Tory chairman Patrick McLoughlin is facing calls to quit after a shambolic conference
Tory chairman Patrick McLoughlin is today facing calls to quit after a shambolic conference that saw a notorious prankster get within touching distance of the PM.
The Cabinet minister is under intense pressure to take responsibility for the massive failure that meant comedian Simon Brodkin could get a pass.
Brodkin, better known by his TV persona Lee Nelson, was able simply to walk up to the podium as Mrs May delivered her keynote speech and hand her a fake P45.
The premier calmly put the document on the floor and carried on, but seemed to be thrown off her stride. For the next hour she endured the agony of her voice giving out due to a persistent sore throat, leaving observers wondering whether she would be able to finish delivering it at all.
To cap off the misery letters then began falling off the Conservative slogan positioned in full view of TV cameras behind Mrs May.
The blame game started even before the speech yesterday was over, with many pointing the finger at Sir Patrick.
There had already been speculation that he would be dropped as part of a reshuffle in the wake of the disastrous election campaign.
The calamitous gathering in Manchester this week leaves him at even greater risk.
One senior MP told MailOnline: ‘Heads have to roll for this. He’s got to go.’
But Sir Patrick refused to say whether he would quit. ‘I knew there was sufficient security around the Prime Minister. Of course there will be an investigation. There will be an inquiry into what happened,‘ he said.
Simon Brodkin, 40, better known by his TV persona Lee Nelson, handed Mrs May her termination of employment and yelled: ‘Boris Johnson made me do it’ as he was dragged from the Manchester conference hall.
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.
Brodkin was arrested and put in cuffs only to be released minutes later when police saw he had an official pass in his own name and had already been vetted by them and the Tories.
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.
Theresa May’s make-or-break Tory conference speech was interrupted by prankster Simon Brodkin, who tried to give her a P45 and said: ‘Boris Johnson made me do it’
Brodkin blamed Mr Johnson, whose own leadership ambitions and loyalty to Mrs May has dominated the Tory conference
Mr Johnson looked furious and didn’t appear to respond but Home Secretary Amber Rudd gave him some stern words before he was led away by security
His pass was for delegates from Avalon UK a talent agency representing actors, presenters and comedians including Brodkin, who appears to have made no secret of who he was beforehand
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.
At his £1.2m north London pad home his wife Louise would not comment on the incident but gave a cheeky smile – hinting approval. MailOnline has had no response from agents Avalon, who appear to have secured his pass.
At the conference he stood up at a key moment and incredibly Mrs May took the P45 as he blamed Boris for the stunt.
The Prime Minister recovered from the interruption to say: ‘I was about to talk about somebody who I would like to give a P45 to, and that’s Jeremy Corbyn’.
The chaos engulfing the speech included an ‘F’ and an ‘E’ falling off the Conservative Party slogan behind Mrs May
Mr Johnson looked furious at Brodkin’s intervention and didn’t appear to respond but Home Secretary Amber Rudd gave him some stern words before he was led away and arrested for breaching the peace.
The Foreign Secretary’s ambitions and loyalty to Mrs May has dominated the Tory conference and overshadowed the Prime Minister’s speech, which went so awry.
Brodkin was booed by delegates as he was taken away and yelled repeatedly: ‘Boris Johnson made me do it’ and ‘Boris has left me in the lurch’.
Around the same time, a tweet from his official Twitter account appeared, saying: ‘Hi @BorisJohnson, I gave Theresa her P45 just like you asked.’
GMP Chief Superintendent John O’Hare said: ‘Officers attended and the man was arrested to prevent a breach of the peace and was released a short time later.
‘The man had legitimate accreditation which granted him access to the conference site.
‘In light of this we will be reviewing the accreditation process with the Conservative Party. Even with accreditation, everyone at the conference goes through airport-style searches before being allowed entry to the site.’
The Met Police run Theresa May’s security and they will also be reviewing what happened.
Brodkin was later seen being led from the conference hall in Manchester in handcuffs
Brodkin said to journalists: ‘Boris has left me in the lurch’ and later tweeted about it
In an extraordinary moment Mrs May even took the P45 from Brodkin’s hand and put it under her podium
David Davis called the ‘breach’ extraordinary with many claiming that if it had been in America the comedian could have been shot
Simon Brodkin gives Boris Johnson a thumbs up as security surrounded him
The security breach is deeply embarrassing for the Tories and the police, wo are
A Downing Street source said: ‘We expect that there will be a thorough investigation into what happened.’
The source declined to discuss the Prime Minister’s security arrangements.
Asked how Mrs May had reacted to being approached on stage during her speech, the source said that everyone had seen her joke about it shortly afterwards.
Senior Conservative MP George Freeman, head of the Prime Minister’s policy board, said of the prankster’s interruption: ‘There should be some very serious questions – that could have been a terrorist.’
He added: ‘My understanding is he’s a comedian, he’s often used by the BBC, and questions will be asked about how he was allowed to get that close.’
There was another comic moment during the speech, when two letters fell off the slogan behind Mrs May.
It had read ‘BUILDING A COUNTRY THAT WORKS FOR EVERYONE’ until the F in FOR and the final E in EVERYONE disappeared.
Brodkin, who has become known for disrupting major speeches including throwing cash on Sepp Blatter, was booed by delegates as he was taken away and yelled repeatedly: ‘Boris Johnson made me do it’
Brodkin repeatedly tried to engage with Mr Johnson, who was left fuming while Amber Rudd and Philip Hammond intervened
The comedian pulled off one in a long line of stunts involving security breaches
The comedian was led away by Tory staff and the police arrested him outside
The comedian, whose stage name is Lee Nelson, made a name for himself with a stunt at a press conference where he showered scandal-hit Fifa president Sepp Blatter with money.
He was arrested by Swiss authorities for trespassing at the event in July 2015 but later released.
He has also targeted Philip Green, the former owner of collapsed retailer BHS, by hanging a sign reading ‘BHS Destroyer’ on the billionaire’s superyacht, and disrupted then US presidential candidate Donald Trump at a Turnberry ribbon-cutting ceremony by attempting to hand out golf balls with a swastika printed on them.
Brodkinalso stormed the Glastonbury stage during Kanye West’s set in June 2015 wearing a T-shirt with ‘Lee-Zus’ on it before being removed by security.
A year earlier, he tried to board the England football team’s jet as they set off for the Brazil World Cup.
He was given a conditional caution after he duped security at Manchester City’s game at Everton in March 2013 and limbered up alongside star players.
The incident happened just moments after Mrs May apologised to her party for her performance in the botched campaign for this year’s snap election.
She admitted the campaign was ‘too scripted, too presidential’ and said she took responsibility for its shortcomings.
After calling an election three years early in the hope of increasing her dominance in the House of Commons, Mrs May lost 13 MPs and forfeited her majority, forcing her into a deal with the Democratic Unionist Party.
She won long applause from party delegates as she said: ‘We did not get the victory we wanted because our national campaign fell short.
‘It was too scripted. Too presidential. And it allowed the Labour Party to paint us as the voice of continuity when the public wanted to hear a message of change.
‘I hold my hands up for that. I take responsibility. I led the campaign. And I am sorry.’
Brodkin has a track record of pulling off similar stunts. He once threw a pile of dollars at the then Fifa president Sepp Blatter during a press conference.
Mrs May’s speech was also interrupted by fits of coughing, which she laughed off.
Serial prankster strikes again as croaky Theresa May is left spluttering
Simon Brodkin’s prank on Theresa May is one in a long line of successful stunts.
Brodkin, who’s also the brains behind comedy persona Lee Nelson, famously threw cash at disgraced FIFA chief Sepp Blatter and tied a banner to Sir Philip Green’s superyacht in the wake of BHS’ collapse.
In January he posed as Orthodox Jewish rapper Steven Goldblatt on Britain’s Got Talent to get an insight into the workings of the talent competition for a new Channel 4 documentary.
Set-up: Simon Brodkin auditioned for Britain’s Got Talent posing as a Jewish rapper
Brodkin threw cash at Sepp Blatter during an Executive Committee Meeting at FIFA Headquarters, Zurich.
Picture taken from the Twitter feed of Simon Brodkin showing the TV comedian renaming Sir Philip Green’s super yacht the BHS Destroyer
He also tried to join the England team as they boarded the plane at Luton Airport for the World Cup
Volkswagen Board member Juergen Stackmann looks on as comedian Simon Brodkin disrupts the Volkswagen press conference by checking the car in the wake
Brodkin, also known as Lee Nelson, disrupts a press conference being held by US presidential hopeful Donald Trump at Turnberry hotel in South Ayrshire
He secretly recorded his eight-hour audition process which resulted in him receiving four ‘yes’ verdicts from judges Simon Cowell, David Walliams, Alesha Dixon and Amanda Holden.
He has also targeted Philip Green, the former owner of collapsed retailer BHS, by hanging a sign reading ‘BHS Destroyer’ on the billionaire’s superyacht, and disrupted then US presidential candidate Donald Trump at a Turnberry ribbon-cutting ceremony by attempting to hand out golf balls with a swastika printed on them.
Nelson also stormed the Glastonbury stage during Kanye West’s set in June 2015 wearing a T-shirt with ‘Lee-Zus’ on it before being removed by security.
A year earlier, he tried to board the England football team’s jet as they set off for the Brazil World Cup.
He was given a conditional caution after he duped security at Manchester City’s game at Everton in March 2013 and limbered up alongside star players.