Just Stop Oil has applauded a woman who threw orange confetti at the wedding of the ex-chancellor George Osborne but denied that it, as a campaign group, was responsible.
The protest took place as Osborne and his bride, Thea Rogers, left a church in the village of Bruton, Somerset on Saturday.
As bells pealed an unknown, smiling woman with grey hair and wearing a floral dress and pale jacket threw orange confetti from a union flag paper bag over the slightly startled newlyweds.
It was immediately assumed that Just Stop Oil was behind it, an assumption helped along by a tweet from the group stating: “You look good in orange @George_Osborne – congratulations to the newlyweds.”
On Sunday afternoon Just Stop Oil posted a statement on social media to address what it called “Confettigate”.
It said: “The lady who threw confetti in Bruton yesterday was upholding a tradition that is common across many cultures. We absolutely defend the right for people to throw confetti (of whatever colour) at weddings and other celebrations.
“If it was a form of protest – which is yet to be established – we applaud it and thank the person concerned. It was peaceful and not especially disruptive, but got massive media attention for Just Stop Oil’s demand.”
But it continued: “However, as much as we applaud the use of orange confetti at this wedding, we were not responsible.”
It urged the media to focus on more important matters. “Like the current government’s plans to licence over 100 new oil and gas projects, which will result in excess deaths the likes of which we have never seen. Or the fact that the UN Secretary General has said that ‘climate change is out of control’ as we’ve just seen the hottest average temperatures since records began. Or the fact that Canadian wildfires have now burned down an area the size of Portugal.”
The confetti protest was condemned by politicians across the spectrum. The former home secretary Priti Patel tweeted: “JSO are shameful, attention seeking, disrespectful low life.”
Asked about the matter, the shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, told Sky News that this form of protest was “counterproductive and rude”.
Just Stop Oil activists have over the past year staged protests that include throwing tomato soup over Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, gluing themselves to the frame of Turner’s Thomson’s Aeolian Harp at Manchester Art Gallery and pouring a packet of powdered orange paint over a snooker table at the world championships in Sheffield.
Reeves said: “I have got no time for Just Stop Oil. To be honest, I think it is a bit pathetic and quite tedious disrupting tennis, snooker, other people’s weddings.
“If they want to tackle climate change, engage in the policy answers, but they are not building support for their cause; they are doing the exact opposite.”
Osborne’s wedding, his second, was attended by politicians including Michael Gove, David Cameron, Matt Hancock, Ed Balls and Yvette Cooper as well as journalists including Emily Maitlis, Jon Sopel and Nick Robinson.
