Theresa May’s party conference speech descended into chaos as a prankster handed her a P45 unemployment notice on stage.
Comedian Lee Nelson – real name Simon Brodkin – joked that Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson had asked him to perform the stunt.
Amid frantic scenes, he was bundled out of the conference hall and through the exhibition stands by security staff at the Manchester Central venue.
He told reporters: “Boris told me to do it. He’s left me in the lurch.”
Nelson was later seen being led from the conference hall in Manchester in handcuffs.
Around the same time, a tweet from his official Twitter account appeared, saying: “Hi @BorisJohnson, I gave Theresa her P45 just like you asked.”
The ‘P45’ he handed to the Prime Minister gave the ‘Reason for termination’ as: “Neither strong or stable. We’re a bit worried about Jezza.”
Comedian Lee Nelson is led out of the Conservative Party Conference (Owen Humphreys/PA)
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.
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.
Lee Nelson being put into a police van after confronting Prime Minister Theresa May during her keynote speech at the Conservative Party conference (Screengrab/Simon Brodkin)
A Downing Street source said: “Greater Manchester Police have arrested a man for breach of the peace. 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.