Jenrick mocks protester who was dragged out by her hair at Reform conference: ‘Boohoo’
Jenrick mocks protester who was dragged out by her hair at Reform conference: ‘Boohoo’
Sophie Wingate,Harry Taylor and Christopher McKeonSun, September 6, 2026 at 10:40 AM UTC
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Robert Jenrick has told protesters at the Reform UK party conference to “get a life” and reacted to a video of a woman being dragged out by her hair by simply saying “boohoo”.
Footage from the party’s gathering in Birmingham showed audience members pulling the protester’s hair and grabbing her head, with a man then hitting her with a walking stick.
Asked about the incident on Sky News’s Sunday Morning programme, Jenrick replied: “Oh boohoo.”
Jenrick then told presenter Jon Sopel: “We’re now in a country, Jon, where somebody who is – whatever she is – a far-left protester, goes into a party conference, tries to wreck the leader’s speech, and cries foul if a pensioner knocks her over the head with their Zimmer frame, I mean, come on, get a life.
Video emerged of a woman having her hair pulled by audience members at Reform UK’s conference (PA Wire)
“This person knew what they were doing. They were trying to cause trouble, and they probably got more publicity out of it as a result of what happened.”
West Midlands Police urged the protester to come forward in light of the footage, although party leader Nigel Farage has complained the reaction amounts to double standards.
The force said it had not received a direct complaint but asked the woman to make contact so officers can carry out further investigations.
Demonstrators were thrown out of the main conference hall four times at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Birmingham, where Reform UK held their annual get-together on Friday and Saturday.
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They interrupted Farage’s keynote speech, shortly after his deputy Richard Tice had a banner displayed during his own address referencing the scandal around a donation to Farage.
The Reform leader laughed during the disruption and said: “We’ve got a screamer. Oh dear.”
Addressing the conference hall, the Reform leader said, “That poor young girl, she looked like she was going to do herself an injury,” before adding, “boring, boring, boring”.
Nigel Farage said criticism of his party was ‘one-sided (PA Wire)
Farage said on Saturday the criticism was “one-sided”, telling broadcasters: “It’s all one way, isn’t it? I can have milkshakes chucked in my face, be bashed over the head with placards and that’s all fine. That’s absolutely fine.
“Yet, well, we have a big event that people have paid a lot of money to come to and we get people there trying to disrupt it and we remove them. Suddenly we’re in the wrong. Utter nonsense.”
Activist group Climate Resistance claimed responsibility for the protest.
In a comment, they said they were “horrified at the violence” from Reform conference audience members.
The group also said the protester was considering whether to come forward to police.
Reform UK’s home affairs spokesperson Zia Yusuf condemned members who pulled the hair of the heckler, but party chairman Lee Anderson said the party would be having a “whip round” for an audience member who was seen hitting the protester with a walking stick.
Source: “AOL Breaking”
