Tory MP David Davis defends homeless man from attackers near Parliament

Ex-minister let victim rough sleeper spent night on his sofa after saving him from ‘being killed’

David Davis said he stepped in to stop two men attacking a rough sleeper (Victoria Jones/PA) (PA Archive)

Former minister David Davis has spoken of how he defended a homeless man from a vicious street attack near Parliament.

The Conservative MP, 74, stepped in after seeing a “spray of blood” as the attackers kicked the man’s head at around 11pm on Great Peter Street, Westminster, on Tuesday.

Mr Davis said he put himself between the victim and the pair as he “manhandled” the main perpetrator.

“These two guys were kicking seven bells out of him,” the Tory MP told the Evening Standard.

Mr Davis, who is a former SAS reservist, said: “I had to get between them, be very aggressive, one of them took a couple of swings at me and I had to deal with that, slightly manhandle him.

“I didn’t hit them, if you hit them you’ve got to hit them really hard and you might kill them, so I tried not to get into that, otherwise I’d be talking from a prison cell.

Former minister David Davis saved a rough sleeper from a street attack on Tuesday evening (PA)

“I was basically being very aggressive, one of them started to back away and one of them, the more aggressive one, was a bit shocked and that gave me time to get the victim on his feet and away.

“Eventually it was alright, I think the aggressive one decided he didn’t want a straight-on confrontation with me.”

The veteran politician let the rough sleeper, named Gareth, spend the night on his sofa at his nearby flat following the attack and took him to hospital on Wednesday morning because he was still bleeding.

“It was messy, but he’s all right,” Mr Davis said of Gareth. “He’s still alive and that’s the important thing”.

Former No 10 director of communications, Guto Harri, also helped stop the attack, saying the intervention “prevented a man being killed”.

He told the BBC the attackers “were picking on a guy for a laugh, getting off on beating a guy who wasn’t hitting back”.