Jacob Rees-Mogg was booed and heckled as he walked into the Conservative party conference, as protestors gathered in Birmingham to show their anger at the government.
The business secretary was surrounded by demonstrators as he crossed Victoria Square in the city centre, where hundreds had gathered to vent their anger, BirminghamLive reports.
Escorted by several police officers, Mr Rees-Mogg was tailed by a jeering crowd, who shouted “Tory scum” and "Moggy, moggy, moggy, out, out, out".
Mr Rees-Mogg walked towards his party’s annual gathering at the nearby International Convention Centre and calmly greeted other protestors who had gathered near the Library of Birmingham .
Speaking to Sky News, he said: "There have been protests at Tory conferences since time immemorial, it’s nothing new. It’s a fact of democracy. They’re shouting but it’s perfectly peaceful. And the right to peaceful expression of your view is fundamental to our constitution."
It comes after the People’s Assembly campaign group had joined with other community organisations and trade unions in a bid to maximise impact. Birmingham residents have a double reason to protest, with the Conservative party conference a stone's throw away and the West Midlands suffering from the highest rates of fuel poverty in the country.
Jane Elledge, 53, an IT trainer from Bromsgrove, told PA: “Enough is enough really. We’ve had Brexit, we’ve had falling standards, we’ve had people having to work two jobs, people starving, people with no heating, and just the kind of final straw is the announcement of the richest people getting a tax cut.
“Trickle-down economics doesn’t work. We get nothing – nothing for the working people. It’s got to stop. Tories out.”
Another protestor, who did not want to give their name, and who works for the charity sector, said they were seeing "more and more people in difficulty".
"We are having a mental health crisis in my line of work. A lot of people who are struggling did not come to the protests today because they fear either getting arrested because of the draconian parliamentary laws, or they simply can't afford to come out and join everyone here."
Birmingham Labour councillor Liz Clements, who attended the demonstrations, said Birmingham would be "devastated" by any proposed public-spending cuts.
She said: "People are scared about heating their homes. We were talking about public sector cuts here, we've had 60 pence for every pound cut.
"The Conservatives are making life more difficult for people. People who are working hard, trying to put food on the table."
Speaking ahead of the conference, Ms Truss said she is standing by her tax-cutting plan as she refused to rule out public spending cuts.
“I do want to say to people I understand their worries about what has happened this week,” she told the BBC ’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme.
Protesters also jeered and booed Tory MP Michael Fabricant - but he denied claims by a journalist that he was "violently" pushed.
The MP tweeted: "No one touched me. Just shouted abuse. They were just loud!
"One protester tried to blow a plastic horn in my ear while i was walking. I asked him to stop, but he refused. So I grabbed his horn and threw it away. I think he was more shocked than me!
"So for clarity, I was not pushed or shoved, nor did I fall over. As far as I could see, the crowd was noisy but self disciplined. We live in a democracy and people have every right to protest."
