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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Sami Quadri

Watch: Protester storms stage during Jacob Rees-Mogg speech at National Conservatism conference

An anti-fascist activist stormed the stage during a speech by Jacob Rees-Mogg at the National Conservatism Conference.

Mr Rees-Mogg, the former business secretary, was only minutes into his speech at the event in London when a man charged onto the stage and began speaking into the microphone.

The protester told the audience: “I would like to draw your attention to a few characteristics of fascism.”

He was then bundled off the stage and led away by security to cheers from the audience.

(Getty Images)

Mr Rees-Mogg used his address to criticise the Government’s decision to scale back post-Brexit plans to scrap EU laws.

The loyalist of former prime minister Boris Johnson said the repeal so far of EU laws was “pathetically under-ambitious”.

He said it was “very unfortunate” that Rishi Sunak had broken his promise, adding: “The surrender to the blob risks exposing the Government to ridicule.”

But Mr Rees-Mogg warned that it was “essential” to support the Government because “the alternative is far worse”.

The National Conservatism Conference has been organised by a right-wing American think tank to discuss the future of the Tory party.

The conference will pose a fresh challenge to Rishi Sunak’s leadership after the party’s dire local election results, with a string of prominent Tory MPs giving speeches setting out their own visions.

Danny Kruger and Miriam Cates, two emerging leaders of the Conservative right, will reportedly call on the party to focus on core Tory topics such as lower immigration, tougher sentences and a return to family values.

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