Why I hit out at Tory canvasser - Richards

Apr 18 2008 by Martin Shipton, Western Mail

AN UNREPENTANT Rod Richards last night opened up on the doorstep fracas which landed him in a police cell for 18 hours.

The former Tory Welsh Office Minister said he did not regret hitting a Conservative canvasser in a doorstep argument at his Cardiff home.

He accepted a caution from South Wales Police after being held in custody at a Cardiff police station from shortly after the incident outside his home on Wednesday evening until yesterday afternoon.

Mr Richards, 61, said an argument erupted on his doorstep after a local election canvasser knocked on his door.

He said he had challenged the Conservative Party activist after the latter said he didn’t need to speak to him because a another canvasser had spoken to him days before.

The conversation developed into a heated argument involving Mr Richards and four Tory canvassers. The ex-MP claimed he hit one of them after he was pushed to the ground and hurt a finger. He said: “The guy who pushed me was rude and arrogant. I don’t regret clipping him.

“I got up and gave him a clip around the ear as the Conservatives have suggested errant teenagers should be dealt with in the same way.

“I said to them: ‘Do you know who I am?’ and they said: ‘We don’t give a f*** who you are’. The guy was arrogant and overbearing and said: ‘Do you know who I am?’. So I swore back at him in the same way.

“After it happened, they went to the police to make a complaint of common assault. I had already made a formal complaint by phone to (Conservative) Central Office when the police came to my house to pick me up.

“I ended up being in custody for 18 hours at Fairwater Police Station for something which on the spectrum is right down the bottom.

“I don’t blame the police – they were only doing their job. I also made a complaint about the actions of the canvasser.

“The other political parties must be rubbing their hands in glee and I’m sure this whole incident will cost the Conservatives lots of votes in the local elections. I’m out of politics now but it upsets me that local Tories can behave in such a way.”

Mr Richards said he felt very tired, adding: “I didn’t get any sleep in the small cell they put me in, and spent the night doing the ‘figure eight’. It’s what Greville Wynne, the British agent who spent five years in the Lubyanka Prison (in Moscow) did to keep his circulation going. It involves running in a zigzag to the four corners of the cell. Greville did it for five years – I was only there for one night. When I was being interviewed, the police said the guy had made an allegation of common assault. I said straightaway that I had clipped him round the ear, so there was nothing to talk about. The important question was how had we got to that point.

“Eventually I think the police understood that. I accepted the caution on the basis that I had clipped him, but the fact is he is twice my size and half my age.”

A South Wales Police spokeswoman said: “A 61-year-old man arrested in Fairwater, Cardiff has been cautioned for common assault and released. There will be no further action in this matter.”

The assaulted canvasser, who is in his 20s, did not need hospital treatment after the incident but was said to be shaken up.

He would only say last night: “I’m not going to be making any public statement on this matter.”

A Tory Party source claimed Mr Richards appeared to be drunk and turned on the activists.

The source said the former Minister, who has previously admitted a drink problem, had been drinking and came into the street to confront the group.

The insider said: “They avoided his door because he was already down as a possible supporter.

“He then came out of his door and hit one of the guys. The guy he hit is one of the gentlest people I know.

“Rod threw a punch then followed him down the street. If Rod was an innocent party in all this, it begs the question why he admitted the offence.

“The police haven’t cautioned any of those canvassing or interviewed them. That speaks volumes in itself.”

A Conservative spokesman said: “You expect to get the occasional verbal abuse when you are out canvassing but not to be physically assaulted in this way. The canvasser did the right thing to report it to the police right away and now he wants to leave it in the hands of the police.

“It was more of a slap than a punch but canvassers have the right to go about their work without being physically attacked.

“He has not got any bruising but was shaken up by the incident. He is happy to leave it up to the police and does not want to talk about it.”

David Cameron refused to be drawn on the question of Mr Richards’ arrest. He said: “I’ve just read about it on my BlackBerry and it wouldn’t be right to comment on something that is under investigation.”

Rottweiler who was never slow to snarl at controversy - page 2