Foreign Office Minister Mark Field has been suspended from his post after he was filmed forcefully grabbing a climate change protester who gatecrashed a back-tie dinner.
A spokesperson for Prime Minister Theresa May said she seen the footage of the incident and “found it very concerning”.
The Tory MP was facing demands he be sacked following the confrontation in which he was seen to physically frogmarch the female protester from the event at London’s Mansion House, with Labour branding the video “horrific”.
The woman can be named as environmental activist Janet Barker, who lives on a farm in Wales.
Bankers and politicians had gathered at the City of London event on Thursday night to hear speeches by Chancellor Philip Hammond and the Bank of England’s governor Mark Carney.
But just as Mr Hammond was speaking 40 Greenpeace activists dressed in red entered the room to demand action on climate change.
As one of the women walked past Mr Field, he stood, pushed her against a nearby pillar and grabbed her by the back of the neck before frogmarching her out of the room.
Mr Field has referred himself to the Cabinet Office for investigation and has apologised “unreservedly” to the protester.
In a statement he said: “A major security breach occurred at the dinner I attended last night when a large number of protesters suddenly and noisily stormed into Mansion House.
“In the confusion many guests understandably felt threatened and when one protester rushed past me towards the top table I instinctively reacted.
“There was no security present and I was for a split-second genuinely worried she might have been armed.
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