and everyone's favourite hair owner Michael Fabricant was assaulted at the Tory party conference yesterday afternoon.

According to The Times journalist Dom Hauschild, the politician "was pushed quite violently and protestors screamed in his face" as he made his way into the venue in Birmingham.

Hauschild said he didn't record footage of the alleged incident but said it was "really dark".

"The violence of the protestors outside is like nothing I’ve seen before in politics," he tweeted. "Seeing MPs pushed to the ground and screamed at while trying to do their jobs is horrible."

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It does indeed sound horrible but there's just one problem. Fabricant disputes this account and said he "was not pushed or shoved".

Setting the record straight on Twitter, he said: "Social media is suggesting I was “attacked” as I tried to get into #CPC2022. I was not. I was directed wrongly right into the middle of the protest. I think the protesters thought I was deliberately provoking them. But no one touched me. Just shouted abuse. They were just loud!"

"One protester tried to blow a plastic horn in my ear while i was walking," he continued. "I asked him to stop, but he refused. So I grabbed his horn and threw it away. I think he was more shocked than me!"

He said: "So for clarity, I was not pushed or shoved, nor did I fall over. As far as I could see, the crowd was noisy but self disciplined. We live in a democracy and people have every right to protest."

After making the clarification, Fabricant was widely praised by people on social media.

And as for things that actually happened during the conference, business secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg was booed as he made his way inside and Penny Mordaunt admitted the Tories communication skills are "s**t".

Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng U-turned on plans to scrap the 45p rate of tax and Liz Truss is making a speech on Wednesday so we'd bet there will soon be even more barmy stuff to report on soon.

The moral of this story? Don't believe everything you see on Twitter.

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