Moment police arrest activist who pressured Liz Truss to storm off stage
This is the moment cops arrested an activist who forced Liz Truss to storm off stage after being humiliated by a banner featuring a lettuce.
The man, understood to be Ben Stewart, 50, co-founder of political activists Led By Donkeys, was arrested on suspicion of burglary after his group rigged the banner to unveil during her speech.
The banner read ‘I crashed the economy’ and featured a picture of a lettuce.
Pictures from outside Beccles Public Hall in Suffolk show a man wearing beige chinos and a white shirt with his hands behind his back as he speaks to officers outside the hall.
Suffolk Constabulary said a 50-year-old was arrested and taken to Great Yarmouth for questioning but was released with no further action taken.
This is the moment cops arrested an activist who forced Liz Truss to storm off stage after being humiliated by a banner featuring a lettuce
The man, understood to be Ben Stewart, 50, co-founder of political activists Led By Donkeys, was arrested on suspicion of burglary after his group rigged the banner to unveil during her speech
The banner read ‘I crashed the economy’ and featured a picture of a lettuce (pictured above)
Truss, who lasted just 49 days in Downing Street before she was forced out by Conservative colleagues, raged at ‘far-left activists’ attempting to ‘suppress free speech’ after she stormed off stage last night.
In a furious post on X, formerly known as Twitter, this afternoon, Ms Truss fumed: ‘What happened last night was not funny. Far-left activists disrupted the event, which then had to be stopped for security reasons.
‘This is done to intimidate people and suppress free speech. I won’t stand for it. Would we see the same reaction if the activists were far-right?’
During last night’s event, as she promoted her book ’10 Years To Save The West’, Ms Truss had been dissecting why Donald Trump might win the US presidential election.
As the banner slowly emerged behind her, an attendant swiftly came out and alerted Ms Truss.
The event’s host stammered: ‘I don’t know what is going on’, before an irritated Ms Truss stormed off stage, saying ‘that is not funny.’
The cringeworthy clip, which has amassed nearly five million views, was published on X by campaign group Led By Donkeys, who claimed responsibility for the incident.
It captioned the video: ‘Liz Truss is on a pro-Trump speaking tour. So we dropped a strategically-positioned remote-controlled lettuce banner.’
The stunt was in reference to a lettuce outlasting Ms Truss during her spell as PM in a challenge created by the Daily Star.
The banner was unveiled as the former premier was saying: ‘I support Trump and I want him to win… But the, it’s what I was saying about incumbents, I think the average American is not doing well.
Truss, who lasted just 49 days in Downing Street, hit out after her book event last night was sabotaged by pranksters
An attendant swiftly came out and alerted Ms Truss, while the host stammered: ‘I don’t know what is going on’
An irritated Ms Truss stormed off stage, saying ‘that is not funny’
Campaign group Led By Donkeys claimed responsibility for last night’s prank
Mr Stewart confirmed he had attended the event last night, adding: ‘This is all about Liz Truss aligning herself with Trump and the far right in America.
‘She’s avidly supporting Trump, and actually she’s lending the weight of the office of British Prime Minister which she held, albeit for a short period of time, to the pro-Trump campaign.
‘We thought, she’s aligning herself with the far right in America, and sometimes, not always, but sometimes, one of the best approaches to the far right is to laugh at them.
‘And so we decided to install this strategically positioned remote control lettuce banner and press the button towards the end of last night’s event.’
A police spokesman said: ‘A 50-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of burglary other than dwelling – with intent to commit damage on Tuesday 13 August following an event at Beccles Public Hall and Theatre and was taken to Great Yarmouth Police Investigation Centre for questioning. He has since been released without charge and will face no further action.’
Ms Truss served as PM for just 49 days in 2022, making her the shortest-serving premier in British history.
Her brief tenure was marred by economic turmoil in the wake of her disastrous ‘mini-Budget’, following which she was swiftly ousted from No10.
Ms Truss has claimed her premiership was sabotaged by ‘deep state’ actors, including Treasury officials, the Office for Budget Responsibility and the Bank of England.
The 49-year-old has recently taken her political insights across the Atlantic, and has become much more involved in American politics.
She endorsed Mr Trump to return as US president in April, claiming ‘the world was safer’ with him in the White House between 2017 and 2021.
Earlier this year, the Led By Donkeys group used a remote controlled banner with a picture of Russian President Vladimir Putin to disrupt a speech by Reform UK leader Nigel Farage.
It read: ‘I heart Nigel.’
