AN OXFORDSHIRE delegate at the Conservative Party Conference says he and other party members faced harassment at the event.

Liam Walker, chairman of Witney Conservative Future, said some of the 40 or so Tory members who travelled to Manchester for the conference, which started on Sunday and ends today, were verbally abused as they entered the Central Convention Complex.

He said: “Anti-austerity protestors spat at a few people.

“Even if you take your conference pass off people know what you are here for.

“It was quite scary – not at all what I joined a political party for. They were chanting Tory scum. Regularly there are about 25 or 30 of them, but there were a lot more on Wednesday morning.

“We are not here for that, it is not what we get involved in politics for.

“We do not go to other parties’ conferences and do that sort of thing.”

But Mr Walker praised the police for their efforts to keep delegates safe and said the conference went well despite the protests outside.

He said: “There were quite a lot of us from Oxfordshire and it was all very upbeat and positive.”