Steven Nicholas Bray (born 26 June 1969)[3][4] is a British liberal democrat activist from Port Talbot in South Wales who, in 2018 and 2019, made daily protests against Brexit in College Green, Westminster.
[13] 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.
[22] Before becoming involved in political activism, Bray himself served in the British Army,[23] and was a self-employed numismatist, working in Port Talbot, South Wales.
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".
[9] 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.
[6] 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.
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.
[9] 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.
[34] 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.
[41][42] 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.
[21] 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.
[43] In June 2021, Bray spotted the Conservative MP Lee Anderson having a drink seated outside the Red Lion pub in Westminster.
[46] 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.
[6] 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.
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.
[51] 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?".
It was responsible for secretly placing the European flag on an empty flagpole outside the Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council offices, on 19 August 2018.