Ed Miliband cracks joke after Southampton egging

Ed Miliband Credit: ITV Meridian

The Labour leader Ed Miliband was hit with an egg during a walkabout in Southampton today.

The politician was in the middle of an interview with ITV Meridian's Political Correspondent Phil Hornby when a man in a hat came through the throng and slapped the egg on to his shoulder.

Mr Miliband recovered quickly, giving his soiled jacket to an aide and joking that his attacker is "obviously not one of his fans".

Mr Miliband was in Southampton to celebrate Labour's victory there. Speaking before a crowd of supporters he declared: "We are back in the South."

Soon after, he tweeted about the incident:

Tony Blair's former head of communications, Alastair Campbell, also commented on Twitter that:

ITV News' Political Editor Chris Ship noted that the town has form on eggings. The former Prime Minister John Major suffered the same fate in the town. Both incidents happened near the same supermarket chain - Sainbury's.

The current Prime Minister David Cameron was also egged while visiting a college in Cornwall in 2010. Afterwards he joked: "Now I know which came first - the chicken not the egg."