McBride publisher in seafront scuffle

Iain Dale, of Biteback Publishing, ended up scuffling on Brighton seafront with Stuart Holmes to get the veteran campaigner’s anti-nuclear banner out of shot.

Sussex police said it was “looking into the circumstances” of the incident outside the Labour Party conference, which took place as Mr McBride talked about his book on ITV’s Daybreak.

The barking of Mr Holmes’s placard-wearing dog was audible to viewers as – out of shot – a frustrated Mr Dale grabbed the pensioner’s rucksack and physically hauled him out of the way.

As they grappled on the pavement, with the dog joining in, their confrontation was filmed by other members of the significant media scrum which has attended Mr McBride’s arrival at the conference.

The protester tried to make the best of the situation, holding up his banner reading “No Nukes – Radio Active Dust Cancer Epidemic” to photographers busy recording the scrap.

After a few moments, the pair separated and dusted themselves down, and the protester went back to trying to edge his way into view of the cameras.

Mr Dale said the protester – a familiar face to conference-goers for 30 years – was an “idiot” and said he had only done “what any self-respecting publisher would do” by stepping in.

But Mr Holmes, originally from Manchester and a veteran of three decades of party conferences, said that after speaking to the police he was considering legal action.