An anti-capitalist group that threw custard over the Crown Jewels has plans for a ‘mass shoplifting at Waitrose‘.
Take Back Power (TBP) has vowed to shoplift from high-end supermarkets in the coming months to redistribute the stolen food to the needy, in a protest at economic inequality.
The organisation, which describes itself as a ‘nonviolent civil-resistance group’, is demanding the UK government establishes a ‘permanent citizen’s assembly – a House of the People, which has the power to tax extreme wealth and fix Britain’.
Its members pledge to resist the ‘super-rich’ who are ‘driving us towards social collapse’.
The group – viewed as a successor to Just Stop Oil – sparked outrage last year when its members threw apple crumble and custard over a glass case containing the Crown Jewels inside the Tower of London.
The people involved revealed a sign saying ‘Democracy has crumbled – tax the rich’. Four people were arrested in the aftermath.
Just days before, Take Back Power activists had emptied bags of manure under the Christmas tree at The Ritz in Mayfair in protest against the ‘obscenely wealthy’.
Security guards swiftly removed the protesters after the manure was emptied under the tree.
Privately educated Arthur Clifton, 25, is a leading organiser for anti-capitalist group Take Back Power and attended Latymer Upper School, one of the country’s top public schools
Four people were arrested on suspicion of criminal damage after Take Back Power activists smeared apple crumble and custard over a glass case containing the Crown Jewels last year
Two of those involved unfurled a banner saying ‘democracy has crumbled, tax the rich’ after targeting the glass case
Among those taking part in the protests were an NHS worker and a former doctor.
At the group’s formal launch at Limehouse Town Hall, east London, on Saturday, January 17, founder members set out a strategy for further disruption this spring.
According to the Telegraph, Arthur Clifton, co-founder of TBP and a former prominent JSO activist, told an audience of around 200: ‘We have seen that food is locked behind skyrocketing prices. Less and less people can afford less and less food.’
He added: ‘We’ll be coming down to London in April for a week of action – a massive take-back with 50 to 100 people just going in and clearing out a Waitrose.’
Take Back Power has raised £56,000 in an online fundraiser for its campaigns to ‘tackle economic inequality’ and impose greater taxes on the rich.
The group said it intended to earmark £26,000 to run public meetings and training in eight cities to ‘mobilise new people into action from January to March’.
A further £20,000 will compensate new members who undertake actions, £12,000 will pay for their accommodation, £6,000 their travel costs and £4,000 their equipment.
Mr Clifton, originally from Chiswick, West London, said the group was also planning ‘takeovers’ of high-end stores in areas such as Oxford Circus.
Take Back Power officially launched itself by projecting messages onto the Houses of Parliament
Clifton grew up in an upmarket West London property and attended Latymer Upper School, one of the top public schools in the country, where annual fees are £30,000.
Clifton’s father, Michael, 58, is a boss at international insurance brokers Chaucer, which boasts of having taken £2.3 billion in premiums in 2024.
Records show he was recently living in a £2 million house.
The group has come to prominence in recent months with a series of eye-catching stunts, including throwing custard over the Crown Jewels and dumping manure in The Ritz.
In a statement following the action, the group said: ‘Since 2011, the poorest 10 per cent of households have paid a combined tax rate of 44 per cent on their income and wealth gains, while the richest paid 22 per cent.
‘Our political class, be it this government, Reform or Tory, serve the super-rich; they do not care about working people.
‘That’s why we must demand real democracy, with ordinary people at the heart of decision making, through a citizen-led assembly that has the power to tax the rich.’
