The left-wing agitator led a group of about 50 protesters into the swish Regent Street shop, where they waved signs reading "you are now entering Irish territory" and filled the air with music from the Emerald Isle - a reference to Apple's cunning move to funnel global profits through its Cork office in Ireland, where corporation tax rates are low and the US taxman cannot reach.

Dressed in traditional Irish clothing, the flashmob sung an impassioned version of traditional folk song The Irish Rover accompanied by a man on a fiddle. While the song was in full swing, Thomas can be seen insisting to bewildered blue-shirted store workers that "it's only a bit of fun".

His motley crew also opened web pages on the Apple store's reassuringly expensive computers that alleged: "Apple iDodge tax. You can buy the same products at the same prices at John Lewis around the corner and their MD slams tax avoidance."

Speaking after the protest, Thomas told his fellow activists out on the street: "It's great you made a little impact. We're not prepared to let companies pay no tax. It's austerity and multinationals who turn over billions of pounds in profit have got to make sure they pay their bit. If they are tax dodgers, we will make a scream, we will make a scene and shout as much as we can until we can get these people to pay tax and put into the system rather than take out."