Theresa May’s Tory Party Conference speech was plunged further into ridicule after a section of it appeared to be lifted from US TV show The West Wing.
During her troubled keynote talk in Manchester yesterday, the Prime Minister was plagued by a coughing fit and was handed a fake P45 by comedian Simon Brodkin.
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.
And, just when it seemed things could get any worse for Mrs May, observant viewers recognised that a certain sentence bore a striking similarity to The West Wing’s fictional President, Josiah Bartlet.
Theresa May’s Tory Party Conference speech was plunged further into ridicule after a section of it appeared to be lifted from The West Wing’s Josiah Bartlet (right)
The PM said yesterday: ‘It’s when tested the most that we reach deep within ourselves and find that our capacity to rise to the challenge before us may well be limitless.’
In comparison, Martin Sheen’s character said during a 2002 episode: ‘Every time we think we’ve measured our capacity to meet a challenge, we look up and we’re reminded that that capacity may well be limitless.’
MailOnline has contacted Downing Street and the Conservative Party for comment.
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
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
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
But it is not the first time his words have been used – an NBC sports writer was relieved of his duties after a pre-Kentucky Derby feature was found to have a strong resemblance.
The unidentified writer put in the script: ‘Funny thing about life is that every time we think we’ve measured our capacity to meet its challenges, we’re reminded that that capacity may well be limitless.’
Mrs May’s disastrous speech 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 on Tuesday.
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
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.