A man has been charged with assaulting the former Conservative Party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith in Manchester last year.
Elliot Bovill, 31, appeared in Manchester Magistrates’ Court, where he was accused of common assault against the senior Tory MP in the city centre on 4 October 2021, although it was confirmed that no further details of the offence were read out during the hearing, and Mr Bovill did not enter a plea.
The incident occurred while the Conservative Party Conference was happening in Manchester city centre, and was said to have happened while Sir Iain was walking to a fringe event with his wife, Betsy.
Sir Iain was due to take part in a talk with then-Brexit minister, Lord David Frost, at the Mercure Manchester Piccadilly Hotel.
At the time of the incident, the former Tory party leader told The Spectator that he had been struck on the back of the head “with a traffic cone”, and he also told the BBC that protestors shouted “Tory scum” at him while he made his way to the fringe event – but he managed to escape from the situation without any serious injury.
Sir Iain Duncan Smith served as the Leader of the Conservative Party from 2001 – 2003 / Credit: Sky News / Parliament TV
He told The Spectator: “For half a second I was about to go up and punch them, I went forward and they all backed off – I nearly knocked them out, lost my rag”.
ADVERTISEMENT
Sir Iain also told the BBC at the time: “They then decided to follow me and started shouting abuse, such as ‘Tory scum’ and any other reason they could think of. I carried on walking and when I was getting close to the place [where I had a meeting], someone came up with one of those rather heavy traffic cones and tried to smack me with it in the back of the head.”
Greater Manchester Police arrested five people following the incident.
During the hearing at Manchester Magistrates’ Court, Mr Bovill was told that the case was being moved to Westminster Magistrates’ Court, and was granted unconditional bail to appear again on 16 May.
Two other people have also been charged in connection with the incident.
Radical Haslam, 28, of New Wakefield Street, Manchester, and Ruth Wood, 50, of Oak Tree Avenue, Cambridge, are accused of using threatening, abusive words or behaviour with intent to cause fear of or provoke unlawful violence.
Mr Haslam did not attend court, but Ms Wood appeared by video link and was also bailed until 16 May.
Jimmy Bradbury, Reuben Haycocks, Aoife Anson O’Connell, and Paddy Murphy – better known together as Westside Cowboy – formed back in 2023 when they were students at the Royal Northern College of Music, so while they may not all be from Manchester, they definitely have the spirit of our city at the heart of everything they do.
After playing in different bands across the city throughout their student years, the four-piece joined forces to create Westside Cowboy – an indie rock collective credited with self-coining the genre of ‘Britainicana’.
Put simply, Britainicana is a cultural concept that mixes the hazy, mythic feel of American country and folk, with the sound of raw British punk, indie rock, and small-town life.
Westside Cowboy have released their debut album, It Goes On / Credit: Clementine Schniedermann (Press Shots – Supplied)
If that sounds like your cup of tea, then you’ll be pleased to know that Westside Cowboy have released their debut album, It Goes On, to the world today (21 August).
And the reception from critics, arguably, couldn’t be better.
Prior to the release of their debut album, the band had released two EPs, including So Much Country ‘Till We Get There in January earlier this year, and had started to make a name for themselves with their popular debut single ‘I’ve Never Met Anyone I Thought I Could Really Love (Until I Met You)’ in 2024.
They went onto make even further waves when they supported equally-rising American rock band Geese on their UK and Irish tour back in March – with many fans calling it one of the best support and main act combinations in some time.
Three singles from their debut album were shared with the world ahead of its release – ‘Kick Stones (The Boys)’ came first, followed by ‘Pin Up Boys’ and ‘Dobro’.
So, it’s fair to say the anticipation for album was high… and if the reviews are anything to go by (which we think they are), it looks like the band has very much delivered what they set out to achieve.
Westside Cowboy’s debut album It Goes On is now available to stream, or you can purchase a physical copy in a range of formats from their website here.
Take a listen👇
Featured Image – Press Shot (Supplied)
News
UK set to be battered by storms as ‘unprecedented’ El Niño arrives this autumn
Emily Sergeant
The UK is being told to brace for a series of storms this autumn when the ‘unprecedented’ El Niño weather event arrives.
It’s already been a summer of extremes for the country, with multiple heatwaves over the past couple of months, but now it appears that autumn and winter are set to have some extremes of their own, as the Met Office is warning that this upcoming El Niño could be one of the most significant in recent memory.
El Niño is declared when sea temperatures in the tropical eastern Pacific rise 0.5°C above the long-term average, which therefore impacts global rainfall patterns and average temperatures.
The natural warming of sea temperatures is forecast to reach more than 3°C in the coming months, according to the Met Office, making this year’s weather event have the potential to be ‘the largest since the 19th century’.
The UK is set to be battered by storms as ‘unprecedented’ El Niño arrives this autumn / Credit: Johannes Plenio (via Unsplash)
El Niño will create a heightened risk of drought in the tropics, southern Africa, and north eastern Australia, but over in north western Europe – including the UK – it means we are likely to experience wetter and stormier conditions.
The UK, and of course Greater Manchester, is absolutely no stranger to a storm around this time of year, but forecasters say this could be an entirely different beast.
“We should be clear that this is an unprecedented event,” warned Professor Adam Scaife, who is the Head of Long Range Forecasting at the Met Office.
“I have never seen an El Nino signal this intense in our forecasts.”
Professor Scaife concluded: “A typical El Nino leads to an equatorial Pacific sea-surface temperature rise of between one to 2°C, with 2°C being a really big event. This implies that, if the forecast is accurate, and other forecast systems show similar extreme values, then 2026 will far exceed our recent experience of El Niño and its worldwide climate influences.’
Forecasters and officials, however, have warned that it could take months of sustained rainfall before rivers, reservoirs, and groundwaters are ‘completely replenished’ – which is when a drought can officially be declared as over.
It also warned drought conditions could persist into the new year as, despite El Niño, as current forecasts do not suggest this autumn will have the amount of rainfall needed to drive recovery.
Emily Sergeant -
28th April 2022 
