Steve Bray appeared outside the Palace as Andy Burnham met King Charles to formally take office
Steve Bray, the notorious anti-Brexit campaigner, turned up outside Buckingham Palace armed with his megaphone after the Metropolitan Police imposed restrictions on amplified protests outside Number 10, despite publicly vowing not to disrupt Andy Burnham's first day as Prime Minister.
Just hours earlier, Mr Bray posted on X: "To be 100% clear I will not be playing or using amplifiers anywhere near Downing Street tomorrow including the black hole areas not covered in the police map! Andy has always had and still has my full support!"
While technically honouring his pledge to stay away from Whitehall, the Port Talbot activist shifted his protest to the Palace, where Mr Burnham was visiting King Charles to formally take office.
The footage of Mr Bray's Palace appearance was captured by GB News' Royal Correspondent, who subsequently shared the video on social media.
In the clip, Mr Bray could be seen using his megaphone near Buckingham Palace, where the incoming Prime Minister was expected to have an audience with the King in the traditional "kissing of hands" ceremony.
However, the demonstration proved short-lived. Officers stationed at the Palace intervened and prevented the well-known campaigner from continuing to use his amplification device.
The incident highlighted the limits of the Met's Whitehall-specific restrictions, which applied only to a defined section of the street opposite the Downing Street entrance between 10.30am and 1.30pm, leaving other prominent locations across central London uncovered.
The Met had announced the loudspeaker prohibition on Sunday evening, imposing conditions on anyone gathering near the Downing Street gates to observe events connected to the new Prime Minister.
Amplified noise equipment of any kind was forbidden, and demonstrators were required to remain within a designated assembly area.
These restrictions were enforced on a stretch of Whitehall from 10:30am until 1:30pm, the window during which Mr Burnham was expected to deliver his inaugural address outside Number 10.
The force's decision followed years of criticism over its failure to prevent acoustic disruptions at major political occasions.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch had written to the Met Commissioner in late June, demanding action and branding Mr Bray's protest style "anti-social, a nuisance, and a national embarrassment."
Mr Bray's track record of disrupting landmark political moments was central to the Met's decision.
He notoriously blasted D:Ream's "Things Can Only Get Better" as Rishi Sunak called a snap election in the rain in May 2024, and more recently played "Ode to Joy" over Sir Keir Starmer's resignation speech outside Number 10.
The Times' political editor Steven Swinford responded to the ban by writing: "The only question is why it has taken this long to implement the ban."
Broadcaster Julia Hartley-Brewer echoed the sentiment, asking why the Met could not have acted "years ago."
Mr Burnham, who became Labour leader without a contest barely a month after returning to Westminster, used his first speech as Prime Minister to lobby against homelessness.
