A man, who happens to be a fairly prominent Tory, was forcibly removed from the Conservative Party conference Tuesday for quietly protesting.
Reports have described Andrew Boff, a London Assembly member and former party leader in City Hall, as a “heckler” or “protester,” but, from the footage that is available online, it would be a stretch to describe his intervention as anything beyond a passionate chunter. According to The Guardian, “nearby attenders said he was speaking relatively quietly, and did not cause any major disruption.”
But this did not stop a number of security guards and a Greater Manchester Police officer from sweeping in and walking him, arm-in-arm, out of the room—causing, it would seem, a lot more disruption than the man himself.
Boff was complaining about Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s speech, which he described as “trash.” Known for being on the liberal wing of the party, he said “there’s no such thing as gender ideology,” prompting officials to rush to his side. The timing could not have been better; the chunterer was escorted out of the room as Braverman decried that people are “chased out of their jobs” and “disciplined for using the wrong words.”
She later wrote on social media that while Boff’s comments were “silly … he should be forgiven and let back into [the] conference” (emphasis added). Other Tory MPs told The Guardian that the treatment Boff received was “vile.”
ITV journalist Robert Peston later commented:
This is not a great look for the party of free speech. I’ve seen heckling in my time and I am not sure this meets the threshold.
Others noted that it was strange security and police—and the press, for that matter—were so close to the individual, as if they were “waiting” for him to say something out of place.
