Chris Whitty hounded by strangers in London's St James Park

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England’s Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty has become a household name throughout the pandemic, as he is often a staple figure at the national Downing Street briefings. His fame has come at a cost though — as new footage shared on social media shows the professor being harassed in St James’ Park by two young men. The men grab Prof Whitty as they shout and laugh, but he manages to break free and tries to walk away.

The men follow him and keep their phone’s camera on Prof Whitty, while calling for “just one photo, please” and grabbing at him again.

A voice is heard in the background saying, “Leave the gentleman alone” at the end of the video as police vans become visible in the background.

The Metropolitan Police are now involved, and tweeted in response to the harassment this morning, writing: “Officers spoke to all those involved at the time and their details were taken.

“We are in contact with the victim and the circumstances continue to be investigated.”

As Prof Whitty is one of the leading experts guiding the nation through the Covid crisis, the nation has reacted in outrage — especially as this is not the first time he has faced such harassment.

The topic is trending in second place on UK Twitter this morning.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has condemned the “despicable harassment” Prof Whitty endured in this latest footage, while Home Secretary Priti Patel has hinted at providing police protection to the Chief Medical Officer.

While he is yet to comment on this latest incident himself, Prof Whitty did speak out the last time a video emerged online of him being catcalled in public, back in February.

A TikTok user accused the doctor of “lying” about Covid cases in the streets near Westminster while Prof Whitty was waiting to purchase food from a stall.

The man told Prof Whitty: “Liar. You’re a liar. Mandem is a liar. You’re a liar. You lie about the COVID-19 cases. Stop lying to the TV, man.”

In the clip, the doctor does not respond and puts on his face mask.

But, in a later Downing Street briefing, Prof Whitty addressed the occasion in a remarkable manner.

He said: “The odd young lad, showing off, occasionally happens.

“I didn’t think anything of it frankly.

“I was very surprised when it was picked up by the media at all as anything of any importance.

“I’m sure he’ll become a model citizen in due course and hopefully more like Captain Tom, who is the kind of person who I think much more exemplifies the spirit of the UK.”

His calm demeanour was in stark contrast to the reaction from then-Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who told BBC Breakfast that the cat-caller was “pathetic” and “ridiculous”.

Speaking back in February, he added: “Chris Whitty is one of our greatest living scientists and his advice to the Government all the way through this, and his advice to all of us in the population, has been incredibly smart and thoughtful, and he is a great asset to this nation.”

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Prof Whitty is the most senior adviser to Downing Street on matters related to Covid and public health.

He is also a doctor at University College London Hospitals and the Hospital for Tropical Disease, and the Gresham Professor of Physic at Gresham College, and is a trained epidemiologist.

Yet, this new clip shows Prof Whitty looking clearly uncomfortable as the young men appear to manhandle the doctor while filming in selfie mode, in comparison to the footage dating back to February.

Newly appointed Health Secretary Sajid Javid described the new clip as “appalling and totally unacceptable”.

He added: “We will not tolerate this sort of behaviour towards our public servants.

Chris Whitty: Kay Burley reacts to St James' Park footage

“The men behaving in this disgraceful way should be ashamed.”

Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi tweeted: “This is disgusting and these thugs must be found and charged.

“Zero tolerance for harassing a public servant.”

Prof Whitty was also called a “liar” and followed down the street by an anti-vaxxer just earlier this month.

His deputy, Jonathan Van-Tam, was confronted outside the Ministry of Defence building only last week by an anti-vaccine activist, who alleged the doctor had poisoned Mr Hancock.

Downing Street was quick to put down such behaviour, and condemned the “appalling” abuse after clips of the incident circulated on Facebook.

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