An experienced Chinese state TV journalist has been convicted of slapping a Conservative Party conference delegate during a fringe meeting.

Linlin Kong, 49, a reporter with Chinese broadcaster CCTV, denied assaulting Enoch Lieu, claiming the Tory delegate had manhandled her first.

But a judge found Kong, a journalist for 26 years and CCTV’s chief UK political correspondent, guilty of assault after a trial, calling it an attack “in the heat of the moment”.