Protester Disrupts Keir Starmer's Labour Conference Speech In Major Security Breach

The Labour leader was left covered in glitter following the incident.
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Keir Starmer reacts after a protester threw glitter on him at the start of his keynote address in Liverpool.
PAUL ELLIS via Getty Images

A protester disrupted Keir Starmer’s speech to the Labour conference in a major security breach.

The man was able to rush the stage and grab the party leader as he was about to begin speaking.

He tipped glitter over Starmer’s head and shouted: “True democracy is citizen-led.

″Politics needs an update. We demand a people’s house.”

As the protester was dragged off the stage by security guards, Starmer had to take off his jacket before he could go on.

Speaking with glitter in his hair, the Labour leader said to cheers: “If he thinks that bothers me he doesn’t know me.

“Protest or power, that’s why we’ve changed,” he added to loud cheers.

He added: “It’s just as well it was me [getting covered in glitter], because my wife’s dress is really beautiful.”

The protester was later filmed being led into a police van by two officers.

Campaign group People Demand Democracy later said they were behind the protest and posted a video of the incident on X (formerly Twitter).

They said: “We demand a fair proportional voting system and a permanent legally-binding national House of Citizens, selected by democratic lottery to tackle the major crises facing the UK: inequality, corrupt politics, climate and so on.”

The fact that the man was able to get so close to the Labour leader will raise major questions about security arrangements at the conference.

The incident was similar to when a comedian managed to evade security and get close enough to Theresa May to hand her a mock P45 while she was speaking at the 2017 Conservative conference.