A south London MP has posted a picture of a man who allegedly hurled eggs into his constituency office, triggering a police investigation,
Labour MP Neil Coyle for Bermondsey and Old Southwark has made a public appeal in the hunt for the egg thrower who he jokes is a ‘Gollum lookalike’ referring to the Lord of the Rings character.
He posted a screenshot of the attack which took place on Friday at around 4pm on twitter.
He took to X, formerly Twitter, to post a screenshot of CCTV footage of a man apparently hurling eggs into his office on Jamaica Road at 4pm today (Friday, September 13).
He has reported the man to the police and branded the alleged attack as 'silly'.
The caption on the MP’s post says: "Can anyone in Bermondsey, southwark or Rotherhithe identify this Gollum lookalike please? Police are looking for him after his silly attack at my office on Jamaica Road at 4pm today which shocked local people who’d come to see me, a volunteer and my hardworking team."
The MP told the Standard: “Staff and members of the public were in the office and were shocked and horrified. The guy could have been throwing anything in people should not be exposed to this sort of thing. There will have to be a review of safety as a result and it could have been something more sinister and these acts are a threat to democracy. The guy is clearly a plonker but there is a more serious side to this issue, that’s why I have put out the appeal. I don’t know if he is local, he didn’t say anything during the attack then legged it.”
A police statement said: “Police were called at 16:07hrs on Friday, 13 September by a person reporting that eggs had been thrown at an MPs office in Jamaica Road, SE16.There were no reports of any injuries.No arrests and enquiries into the circumstances continue.”
One online critic of the MP posted: "If you find him, tell him I'm more than happy to supply him with as many eggs as he wants."
Throwing eggs at political figures or their offices has a long history in Britain.
In 2001 the then Deputy prime minister John Prescott was egged on a visit to wales and grappled with his attacker.
The new MP for Bradford West George Galloway was egged by a protester as he left his office for a victory parade in the city in 2012.
In 2014, ex-UKIP leader Nigel Farage was also hit by an egg as he arrived at a rally in Nottingham to support his East Midlands candidates for the European elections.
