Lee Nelson hands Theresa May a P45 during keynote speech

Theresa May's keynote speech to the Conservative Party conference in Manchester was interrupted after a man emerged from the audience and handed her a sheet of paper marked P45.

Lee Nelson gives a piece of paper written as a mock P45 to Theresa May during her speech. Picture: AFP/Getty Images

The stunt was carried out by comedian Lee Nelson who told her Boris Johnson had asked him to hand it to her.

Nelson, real name Simon Brodkin, was led away by security officials, and the Prime Minister recovered to say: “I was about to talk about somebody who I would like to give a P45 to, and that’s Jeremy Corbyn.”

The incident happened just moments after Mrs May apologised to her party for her performance in the botched campaign for this year’s snap election.

Nelson is a serial prankster who has grabbed attention and headlines in the past with high-profile stunts, including renaming Sir Philip Green’s £100 million super yacht ‘BHS Destroyer’ last year and showering Fifa president Sepp Blatter with fake US dollars in Zurich in 2015.