Jacob Rees-Mogg's GB News show descended into chaos last night as he broadcast near Buckingham Palace while police carried out a controlled explosion.
The former minister was joined by royal commentator Michael Cole in a portable cabin being used as a makeshift studio when a loud bang interrupted the broadcast.
A man was arrested last night after suspected shotgun cartridges were thrown into the grounds of Buckingham Palace, days before the King’s coronation.
The suspect was detained at about 7pm on Tuesday after he approached the palace gates in central London and threw a number of items, the Metropolitan Police said.
He is being held on suspicion of possession of an offensive weapon after a knife was found, the force said. A “suspicious bag” was also discovered.
Police carried out a controlled explosion, heard live on GB News, while cordons were put up in the area just hours before a major rehearsal of the coronation procession.
Mr Rees-Mogg said on his show: “I’m very sorry to say it is good evening from me for the time being – as I think that was a controlled explosion in the background, that what it sounded like to me, we will no doubt find out later.”
Having kept calm during the explosion, Mr Rees-Mogg went on to suggest that his composure may have come too hastily and that the boom could have a more sinister origin, adding: “Perhaps my sangfroid has been unduly ‘sang’ and not enough ‘froid’, if I’ve got my French right.”
Meanwhile, Mr Cole stood his ground and pushed back against an apparent evacuation order, insisting he had been in “many, many war zones under pressure, beaten up, covered civil wars, great disturbances, all out wars around the world. Beirut for 10 years, civil war”.
He added: “Can we just find out because overreaction is not what the British are about. We do have a certain amount of decorum on occasions like this. And so I want to hear the final word. I want to see a policeman or woman here telling us that we can no longer broadcast.”
Mr Rees-Mogg then chimed in, asking for an officer to confirm that the show must be taken off the air. “We need someone to confirm this officially,” he said.
Several people then began to speak over one another out of shot. A short while later, a verdict comes. “Guys, we have to leave,” one of the voices rules.
Addressing his viewers, Mr Rees-Mogg offers his thanks for their patience. “This is the state of the nation tonight,” he concludes.
Scotland Yard said yesterday it was not treating the incident as terror-related. It is understood it is being treated as an isolated mental health incident.
Neither the King nor the Queen Consort were at Buckingham Palace at the time of the incident.
Footage from the scene in the aftermath showed police cars parked outside the palace, with officers and sniffer dogs patrolling near the gates.
Officers could also be seen examining a number of items strewn across the floor just outside the gates.
