Boris Johnson criticised after female police cadet collapses during speech
Boris Johnson has been criticised after a female police cadet became unwell as she stood behind him during a speech.
The PM had been speaking for about 20 minutes in West Yorkshire when the young woman was forced to sit down behind him.
The young officer appeared to hold her hat and then sit down as others around her looked concerned.
Colleagues sitting in the audience in front of the PM drew his attention to her plight, prompting him to turn and ask her: "Are you all right?"
As the officer sat with her head bowed, Mr Johnson said: "I'm so sorry, OK that is a signal for me actively to wind up."
He then continued to criticise Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn for not backing his plans for a snap general election, before he stopped talking.
West Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner Mark Burns-Williamson, of the Labour Party, told the BBC's Danny Shaw that Mr Johnson had "abused" the police force's position. He added officers should not have been used in this way "for a political speech about Brexit".
UPDATE: West Yorkshire Police & Crime Commissioner Mark Burns-Williamson (Labour) tells me Boris Johnson has "abused" the police force's position & says the officers should not have been used in this way, for a "political speech about Brexit". https://t.co/mytmAvrvIk
— Danny Shaw (@DannyShawBBC)
Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott and Labour MP Yvette Cooper were also among those to criticise the PM over the incident.
Ms Abbott tweeted: "Johnson kept these trainees waiting on their feet, and unsurprisingly, one of them appears to have felt faint.
"He saw that happen, and he ignored it. Tells you everything you need to know about this man - and how much he really cares about the police service."
Ms Cooper accused Boris Johnson of an "abuse of power" for using a backdrop of police officers in a "political stunt".
The chairwoman of the Commons Home Affairs Committee said she would write to the Cabinet Secretary and West Yorkshire Police's chief constable.
She said: "For Boris Johnson to make so many police stop their training and work to be part of his political stunt is an abuse of power.
"Police officers and trainees are overstretched and need to be able to get on with their job, not have to waste time listening to Boris Johnson's political press conference.
"For Boris Johnson to draw so many of them into a long, election-driven event like this is completely inappropriate and it is unfair on the people of West Yorkshire who are entitled to expect that their police are allowed to get on with the job of working and training to keep them safe.
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"I am writing to the Cabinet Secretary as well as the West Yorkshire Chief Constable John Robins to ask how this has happened and what guidelines were followed."
The cadet was one of about 35 student officers who were standing in lines behind Mr Johnson, providing a backdrop to his speech at West Yorkshire Police's operations and training complex in Wakefield.
The officers had been standing behind his lectern, in front of an old-style police box, for at least 20 minutes before the speech began.
When the officer became unwell he had already finished his speech and answered a number of questions from journalists seated behind the officers in the audience.
When he finished, all the police present stood up and the Prime Minister went over to check on the stricken officer.
She was then attended to by colleagues. A West Yorkshire Police spokeswoman said she was checking whether the woman was OK.
Additional reporting by Press Association
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