Conference speeches are a prime opportunity for politicians to tell the world who they are and what they stand for. Annoyingly for some, the same applies to protesters. On Tuesday, Keir Starmer was showered in glitter by a protester from the group People Demand Democracy, just as the Labour leader was about to begin his speech at the party’s conference in Liverpool.
Starmer looked momentarily startled before the protester was escorted off stage by security. After taking off his jacket, Starmer addressed the conference by saying: “If he thinks that bothers me he doesn’t know me. Protest or power, that’s why we changed our party,” which was received with loud applause.
Here are how other politicians fared:
Theresa May is handed a P45
Months after a bruising election in 2017, Theresa May had hoped to shore up support and regain some authority at that year’s Conservative party conference. In a speech that was deemed make-or-break, the former Tory leader was handed a P45 by the comedian Simon Brodkin. After almost 10 seconds pushing through her speech as the comedian waved the mock-form near her face and in the view of cameras, she took it and placed it on the floor while continuing to speak, saying with a croak: “Some people say we spend too much time talking about Jeremy Corbyn’s past.”
Amid the commotion of Brodkin being escorted away from the stage, May said “you may not have heard that”, repeating the line about Jeremy Corbyn to tepid applause. Shortly after the commotion had settled, May said: “I was about to talk about somebody I’d like to give a P45 to, and that’s Jeremy Corbyn,” which was greeted with roars and applause.
Soon after, May was taken over by a hacking cough while the words on the set collapsed behind her. It was the handing of the P45 that dominated front pages the next day, with the Telegraph calling the speech a “tragic farce” and the Guardian saying it was a “nightmare”.
Tony Blair is interrupted twice during conference speech
One year after parliament had voted for military intervention in Iraq in 2003, including putting troops on the ground, Blair had amassed many political foes. During his speech to conference in 2004, Blair was interrupted shortly after he began speaking by Hector Christie, who shouted: “You’ve got blood on your hands!” before being led away by police. Blair appeared unfazed by the interruption, saying the heckler was lucky to be free to voice his protest.
About 15 minutes later, about six hunting supporters stood up, began shouting and set off rape alarms on the balcony overlooking the main floor before, again, being escorted away by police.
Climate activists heckle Liz Truss
In 2022, three Conservative prime ministers led the country at one point or another but only one held the office during conference: Liz Truss. During her one and only speech to conference as prime minister, Truss was interrupted by climate activists from Greenpeace UK, including its head of public affairs, Rebecca Newsom, and its policy officer, Ami McCarthy, who stood up close to the front of the conference hall with a banner asking: “Who voted for this?”
The pair were met with boos from conference delegates who snatched the banner from their hands, only for the two women to pull out another, identical banner. Truss paused her speech and said: “Let’s get them removed.”
The incident did not seem to faze Truss. Once the protesters were escorted out, she was beaming and laughing as she was met with raucous applause from the audience. The support displayed by conference delegates did not extend far however, as the following day’s front pages focused on the then prime minister’s ailing popularity and cabinet disquiet.
Neil Kinnock is called a ‘liar’ by Militant leader
At the 1985 Labour conference, Neil Kinnock called out Derek Hatton, who was then the leader of Militant and deputy leader of Liverpool council, for using taxis to send redundancy notices to thousands of council workers.
“I’ll tell you what happens with impossible promises,” Kinnock said. “You start with far-fetched resolutions. They are then pickled into a rigid dogma or code, and you go through the years sticking to that: outdated, misplaced, irrelevant to the real needs and you end in the grotesque chaos of a Labour council – a Labour council! – hiring taxis to scuttle round a city handing out redundancy notices to its own workers!”
“Liar!” shouted Hatton from the audience, some of whom also booed Kinnock. In response, the then Labour leader said: “The voice of the people, not the people here, the voice of the real people with real needs, is louder than all of the boos that can be assembled.”
