A prankster handed Theresa May a P45, ostensibly from Boris Johnson, during her speech at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester.
Comedian Simon Brodkin managed to get on camera at the front of the stage and hand the prime minister the termination of employment tax form, and said “Boris asked me to give you this”, before being ejected from the hall.
NEW: We found what we assume is the P45 the prankster tried to hand to PM during her speech. #cpc17 pic.twitter.com/QeB64wxRkT
— Paul Brand (@PaulBrandITV) October 4, 2017
The crowd jeered as security led the man out of the conference hall, but Theresa May looked flustered and struggled to regain her composure as she talked about opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn.
The prime minister’s was already suffering from a sore throat and a croaky voice, and her woes were further added to by letters falling off the stage backdrop, so that by the end of her speech it read “Building a country that works or everyon”.
When that letter "F" fell off (the last "E" then fell off later,) pic.twitter.com/ylYYQ8IKTJ
— Daniel Sandford (@BBCDanielS) October 4, 2017
Following the speech, Scottish Conservatives leader Ruth Davidson tweeted:
“If ever the PM needed a metaphor for service and duty and resolution through adversity, that battling performance was it!”
Outside the hall, police arrested the prankster for a breach of the peace, and an investigation has been opened to discover how he was able to evade security to get within touching distance of the podium.
The interrupted speech is the latest in a string of difficulties faced by Theresa May since her poor performance at the last general election, which saw her lose a huge lead in the opinion polls and fall short of maintaining the Tory majority.
In recent weeks, foreign secretary Boris Johnson has made it clear that he would like to be fired from his post in the cabinet so he can focus on causing trouble, whining about Brexit, and pushing his own leadership bid.
