It was the final blow in a humiliating speech for embattled Prime Minister Theresa May.
After a stage invasion by a P45-waving prankster and an extended coughing fit, the party’s slogan, attached to a screen behind her, began to fall to the ground.
The letters, attached to the backing board with magnets, initially spelled out ‘Building a country that works for everyone’.
But as Mrs May’s disaster-strewn speech neared it’s end, the ‘F’ from ‘for’ fell to the ground, leaving the bottom line spelling ‘or everyone’.
Mrs May began the speech with a backdrop stating ‘Building a country that works for everyone’
But after standing ovations to help her recover her voice, the ‘F’ fell from the bottom line
Moments later, the ‘E’ at the end of ‘everyone’ also clattered to the floor, leaving Mrs May to walk off the stage to a backing which stated: ‘Building a country that works or everyon’.
It is thought the problems were caused by the repeated standing ovations of ministers, MPs and party activists in the crowded conference centre.
They stood and clapped to applaud the speech and to help Mrs May – who suffered from coughing fits throughout the speech – recover her voice and take glugs of water.
The vibrations caused by the standing, sitting and clapping is believed to have loosened the magnets, causing the letters to crash to the ground.
A senior source in the Tory party told MailOnline: ‘They have stayed there all week. No-one really knows why they fell off during the speech.
‘Some people think air got in between the curtain or something and loosened the magnets. It’s possible the clapping was too loud. It felt like we were just cursed.’
While Mrs May remained speaking, an ‘E’ fell from the end of the slogan onto the floor
She ended her speech with the sign stating: ‘Building a country that works or everyon’
More letters then tumbled off the board as delegates left the hall and the conference ended
Amid the movement of everyone leaving the hall after the speech, even more letters tumbled off the screen, leaving ‘Bui-ding a c–ntry tha orks or ryon’.
The backdrop fiasco has added to the anger of some in the party who were disappointed by speech and the set was compared to a ‘village hall notice board’ this morning.
The party took events management in house two years ago to save money and the set design and management would have been organised by a party worker.
But the failing set was just one of many setbacks which dogged the speech.
About a third of the way through, prankster Simon Brodkin, known as Lee Nelson, claimed the Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson had told him to give Mrs May her P45, before he was bundled away by security and arrested by police to prevent a breach of the peace.
The stage manager of the event had to top up Mrs May’s water as she struggled with her cough
An aide removes the final letters as the conference was brought to a close yesterday
A struggling Mrs May hugged her husband Philip after she battled through the tough speech
Her cough then repeatedly brought her oration to a halt, with aides having to top up her water and Chancellor Philip Hammond handing her a cough sweet.
Cabinet ministers have been calling Mrs May today to offer their support after the nightmare speech, amid suggestions that MPs are posing fresh questions about her leadership.
A Number 10 source confirmed the calls ‘offering support’ but declared ‘resignation is not an issue’ for the Prime Minister.
It came after backbench Tory MP Mark Pritchard said colleagues were texting each other about Mrs May’s calamity-ridden address but warned them ‘there is no vacancy at Number 10’.