BBC Breakfast fans “switched off” midway through Keir Starmer’s resignation speech as protesters at the bottom of Downing Street hijacked the feed. While Starmer came to the lectern to hand out his timetable for leaving office, Beethoven’s Ode to Joy was blasted out through speakers close to the TV cameras – enough to distract the prime minister and viewers at home.

Presenter Jon Kay explained: “We should probably just explain to people who are slightly baffled by the musical background. Ode to Joy, Beethoven, EU anthem, effectively playing in the background. That’s a protester playing it on a speaker at the bottom of Downing Street, that’s not part of the Downing Street ambience or a media addition.”

BBC Breakfast’s chief political correspondent Henry Zeffman added: “And it did seem… I don’t know how loud it was at home, but it did seem that the prime minister in the early stages of his speech, was thrown off by it.

“Completely understandably, I should say, because it’s incredibly loud.

“It’s the same person or group of people who played Things Can Only Get Better, the new Labour anthem, as Rishi Sunak resigned two and a bit years ago. That is a feature of Westminster life, apparently.”

But fuming fans didn’t appreciate the musical interlude, with one tweeting: “I love Ode to Joy but I couldn’t listen to Starmer with that racket, ruined the moment #bbcbreakfast.”

Another fumed: “I would happily trade a day in the cells for smashing those speakers…”

And a third said: “That music needs to be stopped!”

BBC Breakfast airs weekdays at 6am on BBC1.