Children's minister Margaret Hodge has been handcuffed by a Fathers 4 Justice campaigner.

The incident took place at a family law conference in Manchester on Friday, police confirmed.

It is understood the fathers' rights activist managed to lock himself to the minister for half an hour before being separated and arrested.

The move is the latest in a series of high profile stunts by the controversial group.

It managed to launch a purple powder attack on the prime minister in the House of Commons in May, in a major breach of parliamentary security.

And in September a protestor from the group scaled a wall at Buckingham Palace where he remained in the media spotlight for five hours.

Fathers 4 Justice wants the government to introduce new laws giving estranged parents increased access to their children, with an end to the presumption in the courts that the mother will be the main carer.

But its campaign tactics, which increasingly targeted public figures, have divided the fathers' rights movement, which has won recent concessions from all sides of the political spectrum.