The husband of the late MP Jo Cox believes that the individual who threw glitter on Keir Starmer during his speech at the Labour conference should be subjected to a “severe punishment.”
Protester Yaz Ashmawi apologised on Thursday for grabbing the Labour leader as he glitter bombed him on the stage on the final day of the party’s annual conference in Liverpool.
He breached security to jump on stage, prompting major questions over how he was able to get so close to Mr Starmer.
Brendan Cox told this newspaper security at the conference had been “surprisingly low” – with no airport-style metal detectors and few bag scanners.
“You could have anything in your pocket,” he said. “I was very surprised by that.”
Jo Cox died in June 2016, after Thomas Mair shot her three times with a hunting rifle while she was on her way to a constituency surgery.
And two years ago today, Tory MP David Amess was stabbed to death by 25-year-old Ali Harbi Ali, again at a constituency surgery.
Mr Cox said: “The thing I was worried about was that moment for Keir and for his wife Victoria as well. – not knowing whether this was just a random protester as it turned out to be, or somebody with the worst intent.
“Particularly in the context of everything that’s going on in Israel and Palestine and obviously in the context of what happened to Jo and to David Amess as well, this is something that MPs are constantly worrying about.
“And certainly their families, I think, even more constantly worrying about it.
“Clearly you want to continue to be able to support and make sure there is the right to protest, including making a nuisance of yourself.
“But I think when it comes to physical contact, which there was an in this case, I think that crosses the line.”
Mr Cox said he was not in the auditorium when the stage invasion happened, as he’d been with a group of activists and hadn’t arrived in time.
“I was a few minutes late to watching it and saw it with a group of people,” he said.
“I missed seeing it in that moment, otherwise I would have found it a lot more difficult.”
Speaking to the Politics Uncensored podcast on Fubar Radio on Thursday, Mr Ashmawi said he took “responsibility” for what he did and apologised for making the Labour leader feel unsafe – but said throwing glitter was a legitimate form of protest.
He was arrested following the incident, and told the podcast he was held by police for 22 hours.
Mr Starmer has since said he was determined not to let an “idiot” get in the way of him delivering his speech. In interviews after the incident, he said it “could have been a lot worse” amid questions over the major security breach.