Former health secretary Matt Hancock says he was shoulder-barged and shouted at by anti-vaccination protester Geza Tarjanyi (Picture: PA)

Matt Hancock feared he was going to be shoved down an escalator by an anti-vaccination protester who was confronting him at a Tube station, a court has heard.

The former health secretary was left ‘shaken up’ after he was allegedly targeted by Geza Tarjanyi on two different occasions in January this year.

Tarjanyi, 62, of Leyland, Lancashire, who denies causing harassment without violence, is accused of shoulder-barging the MP and shouting ‘ridiculous conspiracy theories’.

Mr Hancock told a trial at Westminster Magistrates’ Court: ‘As a public figure, I can’t recall a time when I felt as intimidated as this.’

At around 8am on January 24, Mr Hancock said he had just finished breakfast with prime minister Rishi Sunak when he was followed by Tarjanyi.

The MP for West Suffolk was then pursued by Tarjanyi through Westminster underground station and onto a train for around 10 minutes, where he then accused him of murdering people during the Covid pandemic. 

Mr Hancock said he recognised the defendant from an incident five days earlier and felt ‘more intimidated’ because he was on his own – and tried to get Transport for London (TfL) staff to intervene.

Geza Tarjanyi is on trial accused of causing harassment without violence to former health secretary Matt Hancock (Picture: PA)

But he told the court that Tarjanyi began harassing ‘anybody who was going to come to my aid’ and continued following him through the station.

Mr Hancock said he then stopped at the top of an escalator to ‘resolve the situation’ but felt the defendant pushing him towards it.

Giving evidence, Mr Hancock said: ‘Obviously I was extremely worried at this time. If I had lost my balance at that point, I would have tumbled down the escalator.

‘It’s a long escalator, I could see a long escalator moving away from me, and I was being pushed from behind.

‘I had to work to maintain my balance and stop myself falling down the escalator.’

Matt Hancock says he was ‘extremely worried’ when he was confronted by Tarjanyi at Westminster underground station (Credits: PA)

He feared Tarjanyi was willing to commit a crime, alleging the defendant had told him he ‘wanted to go to court’.

Tarjanyi then got onto the Jubilee Line train with Mr Hancock and accused him of murdering ‘millions of people’ before they were separated at Bond Street station.

Mr Hancock said: ‘I felt physically intimidated and felt like I needed to get to a place of safety, he was being completely unreasonable. I didn’t know what further unreasonable actions he would take.

‘It made me feel unsafe going about my place of work, it made me feel frustrated that instead of engaging in a normal debate, someone was trying to intimidate me, I thought that was unacceptable.’

During the first alleged incident on January 19, Mr Hancock along with a member of his staff, passed an anti-vaccination protest near parliament, before Tarjanyi filmed him, asked him why he had ‘killed so many people’ and shoulder-barged him during a five-minute interaction.

Tarjanyi is standing trial at Westminster Magistrates’ Court (Picture: PA)

The politician claimed that one of the reasons he hadn’t initially reported the first incident was because he ‘didn’t want these people with these untrue beliefs to get further publicity from harassing me’.

He added: ‘I had a pretty good impression he had been taken over by these ridiculous conspiracy theories.’

Nutan Fatania, prosecuting, said: ‘Mr Hancock felt shaken up by both incidents and concerned for his personal safety.’

Parveen Mansoor, defending, said Tarjanyi denies any physical contact and believes it was Mr Hancock who ‘barged into him’.

She added: ‘He denies assaulting him in any way shape or form.’

Mr Hancock, 44, was health secretary when the coronavirus pandemic struck and was a key figure in the lockdown restrictions and vaccine rollout that followed.

He resigned after leaked CCTV images showed him kissing an adviser in his office, in breach of his own social-distancing guidance.

Mr Hancock later angered colleagues and constituents by flying to the Australian jungle to appear on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! in November 2022.

Having been stripped of the Conservative whip over the appearance, he said he would not contest his West Suffolk seat at the next election when he would step down.

Last month, it was revealed that he was paid £10,000 by ITV for appearing on Good Morning Britain for an interview.

The trial continues.

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He was also allegedly ‘shoulder-barged’ and ‘shouted at’.