Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
DAY MAY Farcical scenes as PM coughs through speech & set falls apart
Sympathy is not a recipe to win votes Vultures are hovering to have a feast Security probe after joker’s P45 for leader
THIS was meant to be the moment when Theresa May drew a line under the election debacle, reboot the Maybot and relaunch her premiership.
Instead, it will remembered for the spectacle of a croaking Prime Minister.
She will get some credit for soldiering on. Indeed, she showed a previously unseen talent for ad-libbing. But in politics the optics matter.
This was, on paper at least, a substantial speech in places, albeit an acknowledgement of how seriously they take the threat of Jeremy Corbyn.
But her position now relies on sympathy, not respect.
The Tories are lumbered with supporting an ill-fated leader whose speech will become a metaphor for a party in poor health and struggling to find its voice. EVERYTHING about Theresa May is falling apart.
You cannot keep claiming mental health is a priority while doing nothing.
You cannot keep talking up the NHS but still be hell-bent on its destruction.
You cannot keep saying, “You are welcome, we want you to stay” to EU citizens with no action to back it up.
You cannot keep talking about the British Dream when the examples you give are from previous generations, not the people trapped in poverty by your Government.
This was a speech supposed to show Theresa May as a human being. But there is a fine line between human and vulnerable when the vultures are watching from the seats above. A SERIAL prankster sparked a security investigation after handing Theresa May a P45 during her keynote speech.
Simon Brodkin, 40, who works under the name Lee Nelson, was bundled away and arrested by police after his stunt in full view of cameras.
Brodkin, who has pranked Donald Trump, Sir Philip Green and Sepp Blatter, later told journalists: “Boris Johnson told me to do it, he’s left me in the lurch.”
Brodkin had a genuine pass to attend the conference and had got through several security checks.
He pulled his stunt 15 minutes into the Prime Minister’s shaky speech, then turned and gave a thumbs up sign in the Foreign Secretary’s direction.
The P45 included the phrase “neither strong nor stable”.
Activists stood and applauded a flustered Mrs May, who then ploughed on.
Brodkin later joked with journalists that Mr Johnson had put him up to it, adding: “I thought he wanted me to hand it to her.
“Boris asked me to. Boris said in one of those corridor meet- ings ‘Do me a favour and give Theresa this.’”
A No10 source said they expected a “thorough investigation” to be held and Greater Manchester Police launched a review of guest accreditation.
Chief Supt John O’hare said: “The man was arrested to prevent a breach of the peace and released a short time later. “He had legitimate accreditation which granted him access to the site. We will be reviewing the process with the Conservative Party.”
Senior Tory MP George Freeman, head of the PM’S policy board, said of the incident: “There should be some very serious questions – that could have been a terrorist.”
In July 2015 Brodkin showered FIFA’S scandal-hit president Sepp Blatter with money at a press conference. He was held by Swiss authorities.
In June last year he tried to hand out swastika-marked golf balls when Donald Trump visited Turnberry in Ayrshire.
And that September he put a BHS Destroyer banner on Sir Philip Green’s £100million yacht. THERESA May summed up her ailing party yesterday as she coughed her way through her conference speech amid farcical scenes. Embarrassed Chancellor Philip Hammond eventually handed her a lozenge to help her get through what was meant to be the event’s showpiece. As the Prime Minister struggled on, letters from the slogan “Building a country that works for everyone” then fell off the stage backdrop.
And as talk of party infighting continued, fed-up Home Secretary Amber Rudd had to urge reluctant Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson to stand and applaud the PM. But while the chaotic scenes – including a P45 prank by Simon Brodkin – overshadowed her words, they did not escape criticism. Policy announcements on energy and housing triggered claims that the Tory chief had stolen Labour ideas.
The PM, who has been suffering a heavy cold, vowed to end rip-off energy bills by introducing a price cap. Legislation will be unveiled next week and the Tories have denied the idea is based on the energy price freeze Labour planned under the leadership of Ed Miliband.
Mrs May also pledged an extra £2billion to fund 25,000 homes for social rent by 2021 and confirmed a tuition fees hike to £9,500 would be scrapped and a review into student funding launched.
And she finally apologised to Tory activists for the disastrous snap election, admitting her campaign “fell short”.
Labour said the PM’S address was