Comedian Simon Brodkin joked that he got so close to Theresa May he had caught her cold when he took the stage tonight.
The ‘prankster’ bragged that he had spent the night before in a police cell after gatecrashing the Tory Party conference and handing the Prime Minister a P45 during her speech.
He apologised to the audience at Nottingham’s Glee Club as he appeared on stage for the first time since the stunt.
Comedian Simon Brodkin joked that he got so close to Theresa May he had caught her cold when he took the stage tonight
The ‘prankster’ bragged that he had spent the night before in a police cell after gatecrashing the Tory Party conference and handing the Prime Minister a P45 during her speech
‘I’ve got a bit of a cold, I’m sorry about that, I must have caught off Theresa,’ he joked.
The Prime Minister struggled with a cough throughout her speech in Manchester on Wednesday.
Brodkin, 40, performed as his alter ego Lee Nelson in Nottingham and revelled in his new-found notoriety after the prank, which exposed lax security at the conference.
In front of an audience of 300 he also made jokes about Jimmy Saville.
Wearing a grey suit and white open collar shirt, he said: ‘Sorry I’m late, I spent most of last night in a police cell in Manchester.’
In a nod to the Conservative party’s slogan he told the audience to get ready for a ‘strong and stable’ performance.
He asked the crowd about Brexit – and was surprised when there was a bigger cheer from those wanting to leave the EU.
He said: ‘I voted leave, but I thought they were talking about Scotland.’
He said he believed the Scots ‘would get independence, because you are tenacious bunch of buggers’.
And said: ‘do you really want to have to wash your own car’ if we leave the Eu.
Wearing a grey suit and white open collar shirt, he said: ‘Sorry I’m late, I spent most of last night in a police cell in Manchester.’
He apologised to the audience at Nottingham’s Glee Club (pictured) as he appeared on stage for the first time since the stunt
Yesterday, the Prime Minister looked startled as he gave her the P45 saying: ‘Boris asked me to give this to you’ before turning to the Foreign Secretary with his thumbs up telling him: ‘Boris, job done mate’
Yesterday, the Prime Minister looked startled as he gave her the P45 saying: ‘Boris asked me to give this to you’ before turning to the Foreign Secretary with his thumbs up telling him: ‘Boris, job done mate’.
The stunt marred Mrs May’s make-or-break speech and afterwards she couldn’t stop coughing and needed large gulps of water and throat lozenges to get through it.
Brodkin’s latest prank exposed lax security as he was able to be within touching distance of Mrs May and the entire cabinet for at least 20 seconds before being grabbed.
It also raises serious questions for Greater Manchester Police, who were in charge of policing the event and vetting delegates, and the Met, who take responsibility for the Prime Minister’s personal security.
There were also calls for Tory party chairman Sir Patrick McLoughlin to resign over the unprecedented security blunder and Amber Rudd was asked by the BBC afterwards: ‘What if the P45 was acid?’ while Brexit Secretary David Davis called the breach ‘extraordinary’.
Brodkin’s latest prank exposed lax security as he was able to be within touching distance of Mrs May and the entire cabinet for at least 20 seconds before being grabbed
‘I’ve got a bit of a cold, I’m sorry about that, I must have caught off Theresa,’ he joked
Home Secretary Amber Rudd said she was ‘very disappointed’ about the security breach.
‘I am going to continue to follow what’s going on, it’s in the hands of the police and we will make sure we look carefully into how it happened to make sure it doesn’t again,’ she told BBC Radio 4’s PM.
His pass was for delegates from Avalon UK a talent agency representing actors, presenters and comedians including Brodkin, who has become famous for his set ups of Sepp Blatter, Kanye West, Donald Trump and others in the past.
Brodkin went to the exclusive private University College School in Hampstead, north London before studying to become a doctor.
After leaving medicine to become a comedian he became best known for his TV character Lee Nelson, a male version of Catherine Tate’s well-known chav character Lauren Cooper.