Theresa May’s cabinet rallied around her today after the speech of her life became one to forget – but dozens of Tory MPs are said to be plotting to end her rollercoaster stint as Prime Minister.
The Prime Minister endured an agonising 65 minutes on the stage in Manchester because she couldn’t stop coughing and needed large gulps of water and throat lozenges to get through it.
The speech was further derailed by a prankster who handed her a P45 before the the set collapsed around her -she looked close to tears as the ordeal came to an end and her husband Philip gave her a big hug on stage.
Downing Street sources have said that cabinet colleagues had been calling Mrs May to praise her for getting through it and Scottish leader Ruth Davidson said afterwards: ‘If ever the PM needed a metaphor for service and duty and resolution through adversity, that battling performance was it! Huge respect’.
Loyal backbencher James Cleverly said: ‘The cough and the prankster may dominate the headlines but we saw Theresa May stand unflinching and determined. We’re proud of you’.
But it has also emerged around 30 MPs believe she should tender her resignation and are already plotting to topple her.
Mrs May’s trade envoy, Mark Pritchard, tweeted: ‘For small number of MPs texting MPs asking what we thought of PM’s speech (or circling above) one message: there is no vacancy at Number 10!’
The Prime Minister has been blighted by a sore throat throughout the conference and was left gulping down water and throat sweets as her landmark speech went croaky
Comedian Simon Brodkin managed to get through security at the Manchester venue and hand Mrs May the P45 in one of several disastrous parts of the speech
Theresa May’s troubled keynote speech got worse when the set failed and the slogan ‘Building a country that works for everyone’ as letters cascaded down behind the PM as she spoke
At the end of the shambolic speech , Philip May leapt on stage to give his embattled wife a huge hug and she appeared crestfallen afterwards
Two sides: Backbencher James Cleverly paid tribute to Mrs May’s bravery in the face of adversity – but her trade envoy Mark Pritchard revealed that MPs were plotting to oust her and told them: ‘There is no vacancy at No 10’
The Prime Minister had wanted to use her set-piece speech to the Tory conference to launch a political fightback and drag the party on to the front foot after weeks of infighting.
But it became an extraordinary personal ordeal after she was interrupted, hit by a coughing fit so severe she temporarily lost her voice and then left embarrassed as parts of the set collapsed behind her.
To the horror of Cabinet ministers and activists, the situation took another dramatic turn for the worse when a notorious prankster managed to carry out an extraordinary security breach to approach the podium and hand her a fake P45.
And to cap off the misery letters then began falling off the Conservative slogan positioned in full view of TV cameras behind Mrs May.
The meltdown will fuel speculation about accident-prone Mrs May’s future as leader, which has been raging all week. By contrast Boris Johnson, who has been accused of manoeuvring to take over the top job, was seen as having delivered a barnstorming speech to the Tory faithful yesterday. Bookmakers quickly slashed the odds on Mrs May being replaced within a year.
Ironically given her throat issues, one of Mrs May’s key phrases was that she wanted to become a ‘voice for the voiceless’.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said after Mrs May’s stumbling performance this afternoon that it would become ‘one of the more famous coughs in history’.
The premier also attempted to laugh off the shambles by tweeting a picture of throat sweets next to her ministerial red box.
Despite Cabinet ministers rallying round in public to play down the damage, the litany of mishaps could be a serious blow to Mrs May’s hopes of clinging on in No10. The Tories are well aware of the dangers of when leaders develop a reputation of misfortune, having effectively exploited Ed Miliband’s habit of blundering.
The events overshadowed a speech designed to entrench Mrs May’s position, in which she:
- Spoke of her sadness that she and husband Philip had been unable to have children. ‘It seems some things are meant to be,’ she said.
- Announced that the government will legislate to cap energy prices to help the hardest pressed in Britain.
- Pledged to ‘reignite home ownership’ by pumping an extra £2billion into social housing. She is the first Conservative leader since Harold Macmillan to pledge a new generation of council houses.
- Confirmed that Tories will scrap the planned rise in tuition fees and raise the threshold at which they are paid to £25,000.
- Unveiled an opt-out system for organ donation in England saying she would turn the Tories into a ‘compassionate’ party.
Before the dramatic scenes unfolded in Manchester, Mrs May had been making a bold bid to turn the tables on Labour by unveiling a series of policies designed to show the Tories are on the side of hard-working families.
She started by making a grovelling apology for the disastrous election campaign, admitting it had been too ‘presidential’ and she must take responsibility.
In a highly personal passage, Mrs May also conceded that her ‘unemotional’ image as an ‘ice maiden’ had been damaging and spoke of her sadness at not being able to have children.
But her performance was stumbling as she struggled with a severe sore throat. Philip Hammond at one point stepped in to hand her a lozenge.
‘The Chancellor giving something away for free,’ she joked.
Comedian Simon Brodkin also managed to breach security to step up to the podium and hand over a fake P45 – saying ‘Boris Johnson told me to’.
Mrs May shot back: ‘I’m about to talk about someone I want to give a P45 to – Jeremy Corbyn.’
Activists and ministers gave the PM a series of awkward standing ovations as at times it looked as if she might not be able to complete the speech.
At the end, Philip May leapt on stage to give his embattled wife a huge hug.
Mr Johnson was in the front row to witness the debacle, seated next to Home Secretary Amber Rudd – one of his most vocal detractors.
At one stage Ms Rudd demanded that the Foreign Secretary stand up to applaud the PM.
Mrs May told the Tory faithful: ‘I know that people think I’m not very emotional. I’m not the kind of person who wears their heart on their sleeve.
‘And I don’t mind being called things like the Ice Maiden – though perhaps George Osborne took the analogy a little far.
‘But let me tell you something.
‘My grandmother was a domestic servant who worked as a lady’s maid blow stairs.
‘She worked hard and made sacrifices, because she believed in a better future for her family.
‘And that servant – that lady’s maid – among her grandchildren boasts three professors and a prime minister.’
Admitting the election campaign had gone badly wrong, she said: ‘I am sorry.’
She vowed that the Tories would become the party of ‘compassion’ and a ‘voice for the voiceless’
Mrs May attacked the ‘broken energy market’ in the biggest announcement of her speech.
She said: ‘The most loyal customers are those with lower incomes, the elderly, people with lower qualifications and people who rent homes.
‘People who have less time to shop around.
‘Next week this government will publish a draft bill to put a cap on energy bills, meeting our manifesto promise and bringing an end to rip off energy prices once and for all.’
The PM attempted to laugh off the speech shambles by tweeting a picture of throat sweets next to her ministerial red bo
Government-owned land is expected to be cleared for new social housing built by local authorities.
The Tory election manifesto promised the delivery of 1.5million new homes by 2022.
In her speech today, Mrs May told ministers it is time to end the civil war and start looking outwards at the needs of ordinary families.
Mrs May said the Conservatives should be ‘not worrying about our job security, but theirs’.
‘Not addressing our concerns, but the issues, the problems, the challenges, that concern them,’ she said.
‘Not focusing on our future, but on the future of their children and their grandchildren – doing everything we can to ensure their tomorrow will be better than our today.’
Invoking Winston Churchill, she insisted: ‘Let us go forward together. Let us fulfil our duty to Britain.’
Mrs May went on: ‘Let us shape up and give the country the government it needs.
‘For beyond this hall, beyond the gossip pages of the newspapers, and beyond the streets, corridors and meeting rooms of Westminster, life continues – the daily lives of ordinary working people go on. And they must be our focus today.’
Signalling defiance despite a welter of speculation about her future, Mrs May said: ‘It has never been my style to hide from a challenge, to shrink from a task, to retreat in the face of difficulty, to give up and turn away.’
Boris Johnson, who has faced a backlash this week for manoeuvring against Mrs May, seemed to be enjoying himself during her speech today
Despite the P45 prank making him centre of attention, Boris was supportive of the PM in the tweet he post after her speech
Cabinet ministers including (left to right) Philip Hammond, Amber Rudd and Boris Johnson looked on a anxiously as the drama unfolded. Ms Rudd at one point urged Mr Johnson to stand up and applaud
Theresa May had to be topped up with water as she struggled to keep her throat functioning during her speech today
The man told reporters ‘Boris told me to do it’ and ‘Boris has left me in the lurch’ after handing over the document
Toe-curling: Mrs May was repeatedly given sympathetic standing ovations as she battled against her failing throat. Mr Hammond had to help out by passing her a sweet, with observers left in doubt about whether she would be able to finish
Mrs May told the conference that it was now clear that the energy market was ‘broken’ and that those being ‘punished’ by higher prices were the most loyal customers, often the poor, elderly and less-educated and those in rented homes.
‘While we are in favour of free markets, we will always take action to fix them when they are broken. We will always take on monopolies and vested interests when they are holding people back,’ she said.
‘One of the greatest examples in Britain today is the broken energy market.
‘That’s why next week this Government will publish a draft Bill to put a price cap on energy bills, meeting our manifesto promise and bringing an end to rip-off energy prices once and for all.’
Spelling out her plans for social housing, Mrs May said local authorities and housing associations would be invited to bid for a share of the additional £2 billion to ‘allow homes to be build for social rent well below market level’.
She said she would ‘take personal charge’ of ‘getting government back into the business of building houses’ and creating ‘a new generation of council houses to help fix our broken housing market’.
She told house-builders that the Government will ensure that land is available for homes, and in return ‘you must do your duty to Britain and build the homes our country needs’.
In a highly personal account of her motivations for entering politics, Mrs May recalled the history of her own grandmother, who worked as a domestic servant and made sacrifices in the hope of winning a better future for her family and whose grandchildren now include three professors and a prime minister.
And she said that, even though she and husband Philip – watching in the audience – had not been able to have children, she too wanted future generations to be able to enjoy better lives than those of their parents, something she described as ‘the British dream’.
She won a standing ovation as she said: ‘It has always been a great sadness to me and Philip that we were never blessed with children.
It seems some things in life are just never meant to be.
Amid chaotic scenes, Mrs May shot back: ‘I’m about to talk about someone I want to give a P45 to – Jeremy Corbyn.’
Theresa May delivered a grovelling apology for the disastrous election campaign at the start of her Tory conference speech today
‘But I believe in the dream that life should be better for the next generation as much as any mother, any father, any grandparent.
‘The only difference is that I have the privileged position of being able to do more than most to bring that dream to life.
‘So I will dedicate my premiership to fixing this problem, to restoring hope, to renewing the British dream for a new generation of people.’
AMBER RUDD ORDERS BORIS TO GIVE THE PM A STANDING OVATION
The Home Secretary tugged Boris’s shirt sleeve and cajoled him up from his seat
Amber Rudd ordered Boris Johnson to get to his feet and give the PM a standing ovation during her calamitous conference speech.
Ministers and activists rose to express sympathy with throaty Mrs May as she struggled to deliver her speech.
The Home Secretary tugged his shirt sleeve and cajoled him up after the Foreign Secretary lingered in his seat.
Asked after she had to tell Boris Johnson to ‘stand up’ for Mrs May, she grinned and said: ‘Boris will always do the right thing.’
Mrs May paid tribute to Alexander Paul, a young black man who helped her reforms on stop and search.
Mr Paul, who addressed Tory conference three years ago while Mrs May pushed through reforms as Home Secretary, died of a brain tumour.
His first person story of the racial discrimination used in too many stop and searches fuelled Mrs May’s reform in defiance of police resistance.
In her main address to Tory conference, the PM said: ‘Alexander Paul, a young man who came to this conference three years ago to tell his story.
‘The story of a young black boy growing up in modern Britain who without causing nay trouble – without doing anything wrong – found himself being stopped and searched by people in authority time and time and time again.
‘Alexander spoke so eloquently about his experience and how he came to mistrust those in positions of power as a result.
‘So inspired by his example, we took action.
‘We shook up the system, and the number of black people being stopped and searched has fallen by over two thirds.
‘Alexander – who inspired us all with his passion – was diagnosed with brain cancer.
‘And in June of this year he tragically passed away. He was just 21.
‘Let us remember today the courage he showed in coming to our conference to speak out against injustice, take pride that we gave him a platform and inspired by his example, redouble our efforts to give a voice to the voiceless at every opportunity.’
Asked about the security breach by Bodkin, Tory sources said a man had been arrested by Greater Manchester Police on suspicion of a breach of the peace.
The source said: ‘There is no much I can say – I can’t comment on the PM’s security.
‘We expect there will be a thorough investigation into what’s happened.’
On her health, Tory sources said Mrs May was ‘fine’ but that her ‘conference cold had come a little early’.
The source said: ‘Since she’s been here she has done 28 interviews and spoken at 19 receptions. That has taken a bit of a toll on her voice
‘She is totally fine.’
MAY BRACELET OF ARTIST WHO WAS TROTSKY’S LOVER
Theresa May sported a bracelet bearing the self-portrait of Frida Kahlo – a Mexican artist who had an affair with the Russian Communist Leon trotsky
Theresa May wore a bracelet depicting a Mexican artist who had an affair Trotsky as she addressed the Tory Party faithful today.
The Tory Prime Minister wore the chunky bangle bearing Frida Kahlo’s self portrait.
The Mexican artist had an affair with Trotsky – one of the masterminds of Russian revolution – in the 1930s.
The pair became lovers after Trotsky fled to Mexico in 1937 after he was exiled from Russia by his nemesis Stalin.
Trotsky was killed in Mexico by an assassin, sent by Stalin, who hit him in the head with an ice pick.
Mr Hunt told Sky News: ‘What I think comes across is she had that horrible cough – which will become one of the more famous coughs in history in British history no doubt – is that she ploughed on. There was a sense of duty there.’
Environment Secretary Michael Gove said the speech showed the PM was at the ‘top of her game’.
The Cabinet was already wracked by divisions over its approach to Brexit, but has been thrown deeper into turmoil by Mr Johnson’s agitating.
Last month he published an unauthorised 4,000-word essay laying out his personal manifesto for Brexit. Then, on the eve of the conference, he used an interview to lay out his own ‘red lines’.
The Foreign Secretary received a rapturous reception from activists yesterday as he set out an upbeat vision of life outside the EU.
But Mrs May and most of the Cabinet snubbed him by failing to attend the address and he has faced a furious backlash from MPs.
Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon openly mocked him from the conference stage, while Brexit Secretary David Davis took a thinly-veiled swipe at him.
Mrs May said that, even though she and husband Philip – watching in the audience – had not been able to have children, she too wanted future generations to be able to enjoy better lives than those of their parents, something she described as ‘the British dream’.
She won a standing ovation as she said: ‘It has always been a great sadness to me and Philip that we were never blessed with children. It seems some things in life are just never meant to be.
‘But I believe in the dream that life should be better for the next generation as much as any mother, any father, any grandparent.
‘The only difference is that I have the privileged position of being able to do more than most to bring that dream to life. So I will dedicate my premiership to fixing this problem, to restoring hope, to renewing the British dream for a new generation of people.’
The PM’s performance was also blighted by a severe sore throat, with Chancellor Philip Hammond at one point stepping in to hand her a lozenge
The man stepped up to the podium at the venue in Manchester and handed over the document saying Boris Johnson had told him to
Theresa May arrived for her conference speech in Manchester today flanked by husband Philip
Mrs May took aim at Jeremy Corbyn, warning that the difference between the political visions of their parties was more ‘stark’ than for many years.
Deriding the Labour leader for wanting to increase borrowing and remove the nuclear deterrent and for letting ‘anti-Semitism, misogyny and hatred run free’, she mocked his supporters chant of ‘Oh Jeremy Corbyn’ by telling the conference: ‘No Jeremy Corbyn’.
Mrs May said the choice between Labour and the Tories was now a battle between those who see free markets as ‘no longer fit for purpose’ and those who recognise them as ‘the greatest agent of collective human progress ever created’.
She told activists: ‘Let us win this argument for a new generation and defend free and open markets with all our might.’
Mrs May acknowledged that many in her party found the slow progress of Brexit talks ‘frustrating’.
But she insisted she was ‘confident we will find a deal that works for Britain and Europe too’ and would usher in ‘a global Britain that stands tall in the world’.
And she explicitly stated that the Government was preparing for the possibility that no deal will be reached.
In an olive branch to critics of her refusal unilaterally to offer EU citizens in the UK the right to stay, she sent a message to the three million EU expats living in Britain: ‘We want you to stay.’
She restated her commitment to spend 0.7% of GDP on international aid and 2 per cent on defence.
Before today, allies of Mrs May believed Mr Johnson’s actions were the result of a leadership bid that has backfired.
But friends of Mr Johnson insist his motives have been misunderstood. One ally said: ‘It’s not about disloyalty. He feels he will be judged on Brexit and he was worried that things might be going wrong, but it’s all fine now.’
The party has spent much of this week soul-searching about their failure to connect with younger voters.
Environment Secretary Mr Gove said: ‘I thought it was a fantastic speech from a Prime Minister at the top of her game.’
Senior Conservative MP George Freeman, head of the Prime Minister’s policy board, described it as the ‘most electrifying’ speech and added Mrs May’s ‘faltering’ voice heightened the sense of her tenacity.
‘She completely turned around that tone of the general election, of a monotone, iron lady, the Maybot,’ he said.
MAY PAYS TRIBUTE TO YOUNG BLACK MAN WHO LED THE WAY ON STOP AND SEARCH
Alexander Paul introduces then-Home Secretary Mrs May at the 2014 conference
Theresa May today paid tribute to Alexander Paul, a young black man who helped her reforms on stop and search.
Mr Paul, who addressed Tory conference three years ago while Mrs May pushed through reforms as Home Secretary, died in June of a brain tumour.
His first person story of the racial discrimination used in too many stop and searches fuelled Mrs May’s reform in defiance of police resistance.
In an emotional passage of her address to Tory conference, the PM said: ‘Alexander Paul, a young man who came to this conference three years ago to tell his story.
‘The story of a young black boy growing up in modern Britain who without causing nay trouble – without doing anything wrong – found himself being stopped and searched by people in authority time and time and time again.
‘Alexander spoke so eloquently about his experience and how he came to mistrust those in positions of power as a result. So inspired by his example, we took action.
‘We shook up the system, and the number of black people being stopped and searched has fallen by over two thirds.’
‘This was a woman showing her vulnerability, showing her frailty, and in so doing connecting with and demonstrating what is her greatest strength – a steely commitment to public service, an incredible personal sense of duty, a woman who at an age of life where many would be putting their feet up, is redoubling her commitment to the toughest job in the country.
‘Strangely the faltering voice actually heightened the sense of her tenacity and her commitment to go through the adversity.
‘You could feel the more she spoke, the more the mood came with her, as people celebrated the values of public service that are at the heart of Conservatism.
‘You couldn’t have scripted it more powerfully.’
Conservative Paul Masterton, who was among the MPs selected to speak on the main stage before Mrs May’s arrival, said: ‘It was eventful.
‘It was a clear reminder why she’s the right person to be taking the country forward – a stinking cold, some idiot at the stage halfway through, and she did what leaders do.’
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s World At One, Mr Hunt said of Mrs May: ‘Well I think she came across as very human, in fairness perhaps not in the way that she had planned.
‘But people up and down the country watching TV have coughs and colds and they struggle on and that’s what she did.’
He added: ‘I think people know that she has had not just an annoying cough but a very, very tough few months and what comes across about Theresa May in public now is something that I’ve always seen in private which is a tremendous sense of duty.
‘A sense that actually you’re there to do the right thing and that was in the substance of the speech but also, in a way, in the style as we saw her battling with that horrible cough.
‘But I think the substance was also very, very significant, I hope that what happened doesn’t cloud the substance.’
Mrs May wore a bracelet depicting a Mexican artist who had an affair Trotsky as she addressed the Tory Party faithful today.
The Tory Prime Minister wore the chunky bangle bearing Frida Kahlo’s self portrait.
The Mexican artist had an affair with Trotsky – one of the masterminds of Russian revolution – in the 1930s.
The pair became lovers after Trotsky fled to Mexico in 1937 after he was exiled from Russia by his nemesis Stalin.
Trotsky was killed in Mexico by an assassin, sent by Stalin, who hit him in the head with an ice pick.
The Prime Minister admitted the campaign had been too ‘presidential’ and she had to take responsibility
Mrs May walked from the Midland hotel to deliver her second speech to Tory conference as party leader
Serial prankster strikes again as croaky Theresa May is left spluttering during her speech
Simon Brodkin’s prank on Theresa May is one in a long line of successful stunts.
Brodkin, who’s also the brains behind comedy persona Lee Nelson, famously threw cash at disgraced FIFA chief Sepp Blatter and tied a banner to Sir Philip Green’s superyacht in the wake of BHS’ collapse.
In January he posed as Orthodox Jewish rapper Steven Goldblatt on Britain’s Got Talent to get an insight into the workings of the talent competition for a new Channel 4 documentary.
Brodkin threw cash at Sepp Blatter during an Executive Committee Meeting at FIFA Headquarters, Zurich.
He also tried to join the England team as they boarded the plane at Luton Airport for the World Cup
Brodkin, also known as Lee Nelson, disrupts a press conference being held by US presidential hopeful Donald Trump at Turnberry hotel in South Ayrshire
He secretly recorded his eight-hour audition process which resulted in him receiving four ‘yes’ verdicts from judges Simon Cowell, David Walliams, Alesha Dixon and Amanda Holden.
He has also targeted Philip Green, the former owner of collapsed retailer BHS, by hanging a sign reading ‘BHS Destroyer’ on the billionaire’s superyacht, and disrupted then US presidential candidate Donald Trump at a Turnberry ribbon-cutting ceremony by attempting to hand out golf balls with a swastika printed on them.
Nelson also stormed the Glastonbury stage during Kanye West’s set in June 2015 wearing a T-shirt with ‘Lee-Zus’ on it before being removed by security.
A year earlier, he tried to board the England football team’s jet as they set off for the Brazil World Cup.
He was given a conditional caution after he duped security at Manchester City’s game at Everton in March 2013 and limbered up alongside star players.
Mrs May said that, even though she and husband Philip – watching in the audience – had not been able to have children, she too wanted future generations to be able to enjoy better lives than those of their parents, something she described as ‘the British dream’.
She won a standing ovation as she said: ‘It has always been a great sadness to me and Philip that we were never blessed with children. It seems some things in life are just never meant to be.
‘But I believe in the dream that life should be better for the next generation as much as any mother, any father, any grandparent.
‘The only difference is that I have the privileged position of being able to do more than most to bring that dream to life. So I will dedicate my premiership to fixing this problem, to restoring hope, to renewing the British dream for a new generation of people.’