A protester has attempted to disrupt the wedding of former UK finance minister George Osborne to his long-term partner by throwing orange confetti at them as they left the church following the service.
The woman ambushed Mr Osborne (52) and his new bride Thea Rogers (40) outside the 14th century St Mary’s Church in the English village of Bruton in Somerset and quickly fled smiling after being approached by security.
Environmental campaign group Just Stop Oil, renowned for its disruptive stunts, retweeted a video of the incident, saying: “You look good in orange George Osborne — congratulations to the newlyweds.”
The tweet was condemned by former UK home secretary Priti Patel, who accused Just Stop Oil of being “shameful, attention seeking, disrespectful low life”.
You look good in orange @George_Osborne — congratulations to the newlyweds. pic.twitter.com/LARxEoraU2
Advertisement— Just Stop Oil (@JustStop_Oil) July 8, 2023
Around 200 people, including a string of well-known politicians and journalists, attended the wedding amid a mystery over an email apparently sent to guests.
Among the guests attending were former British prime minister David Cameron and his wife Samantha, former chancellor Sajid Javid and levelling-up secretary Michael Gove.
Also present were Willima Hague and his wife Ffion, former health secretary Matt Hancock, ex-governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney, as well as Labour heavyweight Ed Balls and his wife Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary.
As well as politicians there were a host of well-known journalists.
They included Today Programme host Nick Robinson, former Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis, ex-BBC correspondent Jon Sopel, former Sky News political editor Adam Boulton with his wife Anji Hunter, an adviser in Downing Street under Tony Blair, and Mariella Frostrup.
Mr Osborne was not seen arriving at the church ahead of the service, but Ms Rogers walked through the churchyard to claps from well-wishers.
The service, which lasted nearly an hour, included music from Beethoven’s Ode To Joy and Hubert Parry’s Jerusalem.
After the smiling couple, who have two children together and own property in Bruton, emerged from the church as the bells rang, to pose for photographs.
Suddenly a smartly dressed woman walked up to the newlyweds and showered them with orange confetti from a Union flag paper bag.
Mr Osborne looked behind him as she approached the couple before throwing the confetti over the groom.
The grey-haired woman, in a floral dress and pale coloured jacket, emptied the bag of confetti near the couple before she left after being spoken to by two men.
They looked puzzled, but did not appear to speak to the woman, who fled quickly when approached by journalists.
The orange confetti appeared to be similar to that scattered by Just Stop Oil protesters at Wimbledon on Wednesday.
As guests left the church, they lined up outside to cheer and throw confetti at the newly married couple as they walked down the path to their wedding car.
The couple’s wedding comes amid a riddle over an email sent earlier this week to many of the invited wedding guests as well as some journalists.
After quitting the House of Commons, Mr Osborne became editor of the Evening Standard newspaper.
The town of Bruton has been dubbed “the Notting Hill of the West” due to the number of celebrities living there.
