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This article is about the British activist. For the American musician, see Stephen Bray. For the Gaelic footballer, see Stephen Bray (footballer).

Steve Bray
Bray wearing anti-Brexit attire in September 2019
Bray in 2019
Born (1969-06-26) June 26, 1969 (age 55)[1]
Port Talbot, Glamorgan, Wales
OccupationActivist
Known forProtesting against Brexit
Political partyLiberal Democrats

Steven Bray (born 26 June 1969)[2][3] is a British activist from Port Talbot in South Wales who, in 2018 and 2019, made daily protests against Brexit in College Green, Westminster. He is variously known as Stop Brexit Man,[4][5] Mr Stop Brexit,[6] or the Stop Brexit guy.[7]

Bray was often heard during TV broadcasts from College Green at Westminster shouting anti-Brexit statements or seen quietly walking into the background of live TV interviews, wearing a colourful blue outfit and carrying placards with a simple 'Stop Brexit' or anti-government message.[8][9] Since Brexit, he protests against the incumbent Conservative government more generally. In May 2024, Bray disrupted Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's announcement of a July election with D:Ream's song "Things Can Only Get Better", a song used extensively by the Labour Party during its 1997 election campaign.[10][11] He was subsequently banned from every street around Whitehall and Parliament.[12]

British broadcaster ITV has referred to him as a notable figure, both for the length of his continuing protest and for the technique he used to disrupt multi-camera interviews.[8] The Huffington Post described him as the "ultimate Brexit protester",[13] while Labour MP Ben Bradshaw has called him an international celebrity.[14][15] In late 2020 he changed his trademark EU-blue outfit for a full Soviet-era Russian general's uniform, complete with medals,[16] as he called for the Government to investigate alleged Russian interference in the 2016 Brexit referendum. Bray was the unsuccessful Liberal Democrat candidate for the Cynon Valley constituency in the 2019 United Kingdom general election.[17][18][19]

Before the Brexit referendum

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Steve Bray was born in June 1969,[2] and was originally from Splott in Cardiff, South Wales.[20] As a child, he moved home frequently while his father served at RAF bases in Germany.[21] Before becoming involved in political activism, Bray himself served in the British Army,[22] and was a self-employed numismatist, working in Port Talbot, South Wales.[23] Bray is divorced, with a daughter and grandson.[24]

When Brexit became a major political issue, Bray found himself at odds with many of his friends. In his own words, "I fell out with all my friends. They were all leavers and I binned the lot of them."[25] His opposition to Brexit was in part due to a belief in the benefits European Union funding had provided to Port Talbot, and a sense that the leave campaigns were misrepresenting the benefits of Brexit.[5]

Dress and style of protest

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Bray shouting outside the Palace of Westminster

Bray has worn a European Blue jacket, and a blue top-hat with a yellow hat-band. He has a cape made up from a Union Jack sewn into an EU flag. He carried two double-sided, burgundy-coloured, A2-sized placards with the messages "Stop the BREXIT mess", "We want a people's vote", and "Things have changed, it is time to reassess".[8]

2017 to 2019

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In March 2017, Prime Minister Theresa May triggered Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, formally initiating Britain's withdrawal from the European Union, following the result of the 2016 referendum on the UK's EU membership. Bray was incensed, leaving Port Talbot and travelling to London to protest.[26] He later said he had never attended a demonstration prior to beginning his Brexit protest.[5] Bray paid £8,500 to have a float carrying a larger than life size model of May's head with a pistol marked with the word "Brexit" in its mouth to be brought to the UK.[27] Following the 2017 general election and the Conservative–DUP agreement, Bray lived on the streets in London, refusing to spend money or pay taxes, for a week in protest, during which time he began protesting outside the Houses of Parliament.[5] During the first year of his protest, Bray and allies were present outside Parliament five days a week.[5]

Camera teams from all news sources interview politicians on College Green, outside the Houses of Parliament. When Bray spotted a team arriving, he walked over, and as the live interview began, appeared in the background of the shot, displaying his posters. As the camera moved, so did he, remaining in the frame. He then walked off before the team could ask the police to remove him. With a two-camera interview, he knew which camera was live and moved from one to the other. In an incident on 14 November 2018, with Brexit expert Georgina Wright being interviewed by BBC News presenter Annita McVeigh, the camera-hopping lasted over two minutes.[28]

Bray standing in front of the Sky TV media tent during an interview between Kay Burley and Labour MP Chris Bryant, on the day that Jeremy Corbyn called a vote of no confidence in the government.

When the camera team chose to film against the door of the Palace, Bray used another tactic. He stood close by and shouted 'Stop Brexit' over a loudhailer, interfering with the sound track.[8] On 19 October 2019 he was clearly heard to yell during a live TV interview 'bollocks to Boris' after the Brexit deal the Prime Minister proposed was not agreed by parliament.[citation needed]

The BBC tried to circumvent Bray's disruption by building a five-metre-high (16 ft) platform on which to conduct interviews. Bray was not deterred, and raised the EU flag on a 5-metre-high pole, which could be seen waving behind the presenter.[29][30]

Every evening at around 6pm he performed a ritual, approaching the Palace and shouting "Stop Brexit, it's not a done deal", before leaving.[31] He returned at 11 the following morning and stated he would continue to do so until another referendum were called.[14]

In January 2019, Bray moved into an apartment opposite the Westminster home of Conservative Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg. To rent the property in Westminster's Cowley Street for two months, he raised more than £12,000 from the public.[6] In response to the news of his new neighbour, Rees-Mogg said: "Should he wish to borrow a cup of sugar, he would be very welcome."[6]

2019 general election

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Regular SODEM protestors; Steve Bray in his post election grey attire, December 2019

Steve Bray was the Liberal Democrat candidate for the Cynon Valley constituency in the 2019 United Kingdom general election. The Liberal Democrat leader, Jo Swinson, noted that Bray was a passionate campaigner and should not be seen as a joke candidate.[32] He came 6th of 7 candidates with 949 votes, 3.1% of the total, and lost his deposit.[33] Madeline Grant, writing in The Daily Telegraph, argued that the Liberal Democrats' decision to run Bray, whom she did not see as a serious candidate, was part of their disastrous campaign.[34]

Bray described the Conservative victory in the 2019 general election as "devastating". Shortly after the result, he acknowledged that the chances of the UK remaining in the EU were "tiny" and offered that "we are all going to end up in hell after Brexit happens." Bray decided to end his daily protests after 847 days.[35][36] However, he vowed to keep protesting, ditching his message of stopping Brexit in favour of an anti-Boris Johnson slogan.[37]

2020 onwards

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January 2020, in support of EU Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen on the occasion of her London visit

On 31 January 2020, the United Kingdom became the first member state to leave the EU.[38] In response, Bray vowed to continue protesting outside Parliament, noting that he would "not give up" until the UK rejoined the EU.[39]

On 18 January Bray was tripped up and assaulted in central London, suffering minor injuries. He described the alleged assailants as "unpleasant thugs masquerading as Brexit zealots" and noted that "they're not real Brexiteers or leavers." No arrests were made at the time.[40][41]

To highlight the report on alleged Russian interference in the Brexit referendum, in the autumn of 2020 Bray discarded his anti-Brexit top hat and cape in favour of a Soviet tank general's parade dress. Armed with a portable stereo, Bray took to blaring out the national anthem of the former USSR along Whitehall.[20] However, by December 2020, Bray was back in usual anti-Brexit attire and attempting to heckle the Prime Minister by means of a megaphone, some distance from 10 Downing Street.[42]

In June 2021, Bray spotted the Conservative MP Lee Anderson having a drink seated outside the Red Lion pub in Westminster. Bray asked Anderson: "Have you got to be a Conservative MP to lie to people?" After some words were exchanged, Anderson said "You're nothing but a parasite, a malingerer and a scrounger. Now clear off."[43]

At the Labour Party Conference in September 2021, a complaint was filed with Brighton and Hove City Council about the noise Bray was making in playing the Anthem of Europe on his speaker system outside the conference.[44]

On 26 October 2021, Bray demonstrated, with a toilet, outside the gates of Downing Street after MPs voted down an attempt by the House of Lords to toughen up the approach to the discharge of raw sewage into rivers and coastal waters.[45]

In May 2022, Conservative MP Marco Longhi called for Bray to be "locked up in the Tower [of London] with a loudspeaker playing "Land of Hope and Glory" on repeat at maximum volume" because of the disruption he causes. He added that staff in his Westminster office could not hear "distressed constituents on the phone" because of the loud music that Bray played.[46]

While protesting near Parliament on 28 June 2022, Bray had his amplification equipment seized by police under the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act, which had come into force earlier that day.[47] Bray described the police powers introduced in the Act as "fascist" and an attack on the right to protest.[5]

On 7 July 2022, at the request of actor Hugh Grant, Bray played the Benny Hill theme tune "Yakety Sax" following the announcement by Boris Johnson that he was resigning as prime minister.[48][49] In an interview in The Guardian in July 2022, Bray said Brexit had been "the start of something far bigger" and had indicated wider flaws in the British political system.[5] In September 2022, Bray told foreign secretary James Cleverly that "your party is finished – the sooner you’re out of the UK the better", which Cleverly perceived as a racist "go home" comment. Bray denied the claim and posted a video of the full exchange online, saying that he had previously made the same comment to Jacob Rees-Mogg and Dominic Raab.[50]

In October 2023, Bray attended the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester while wearing a shirt bearing pro-EU slogans to ask attendees "Where are the Brexit benefits?". He then had a physical altercation with an attendee and was escorted off the premises while continuing to protest.[51]

In May 2024, Bray disrupted Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's announcement of a July election with D:Ream's song "Things Can Only Get Better", a Labour Party theme song during its 1997 election campaign.[10][11] He was subsequently banned from every street around Whitehall and Parliament.[12] In a statement Bray later said: "Police just served an order on me and banned me from every street around Whitehall and Parliament. Apparently 2 people complained. Probably Rishi Sunak and his wife."[12]

SODEM

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SODEM was a political movement founded by Steve Bray in September 2017. It was an acronym for Stand of Defiance European Movement, and its colours were yellow on blue. A previous action was to secretly place the European flag on an empty flagpole outside the Neath Port Talbot council offices on 19 August 2018.[52] Elspeth Williams, who shared a flat in London with Bray, ran SODEM's social media output.[53] SODEM was dissolved as a company in January 2021.[54]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ @snb19692 (26 June 2024). "Decisions, decisions… Officialy [sic] a Private Pensioner today! Just 8 days to wait for the best gift ever!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  2. ^ a b "How Brexit made Britain a country of Remainers and Leavers". The Economist. 20 June 2019.
  3. ^ "The Londoner: Climate champion's bumpy take-off". Evening Standard. 26 June 2019.
  4. ^ Buchan, Lizzy (12 November 2019). "'Stop Brexit Man' to stand as Lib Dem candidate in general election". The Independent. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Saner, Emine (26 July 2022). "'This is fascism – we're all being attacked': 'Stop Brexit Man' Steve Bray on lies, police powers and free speech". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 August 2022.
  6. ^ a b c Grew, Tony (27 January 2019). "Mr Stop Brexit moves to Jacob Rees-Mogg's street protest". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 27 May 2019.(subscription required)
  7. ^ Clements, Laura (11 April 2019). "Stop Brexit guy: The man who shouts 'Stop Brexit' on TV". walesonline.
  8. ^ a b c d "Anti-Brexit protester from Port Talbot repeatedly crashing TV interviews says he won't stop 'unless Brexit is stopped'". ITV News. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  9. ^ Wheeler, Brian (20 November 2017). "Who are the Stop Brexit campaigners?". BBC News. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  10. ^ a b Crace, John (22 May 2024). "Cringing in the rain: soggy Rish! kickstarts his farewell tour". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 May 2024.
  11. ^ a b Hall, Sam (23 May 2024). "'It had to be D:Ream to drown out Sunak', says anti Tory protester". The Standard.
  12. ^ a b c Evans, Matthew (22 May 2024). "Police ban man behind viral 'Things Can Only Get Better' moment from Parliament". The National. Retrieved 24 May 2024.
  13. ^ Atherton, Beau (11 December 2018). "Steve Bray: The Ultimate Brexit Protester". HuffPost UK. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
  14. ^ a b Notelovitz, Shay; Shearlaw, Maeve; Guardian, Source (28 November 2018). "A day with Mr Stop Brexit: crashing TV interviews and fighting Ukip – video". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  15. ^ Hogan, Michael (27 October 2019). "Anti-Brexit activist Steve Bray: 'This is my first protest – it's lasted two years'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  16. ^ Bevan, Nathan (25 September 2020). "'Mr Stop Brexit' Steve Bray is still protesting and he's got a new look". WalesOnline. Retrieved 11 October 2021.
  17. ^ Jarvis, Jacob (12 November 2019). "Stop Brexit campaigner Steve Bray welcomed as Lib Dem candidate". Evening Standard.
  18. ^ "'Stop Brexit' megaphone man to stand for Lib Dems". BBC News. 12 November 2019. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  19. ^ "Cynon Valley parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". BBC News. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  20. ^ a b Bevan, Nathan (25 September 2020). "'Mr Stop Brexit' Steve Bray is still protesting and he's got a new look". Wales Online. Retrieved 4 June 2021.
  21. ^ Saner, Emine (26 July 2022). "'This is fascism – we're all being attacked': 'Stop Brexit Man' Steve Bray on lies, police powers and free speech". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
  22. ^ "Veterans for Europe Affiliates with the European Movement UK". European Movement.
  23. ^ Freyne, Patrick. "Battling Brexit has become a full-time job for activist". The Irish Times.
  24. ^ Walker, Tim (21 December 2018). "Meet the anti-Brexit campaigner (literally) behind the news". The New European. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  25. ^ Freyne, Patrick (2 April 2019). "Battling Brexit has become a full-time job for activist". Irish Times. Retrieved 19 June 2021.
  26. ^ Gumuchian, Marie-Louise (10 December 2018). ""Stop Brexit!" - one man's daily protest against UK-EU divorce". Reuters. Archived from the original on 11 December 2018.
  27. ^ Powell, Luke (18 May 2017). "Controversial float featuring Theresa May with 'Brexit' gun in her mouth arrives in Norwich". Eastern Daily Press. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  28. ^ Reid, Alistair; Goofman, Rick. "This 'stop Brexit' protester stole the show during a serious TV interview". Independent.ie. Press Association. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  29. ^ Morris, James (27 November 2018). "Stop Brexit man crashes BBC broadcast with EU flag despite 5m platform". Evening Standard. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  30. ^ Read, Jonathon. "WATCH: BBC fails with new platform to block out anti-Brexit campaigners". The New European. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  31. ^ Forrest, Adam. "This Man Shouts 'Stop Brexit' at Parliament Every Single Day". Vice.
  32. ^ Owen, Cathy (13 November 2019). "The man who shouts 'Stop Brexit' at Parliament stands to be a Welsh MP". walesonline.
  33. ^ "Cynon Valley parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". BBC. 2019. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  34. ^ Grant, Madeline (13 December 2019). "The Lib Dems' decision to back an election is the worst blunder since the Trojans welcomed that horse". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
  35. ^ "Man who shouted STOOOP BREEEXXXIIIIT for 847 days finally admits defeat". Metro. 18 December 2019. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  36. ^ Forrest, Adam; Cowburn, Ashley (19 December 2019). "Brexit news: Boris Johnson unveils 'book of Trump' agenda to prevent courts challenging government and make voter ID mandatory". The Independent. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
  37. ^ Colchester, Max (18 December 2019). "Anti-Brexit Campaign Faces Up to Brexit's Inevitability, Amid Recriminations". Wall Street Journal. New York City. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  38. ^ Rawlinson, Kevin; Topping, Alexandra; Murphy, Simon; Henley, Jon; Murray, Jessica; Freedland, Jonathan; Rawlinson, Kevin (1 February 2020). "Brexit day: end of an era as United Kingdom leaves EU – as it happened". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
  39. ^ Flint, Rachel (3 February 2020). "Brexit: Steve Bray vows to carry on 'Mr Stop Brexit' protest". BBC News. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
  40. ^ Wood, Vincent (20 January 2020). "Mr Stop Brexit 'attacked by anti-Remain protesters'". The Independent. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
  41. ^ Read, Jonathon (20 January 2020). "Anti-Brexit campaigner targeted by thugs - but says incident has made him more determined". The New European. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
  42. ^ Read, Jonathon (24 December 2020). "Police shut down anti-Brexit protest calling Boris Johnson a 'national disgrace'". The New European.
  43. ^ Webster, Laura (17 June 2021). "Tory MP brands 'Stop Brexit' campaigner Steve Bray a 'parasite' in London pub clash". The National. Glasgow. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
  44. ^ "Official complaint over 'Stop Brexit Man' playing Anthem of Europe in the street". 2 October 2021.
  45. ^ "British government U-turn on plans to let water companies off the hook over raw sewage discharged into rivers and sea". 26 October 2021.
  46. ^ "MP calling for protester to be locked in the Tower is 'griping for coverage'". 11 May 2022.
  47. ^ Hennessey, Ted (28 June 2022). "Police seize amplifiers from Stop Brexit protester Steve Bray outside Parliament". The Independent. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
  48. ^ "'Benny Hill' theme tune blares outside Parliament after Hugh Grant's request". ca.news.yahoo.com. 7 July 2022. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
  49. ^ Kreps, Daniel (7 July 2022). "Activists Hijack Boris Johnson Resignation Coverage With 'Benny Hill' Theme, Thanks to Hugh Grant". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 8 July 2022.
  50. ^ "Welsh Stop Brexit protester Steve Bray caught up in racism row with new foreign secretary". WalesOnline. Retrieved 9 September 2022.
  51. ^ "Chaos erupts as pro-EU protester 'wrestled out' of Conservative Party Conference". Yorkshire Evening Post. 2 October 2023.
  52. ^ Clements, Laura (22 August 2018). "The one-man campaign against Brexit that's being run from Port Talbot". walesonline. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  53. ^ Cohen, Daniel (13 August 2019). "'Loud, obsessive, tribal': the radicalisation of remain". the Guardian. Retrieved 19 June 2021.
  54. ^ "SODEM LIMITED - Filing history (free information from Companies House)". find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk.
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