Former education secretary Sir Gavin Williamson said he felt “incredibly threatened” by a man who allegedly followed him on two occasions, threatening to arrest the MP during one of the incidents, a court has heard.
Simon Parry, of no fixed abode, is said to have “persistently followed” the Conservative MP on May 24 and June 14 this year.
The 45-year-old is further accused of impersonating a police officer by flashing what Sir Gavin said appeared to be a warrant card and making comments about arresting him on the June date.
Parry denies one count of stalking and one count of impersonating a police officer.
Giving evidence at City of London Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, Sir Gavin told of how Parry began following him along streets in Whitehall on two occasions after the MP walked past a protest area opposite Downing Street.
Of the May incident, Sir Gavin told the court he heard Parry making comments about vaccinations while walking in “close proximity” to him.
Asked how he felt at the time, Sir Gavin said: “It was someone who was quite aggressive towards you, someone who was not really actually wanting to have a discussion, but rather express their views or their anger or their dissatisfaction, actually.
“It felt very unpleasant.”
He added: “Of course as an MP you get a lot of people approaching you all the time.
“People are often approaching you with concerns they want to discuss… (but) done in a very different manner to that.
“You felt as if this was part of intimidation or sort of trying to make a publicity work or something along those lines.”
You sadly do hear of instances where people have used a knife or such thing in the past, so you get quite fretful as to whether you’re in that type of scenario and an incident like this just makes you more fearful
Of the June incident, Sir Gavin said he heard Parry making comments about vaccinations again and also about “genocide”, and eventually realised that the comments were directed at him.
The MP kept walking and speaking with a constituent on the phone, he told the court.
He called Parry’s “persistence” in following him from the Parliamentary estate towards Euston “quite disturbing”.
“It was quite evident that this individual was hostile to myself,” Sir Gavin said. “I was talking to a constituent who sadly that day had had to have their dog put down.”
He continued: “Why should I, you know, not do what I thought was my job because this very aggressive person was harassing me and pursuing me?”
The politician then went on to explain how he believed Parry flashed a warrant card and spoke about arresting him.
“At this point it is getting to feel kind of more scary because it’s a confined space,” he said.
“I can hear constant references to police, police, police, and saying about arresting me and at this stage … the defendant then shows what looks like a police a Metropolitan Police badge, but it was just a crest.”
“I felt incredibly threatened by it,” he added about the June incident.
Sir Gavin said he asked the constituent he was phoning if he could continue speaking with her as a “comfort” to himself before Parry eventually stopped following him.
Asked about what impact the incidents have had on him, Sir Gavin said: “When someone is acting in such an extreme way … you don’t really know what they’re capable of doing.
“You sadly do hear of instances where people have used a knife or such thing in the past, so you get quite fretful as to whether you’re in that type of scenario and an incident like this just makes you more fearful.”
Parry appeared at court with former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s brother, Piers Corbyn.
Sir Gavin has been MP for South Staffordshire since 2010 and served in cabinet as defence secretary before becoming education secretary under Boris Johnson in 2019.
