Politics
Kate Plummer
Oct 10, 2023
Reuters Connect
Sir Keir Starmer cracked a charming joke about his wife after a protester stormed the stage and doused him in glitter during his key Labour Party conference speech.
In a major security breach, an intruder stormed on stage, grabbed the Labour leader as he was about to outline what Labour would do if the party wins the next general election and started speaking.
The man shouted: “We demand a people's house, we are in crisis – politics needs an update. We are in crisis.”
Security removed the man from the stage and the police later confirmed he had been arrested. Starmer dusted the glitter off from his suit jacket, removed it, and proceeded with his speech.
Following the incident, Starmer told the audience: “If he thinks that bothers me, he doesn’t know me. Protest or power?
“That’s why we’ve changed our party, conference. It’s just as well it was me, because my wife’s dress is really beautiful.”
Here is that dress:
Elsewhere in the wide-ranging speech in which Starmer set out policies he would enact if Labour win the next general election, the Labour leader expressed sympathy for Manchester, which he said played host to the “circus” of the Conservative conference, and made a few more gags.
He said: “I really do feel for any city that had to host that circus last week.
“Honestly – what can you say about a Prime Minister who goes to Manchester to cancel Manchester’s train line?
“The self-declared champion of motorists, who had to borrow a shopworker’s car for his photo op. A man who keeps a close watch on the cost-of-living crisis from the vantage point of his short-haul helicopter.
“Conference, I never thought I’d say this but I’m beginning to see why Liz Truss won.
“Although I still think we’d be better off with that lettuce."
Starmer is firmly in his banter era.
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