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Watch: Richard Burgon flared at his own protest

Richard Burgon is engulfed by smoke (Photo: The Spectator)

Oh dear. With the Tories in town, the Labour left were hoping to make a strong impression in Manchester when they organised a protest outside the venue this afternoon.

A large crowd, led by the Corbynite stalwarts Richard Burgon and Barry Gardiner, slowly made its way down Oxford Road toward the conference venue, with the usual gaggle of trade union delegates, activists and Communist party members making up the numbers. Things didn’t exactly go to plan though, with the protest pelted with rain giving the whole escapade a rather bedraggled look.

Things went even less well for Richard Burgon, who even appeared to be struggling at protesting. As one of the MP’s fellow trailblazers lit up a flare at the head of the demo, the former shadow minister was drowned in red smoke, cutting short his chanting.

Watch here:

Elsewhere, the protest featured chants such as ‘Throw the Tories in the sea, let in every refugee’, shouts of ‘Maggie, Maggie, Maggie, dead, dead, dead’ and ‘Boris Johnson is a wasteman’. Angela Rayner would also have been pleased to see this endorsement of her ‘scum’ remarks at the demo:

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(Photo: The Spectator)


Clearly the spirit of kinder, gentler politics lives on…

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Steerpike
Written by
Steerpike

Steerpike is The Spectator's gossip columnist, serving up the latest tittle tattle from Westminster and beyond. Email tips to steerpike@spectator.co.uk or message @MrSteerpike

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